Ultranet (product)
Encyclopedia
The Ultranet is an online learning management system developed by the Victorian
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Australia
to provide extensive services to students, parents and teachers in government schools. The Ultranet was built by CSG.
The system was rolled out to all Victorian government schools throughout 2010.
Ultranet Coaches (Teachers employed to assist in the implementation of the ultranet in DEECD schools) were notified on Friday the 6th May that at the end of the year (2011) their positions would no longer exist. Even with the decision not to renew contracts for Ultranet Coaches in Victorian government schools, there remains considerable speculation that DEECD are planning to 'sell off' the Ultranet to other education systems, including the Catholic sector. In addition to online comments and leaks, this speculation is also supported by the position of the Ultranet 'Business Owner'.
Teachers can create 'mini sites' on the Ultranet to share information with parents, other teachers and students. Categories for these 'mini sites' come under 'Design', 'Collaborative Learning' and 'Community'. The author of a site on the Ultranet can add the following parts to a page on their site:
Further customisations of a page are not available using a GUI. Changing the background picture, for example, requires knowledge of Cascading Style Sheet code. The user interface and available applications on the Ultranet stem from the Student@Center project in 2005. The use of outdated technologies may explain the common complaint of a sluggish and clunky end user experience.
There has been further criticism about the Ultranet being an exclusively closed space. While the Ultranet has been designed with online safety as a priority, the lack of modern Web 2.0 tools forces users to embed content from other sources, somewhat undermining the safety and privacy priority. Many schools already have access to other free online learning management systems, including Moodle and Google Apps. Google Apps is available for all schools in Australia, offering cutting edge access to a wide range of Web 2.0 technologies and increased online storage space that the Ultranet can not compete with.
There has also been criticism surrounding the lack of options in 'Learning Tasks', where many other rival Learning Management Systems have more modern and flexible solutions. Learning tasks available in the Ultranet are:
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to provide extensive services to students, parents and teachers in government schools. The Ultranet was built by CSG.
Design
The system is designed to provide:- curriculum content and learning activities
- student, staff and school records
- a reporting system
- a school page
- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access via the Internet for all valid users
Implementation
"The Ultranet" was originally piloted in 22 schools in 2006 under the label 'Student@Centre'.The system was rolled out to all Victorian government schools throughout 2010.
Ultranet Coaches (Teachers employed to assist in the implementation of the ultranet in DEECD schools) were notified on Friday the 6th May that at the end of the year (2011) their positions would no longer exist. Even with the decision not to renew contracts for Ultranet Coaches in Victorian government schools, there remains considerable speculation that DEECD are planning to 'sell off' the Ultranet to other education systems, including the Catholic sector. In addition to online comments and leaks, this speculation is also supported by the position of the Ultranet 'Business Owner'.
Features and Usability
The Ultranet is divided into a number of sections including:- Learner Profile
- Learning Task
- Design Space
- Collaborative Learning
- Community Space
- Express Space
Teachers can create 'mini sites' on the Ultranet to share information with parents, other teachers and students. Categories for these 'mini sites' come under 'Design', 'Collaborative Learning' and 'Community'. The author of a site on the Ultranet can add the following parts to a page on their site:
- Calendar
- iFrame (loads an external webpage inside the current page)
- Blog
- Quick note
- Poll
- Wiki
- Slide show
- RSS feed (An external feed, such as latest news from a newspaper site)
Further customisations of a page are not available using a GUI. Changing the background picture, for example, requires knowledge of Cascading Style Sheet code. The user interface and available applications on the Ultranet stem from the Student@Center project in 2005. The use of outdated technologies may explain the common complaint of a sluggish and clunky end user experience.
Criticism
A pupil-free professional development day was planned for 9 August 2010 for teaching staff to learn how to use the Ultranet. However heavy server loads caused the system to crash around 9.00am and teaching was unable to continue. Some schools were reported to have abandoned the training day and staff dismissed early.There has been further criticism about the Ultranet being an exclusively closed space. While the Ultranet has been designed with online safety as a priority, the lack of modern Web 2.0 tools forces users to embed content from other sources, somewhat undermining the safety and privacy priority. Many schools already have access to other free online learning management systems, including Moodle and Google Apps. Google Apps is available for all schools in Australia, offering cutting edge access to a wide range of Web 2.0 technologies and increased online storage space that the Ultranet can not compete with.
There has also been criticism surrounding the lack of options in 'Learning Tasks', where many other rival Learning Management Systems have more modern and flexible solutions. Learning tasks available in the Ultranet are:
- A URL link
- A text page
- A file submission