Vision2learn - E Learning website

Eleven months ago, I bought this p.c. for my son’s Christmas present. At the time, I didn’t even have a clue on how to get onto the net. My son had to show me how to do everything. As it should be parent learning child, it was time to change this. I found an advert offering, on-line I.T. courses, for free. (It’s a government granted scheme, so everyone can become I.T. literate). The name of the people offering this service is Vision2Learn (V2L).

When you first go onto the advert, there are multiple questions they ask you, just tick off the answers you know, they then match the course, most suitable. As for me, it was ‘First steps in IT’. After accepting your course of study, you’re then sent an application form. After sending it back, you await an e-mail from a designated tutor, who will also be guiding you through the course. Your tutor is based at the nearest college to you that offer on-line courses. The nearest on-line college to me is about 30 miles away. (Annoying really, as their sister college is only 3 miles from were I live). The e-mail they send out, will give you the start date, user name, password (Your choice), and the V2L, address URL There is also a system checker, click this and it will determine which downloads are required to use their system, like acrobat reader, flash player etc. The course is a year long, but actual study time is 90 hours in total, {about 8 hours a month}. If you want to complete the course in just 1 month, that’s up to you, but why rush it. At the end of the course, you are required to attend the college, for a final exam. This, for my course, is a 20 question multi choice exam, and you are given 40 minutes.

This all takes around 6 weeks, so now it’s time to do some work. After you’ve logged into the V2L site, you are in your study area. From here, along the top of the page, you can access the following:-
MY STUDY; where you already are.
CAFE; meet other people and discuss course work
V MAIL; internal e-mailing system, has all the facilities e.g. inbox
NOTEPAD; put down any notes you need to make, v-mail to another V2L user
JOURNAL; personal diary for work, includes calendar
V2L COURSES; all available on-line courses, which includes, I.T. Business Development, Sports/ Leisure, and Personal Development.
HELP; for FAQ

To the left of the page you can access:-
MY COURSE; Shows date started, college name, amount of students in group
FIRST STEPS; your course units and activities
MY PROFILE; your address, change password etc.
MY GROUP; list of other students in the same tutor group
GROUP FORUM; Place to discuss course topics within your own group
MY COLLEGE; address of college, administrators
MY PROGRESS; lists your test results, activity results, and submit work to your tutor
Contact tutor; contact your tutor, also send off work + attachments
LOGOUT; as it means

The course, I’m on, consists of 6 units, the first 4 units are mandatory. You then need to choose 1 out of the remaining 2 units. These last 2 are more specialized, to what you want to learn. Each unit is made up of, interactive features, colour text and diagrams, explaining what each particular unit is about. Each unit comprises of a quick quiz, a knowledge round up, activities (written course work), then a multi choice knowledge know-all (test).

You must do each unit in turn, the same for each activity and test, then sending them off to your tutor, via v-mail to mark. Your results, to each, can be found by clicking, the ‘FIRST STEPS link. It will also tell you if you’ve passed, or if you need to re-submit it work, to be marked again. On the tests you need to reach 70%.
At the end of the course, you’ll be given a choice of dates to sit the final. You will also be required to produce a portfolio, to take with you. For this, you will need to print off all your activity questions and written work plus your test results, which your tutor v-mails back to you. You may at anytime ask your tutor questions about your activities or anything else that you need to know, as long as it’s by v-mail. If need be, it’s possible to catch your tutor on-line, if you have a messenger activated.

The course can be accessed at anytime, day or night.

The best part of this course, for me, was that it inspired me to learn more than it required me to. I even started to go to our local library, to take out higher level learning in Microsoft. It gave me the basics that I needed to know, the push that I required, to learn and understand I.T. technology. From installing software and hardware, to able to use powerpoint, and word document, to their full potential, that’s to mention just a few things, I’m now capable of doing. I finished this course in August, I’m waiting to take the final exam in early December.

Although now rather easy to me, I highly recommend this course to anybody just starting out, to get the grips of I.T. It gives you a good basic knowledge, with a couple of advanced activities thrown in, that requires research.

Pros;

Plenty of time to complete the course
Full help and assistance from tutor when required
Access to course at anytime
Recognized qualification (NCFE level 1 certificate for I.T. users)
Work from home, in your own time
It’s totally free

Cons;

The college can be to far away, for the final exam
Some questions in the activities, can be confusing

Times and layout of courses may differ to the one I’ve taken. I’ve not mentioned what each unit is, in case I infringe on anything.
P.S. my lad now asks me, “How do I do this dad”? Bliss, I’m needed again, not such an old codger after all.