Evaluation Of Virtual Learning Environment Research Articles

Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environment using DELES questionnaire in Medical Students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: The environment governing learning is one of the most important influencing factors in education. The outbreak of corona virus (COVID-19) has led to a special attention to E-learning as an aid to break the chain of virus transmission. This study was conducted to determine the status of the learning environment of virtual education of medical students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS) using DELES (The Distance Education Learning Environment Survey) questionnaire. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the academic year of 2022 at MUMS. Sampling was a multi-stage method. In this way, at first students in different educational levels (basic science, physiopathology, externship and internship) were considered. For gathering data DELES questionnaire was used. Then the link of the tool was shared in internet groups of medical students .Data were analyzed by T-test , ANOVA, Pearson correlation test through SPSS. In all tests p-value was less than or equal to 0.05. Results: A total of 202 medical students with an average age of 22.88±2.48 years were included in the study. The Mean response of participants studied the courses during the semester in the virtual environment was 49.78 ± 27.76 . The participants in the study reported the education situation to be relatively favorable, so that their satisfaction was more in the area of student independence (Relatively favorable) and less in the area of professors' support (poor). The results of the one-way ANOVA test showed that the average satisfaction score of basic science students is significantly higher than that of externship and internship students (P<0.001, F=7.861). Also, the results of the T-Student test showed that there is no statistically significant difference between students in terms of gender and marital status, but non-native students were less satisfied than native students in terms of interactions between students and colleagues (P < 0.03). Conclusion: The attitude of the students towards distance education during the covid-19 epidemic in medical students of MUMS was relatively favorable or relative satisfaction. Therefore, in order to improving the situation of distance education, it is recommended to implement methods to increase the support of professors and improve their communication with students in the virtual education environment.

Evaluation of the virtual learning environment by school students and their parents in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic after school closure.

Very few previous studies have involved school students or their parents in the evaluation of virtual learning environment (VLE). Thus, this survey was performed to evaluate the satisfaction of both school students and their parents with the VLE in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was distributed online for VLE evaluation. The questionnaire was based on previous studies and expert opinions from validated instruments for assessing distance education, integrative and literature reviews of VLE environment. A median value >3 indicated participant satisfaction in each of the 5 domains of the questionnaire as well as overall VLE satisfaction. The used questionnaire was checked after its implementation by all possible statistical means and it was found to be of acceptable validity and reliability. Six hundred and ninety-three participants including 571 Saudi citizens and 122 non-Saudi residents participated in this survey. The number of school students who agreed or strongly agreed were significantly lower than the number of students who disagreed or strongly disagreed with preferring the VLE over traditional education (p<0.001). The participants evaluated the VLE experience as unsatisfactory with a median value ≤3 for 4 out of 5 questionnaire domains with an overall satisfaction value of 2.8. Among the 117 participants who gave further written opinions/comments, 42(35.9%) participants supported the VLE as an alternative to traditional classrooms, if equipment and internet are made available and for the safety of their children. This is one of few available adequate population-based studies for exploring the VLE satisfaction of both Saudi citizens and non-Saudi residents school students and their parents. This study showed the participants' unsatisfactory VLE experience. The VLE is accepted as an alternative to traditional classrooms to keep up with learning and to maintain the safety of children and it can be a supplementary learning method but many measures are still needed to develop the VLE.

Multilevel Mixture Modeling with Propensity Score Weights for Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments

ABSTRACT With the growing use of virtual learning environments (VLE), innovative methods to evaluate their performance are increasingly needed. A key difficulty in evaluating VLE using system logs is the large heterogeneity of usage patterns. The current study demonstrates an approach to classify complex patterns of student-level and classroom-level usage with latent class analysis, then estimate average treatment effects (ATEs) of membership in student or classroom classes, as well as joint effects. The approach accounts for uncertainty of latent classes with a three-step method, and nonrandom selection into classes using inverse probability weighting. We demonstrate the approach with an analysis of usage of an Algebra VLE and estimate causal effects of latent class membership on a high-stakes Algebra I standardized assessment. Challenges of using system logs for evaluation of VLE are discussed with respect to measurement error, construct validity, latent classes enumeration, and comparison of classes with respect to distal outcomes.

