BLC stands, of course, for Building Learning Communities and is the Staffordshire response to the challenge of lifelong learning - creating a society in which universities and colleges are resources which can used time and again as life demands new skills. That demands flexibility including the ability to access learning in different ways and from different locations - and Staffordshire now has in place one of the essential elements which will provide that flexibility. At heart it is a series of interlocking databases which allow students to work alone or in teams. The plan of action for a particular course is found in the Schedule. Here the instructor can create course assignments and set objectives for individual students.
Students can check deadlines, review the syllabus and link to other resources.
The Media Centre provides the knowledged base for a course and any resources needed can be housed here or accessed from here. There is a multimedia library for images, video and audio and students can even make electronic notes on the material they access. The Course Room is a virtual classroom where students can operate as a team, discuss issues with each other or with the instructor. Here students can collaborate on an assignment, each contributing to the flow of work or conduct a discussion - not necessarily in real time. The Instructor is able to communicate with the students as a whole, a group or individually.