RM Learning Platform: Learning Spaces

"Students that thought they couldn't do ICT are coming into school asking if we are using the learning platform today"

Andrea Perry, HOD ICT, Christ Church Middle School

Learning Spaces are included in all packages for the RM Learning Platform, and allow you to create rich and exciting lessons, set assignments, track returned work and send marks to students online. Learning Spaces provides a comprehensive toolkit to support online learning.

Quickly create online courses with familiar and easy to use webpage authoring tools. Enrich these with blogs, audio, video, podcasts, flash activities or use SCORM content packs created by providers such as Oxford University Press, Boardworks, Birchfield and RM.

Engage with students by using web 2.0 and social networking tools; allow them to contribute into courses through blogs, video*, discussion forums and chat rooms*, wikis and document libraries. 

With access via any Internet connected computer, students can learn when and where they want, with all the information from past lessons at their fingertips.  The Resource Library gives students access to your school's content packs and resources in order to support independent leaning.

By targeting differentiated activities at individuals or groups of students, Learning Spaces supports personalised learning.

We're all short of time, but when we work together things get done faster.  The RM Learning Platform can allow you to share resources and courses with colleagues in your school, local authority or cluster.  Collaboration can help reduce course creation time and promote the sharing of best practice.

To find out more about the features and benefits of Learning Spaces, click on the "Features" tab or book an online demo.
Want to hear from someone using the RM Learning Platform in your region?
You can find contact details and case studies from local RM Learning Platform schools within our Case Studies and Reference Sites Map.

*requires RM Learning Platform 'Inspire' or 'Insight' packages, or the RM Communicator module

Supporting the way students learn and the way teachers work...

Empowering and engaging students

•  Learning Spaces  brings everything students need together in one place: they can browse their courses; search for resources; receive and return assignments; and check their own progress using the markbook. 
• Teachers can target different activities and resources at sub-groups of students within the same class, to provide a personalised learning experience based on students' needs and interests. 
• Access anywhere and at anytime enables students to have greater independence in their learning.
• Students that are unable to attend school can receive and return work.

 Getting the information needed, whenever it's needed

• Find the perfect resources for any occasion using the sophisticated and intuitive search tool, whether a student or teacher.
• All content can be tagged using a combination of keywords or curriculum frameworks.
• Helps with planning and enables teachers to create stimulating lessons and engage all students in their learning.
• Share resources with colleagues across the school, encouraging collaboration and best practice.
• Quickly import existing materials or create new resources in a few simple steps. 
• Save time by customising existing materials rather than always having to create everything from scratch.

Assessing Progress

• Teachers can readily see when students first accessed an assignment and when they handed it in.
• Tests can be set using a variety of formats, eg multi-choice, multi-response, short answer. The VLE can automatically mark tests and highlight students which have high or low scores.
• The online markbook can be used to record a wide range of activities from completed tests and assignments, to whether learning objectives have been met, as well as informal observations.
• Staff can export the markbook, for example to a spreadsheet, for further analysis.
• Get an overview of performance over a whole course or piece of work, either for individuals or groups. 

 Reliable access at any time

• The RM Learning Platform is an entirely web-based service freeing both students and teachers from the constrains of the classroom.
• An Internet browser is all you need to access the platform - no necessity for any additional servers or storage hardware.
• Take advantage of new product features as soon as they are available without having to wait for software updates to be installed locally or across your network.

The RM Learning Platform is what's called a Web application. How does that differ from a Web site? With a Web application you will need to be logged in, you could be sending large amounts of data back and forth, and you may be doing this on many PCs at once over your school's internet connection which is shared with everyone else searching for information, teaching lessons, and so on.

The computer that you're using for browsing can make a big difference to the speed a page is displayed. As a rule the more powerful your computer the faster it will process and display pages. Here are some recommendations:

Because the RM Learning Platform is delivered as a Web service the only software that you need to access the service is an Internet browser and Adobe® Flash Player. A further plug-in for Flash is required to share desktop applications if you're using the Web conferencing options within the 'Inspire' package, and this can be downloaded during a meeting.

The RM Learning Platform supports the following Internet browsers:

Additional browsers and operating systems may be supported in the future. Browsers and operating systems not listed above may work completely or partially, but their use for  RM Learning Platform has not been tested and therefore they are not supported by RM at this time.

The browser must:

• Be configured to accept session cookies.
• Be capable of 128-bit encryption.

Adobe Flash Reader version 10 or newer needs to be installed to access some of the features including the Web conferencing features in the 'Inspire' package.

Internet Connectivity Requirements
You will require a minimum of 2Mbps Broadband connection from the Curriculum network for users to access the RM Learning Platform from the school; however a simle rule to follow would be that the greater your Broadband connection the faster data can be transferred delivering a faster experience. With video conferncing each concurrent video connection will require a minimium of 0.5Mbps for the optimum experience. Access for home users will also require an Internet connection; a Broadband connection is also recommended for access outside the school.