ViLLE Learning Platform
ViLLE is a collaborative learning platform developed by the Centre of Learning Analytics of the University of Turku. It offers students and teachers detailed information regarding their learning process in the form of immediate feedback and learning analytics. Teachers can create exercises for their personal use but they can also utilise materials made by others. Most exercises are automatically assessed which allows teachers to spend more of their time supporting students. The research focus of the Centre is on different aspects of learning which strongly influences the development of ViLLE.
The materials in ViLLE include various exercises on programming, mathematics, languages and other subjects. Teachers can freely use the materials that best suit their needs and, in case there are no suitable materials, teachers can use built-in exercise editors to create and share their own exercises. All exercises gather a diverse set of data of the students’ work which teachers can use for assessment and development of teaching methods.
ViLLE also includes pre-made Learning Path courses on mathematics, programming, Finnish and English. Because of their high quality and ease of use ViLLE is widely used in Finnish schools. All Learning Path materials have been developed with the help of Finnish teachers.
Internationally ViLLE is offered under the name Eduten Playground.
ViLLE is a learning platform where students can work no matter the time or place.
Almost all exercises in ViLLE are assessed automatically. This means that students receive immediate feedback on their work. Through automation questions can be randomly chosen from a large predetermined set and students’ submissions can be scored immediately.
In addition to automatically assessed exercises, ViLLE includes exercises that can be assessed by the teacher. Teachers can review students’ work as well as comment and score them. Students can then view the assessment after it has been submitted. Advanced courses in ViLLE often blend automatically and manually assessed exercises; attendances and simpler exercises can be assessed automatically which allows the teacher to focus on grading learning journals and essays.
The same exercises that are used during class can be used in ViLLE exams. When exam mode is activated, students can work on their given tasks without receiving immediate feedback. Exams can include both automatically and manually assessed exercises and the results can be made available to students immediately after assessment. The exam mode includes a monitor view in which teachers can keep track of the students’ progress.
Students can work on tasks in pairs or groups by using a single device. With the team work mode active, the achieved scores are automatically shared between students in a group. Tasks can also be anonymously peer reviewed so that only the teacher can see who has submitted which reviews.
Teachers can add other teachers as assistant teachers on their courses. Assistant teachers can manage the course and its contents as well as follow the students’ progress. This is useful for special education teachers and other specialists who might wish to observe certain issues arising in the class.
In universities ViLLE is designed to function as an interactive tool during lectures. Real time surveys and polls can be employed to examine the learning of topics and views of students. Furthermore, ViLLE can log lecture attendances automatically which reduces the need for additional logging systems and saves time. The University of Turku employs RFID readers that students can use to log their attendance.
Tutorials are a special feature of ViLLE. They combine different exercises with various learning materials such as pictures, videos or lecture handouts. Usually students work on tutorials in groups of two to four. The feature is based on the concept of construcivism that emphasises the active role of a student as a learner while the teacher supports students requiring extra help. Tutorials have been used to great success in the programming courses of the University of Turku: after the implementation of tutorials grades have improved significantly and student feedback has been very positive.
ViLLE is a learning platform where students can work on tasks at any time and any place. The exercises are designed to be exciting and research has established that they have a positive impact on learning. The aim of ViLLE is not to make teachers replaceable but to offer ways for students to learn at their own pace and give teachers more time for teaching. The system offers immediate feedback and students can easily track their progress.
Students can log in with their personal credentials from the home page ville.utu.fi. We recommend using the latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox for the best user experience. Students can access their exercises by choosing the correct course and lesson. The answers are submitted from the submit button from the upper right corner.
For students, ViLLE offers a platform where they can work at their own pace. Exercises change between attempts due to randomised questions so students can attempt to solve them as many times as they want. ViLLE offers immediate feedback on student’s submissions and examining the overall progress on courses is easy. ViLLE can be used to register other course activities such as assignments, learning journals, and lecture attendances with an RFID-equipped student card or tag.
Yhteistyö on ViLLEssä helppoa. Pienryhmät voivat työstää yhdessä tutoriaaleja ja kurssitöitä. Ryhmätöissä voidaan hyödyntää anonymisoitua vertaisarviointia, jolloin opiskelijat pääsevät itse vaikuttamaan oppimisen arviointiin.
Collaborating with other students in ViLLE is simple. Groups can work on assignments and tutorials together with one device. Group assignments can include anonymised peer reviews that allows students to have an impact on assessment.