Investigating VAT (value‐adding technologies) and e‐ffectiveness in a French department

Abstract

In 1998, when University College Northampton (UCN) selected WebBoard as its campus‐wide virtual learning environment (VLE) and encouraged its adoption, e‐learning became a central feature of the French Department's learning and teaching strategy. By September 2003, all the campus‐focused modules in French had become VLE‐resourced. In April 2004, we conducted a paper‐based survey to measure our students' views on (1) ‘e‐novation’ in general; and (2) computer‐assisted language testing (CALT) in particular, with a view to (1) evaluating the French Department's e‐ffectiveness; and (2) making student‐informed decisions for 2004–2005. This paper concerns itself, initially, with the origins of e‐learning in our French Department, the latter's evolving range of web‐based learning offerings as well as the educational principles underpinning our e‐learning strategy. It then presents selected results of our investigation and offers some tentative conclusions with regard to ‘e‐ffectiveness’.