Abstract

During the last few years there has been widespread adoption of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in many countries. This research is a longitudinal study of the impact of a VLE on learning and teaching within one institution in the UK. In October 2000, the University of Durham launched duo, Durham University Online, using the commercial package Blackboard. There has been a rapid uptake of duo within every department of the University of approximately 10000 students and 700 staff. The effect of the introduction of duo on learning and teaching has been evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods. There were high response rates to the online surveys which were undertaken in May 2001 and 2002 and these surveys are being repeated in May 2003. This paper presents the results of this evaluation, including the data analysis, which examined factors such as gender, year of study and faculty.