Aprender y enseñar en entornos virtuales: actividad conjunta, ayuda pedagógica y construcción del conocimiento

The paper proposes a theoretical approach to the learning and teaching processes in virtual environments based on the principles of socio-cultural constructivism. Three key ideas are discussed: learning in virtual environments as a process of knowledge construction, teaching in virtual environments as a process of continuous and sensible assistance to knowledge construction, and teacher-students joint activity as the basic unit of analysis of learning and teaching processes in virtual environments. Implications of these ideas for the design and evaluation of virtual learning environments and learning objects are considered and examined.

E-Learning Recommender System for Teaching Staff of Engineering Disciplines

Studies show that Learning Management Systems at university level often are lacking necessary for teaching staff member features such as support of various didactical approaches, consideraion of different specifics of engineering disciplines, user-friendly interface. In this paper, a new recommender system aimed at teaching staff of engineering disciplines who wish to use E-Learning tools in their courses is proposed. The system will take into consideration the level of user experience, assess the elements of a teaching scenario and provide guidlines on the contents of the particular element with regards of the engineering specifics. As a result a lecturer should be able to create his E-Learning course that then will be running as a course within the university LMS. The novelty of the recommender system is that criteria used by the system are based on standards for engineering education in conjunction with the framework for pedagogical evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments.

VALIDADE E FIDELIDADE DA VERSÃO PORTUGUESA REDUZIDA DO WEB BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT INVENTORY

The use of standardized assessment instruments, brings a dimension of reliability and validity that allows a different view on various aspects related to the assessment of learning environments, complementing and enriching the more qualitative character of other approaches. In this topic, questionnaire surveys, have been developed and validated in several countries, with the aim of collecting information for evaluation of virtual learning environments. It has already been discussed, in previous works, the absence of such an instrument, validated for the Portuguese language. This study aims to fill this gap, presenting

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments

Combining a Virtual Learning Tool and Onsite Study Visits of Four Conservation Sites in Europe

The design and evaluation of virtual learning environments for construction and surveying students is presented in this paper; by combining virtual learning environment and on-site student surveys to model and replicate practice in the architectural heritage sector. The Virtual Learning Environment is enhanced with real live survey projects whereby students collect the data to build virtual historic buildings from onsite surveys using advanced survey equipment. The survey data is modelled in HBIM; Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) is currently being developed as a virtual learning tool for construction and surveying students in the Dublin Institute of Technology. HBIM, is a novel solution whereby interactive parametric objects representing architectural elements are constructed from historic data, these elements, including detail behind the scan surface are accurately mapped onto a laser or image based survey. The architectural elements are scripted using a Geometric Descriptive Language GDL. In the case of this project a Virtual Learning Environment is being developed which combines advanced recording and surveying with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to simulate and analyse existing buildings.

Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environment for the Professional Training in Public Administration

In this paper, we describe a framework for the evaluation of a virtual learning environment in the Public Administration context. We describe the question of e-learning education of the Italian Public Administration employees and we analyse the characteristics of these learners [11, 13, 9]. These adults do not belong to the Internet Generation but they have to use the new educational tools, with the problems that this implies [9, 10, 15]. &#x0D; Citizens expect transparency and services personalization, efficiency and quality by the Public Administration. The Public Administration began this modernization process aimed at the improvement of the administrative action. The aim is to meet the needs of citizens that live in a complex society. This entails a re-examination of the role and the logic of work that find in the employees a master key for their success [6]. Therefore the most important element for this modernization process and for the reformation of the administrative action is the education of the employees [12, 14].&#x0D; The European Council invited the member States to adopt the methodologies of e-learning for the education of their staff [4, 5]. In the last years a large number of employees have received training with the methodologies and the instruments of on-line education. &#x0D; The European Public Administrations had adopted on a large scale the e-learning for the education of their employees because this is a modality of in service-training that removes space and time bonds. Moreover this allows the utilisation of new educational techniques. &#x0D; The learning policies adopted by the governments highlight the importance of education in adulthood to be competitive in the knowledge society [4]. This type of education is oriented to provide and to develop the ability that can be utilised in a professional field, not to make up for knowledge opportunities missed at the time of compulsory school education. &#x0D; It is essential to provide the employees-learners a good quality learning object and Virtual Learning Environment [1, 2, 3]. For these reasons we had worked out a framework to evaluate the quality and the pedagogical efficacy of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) from the point of view of lifelong learning. The evaluation offers feedback to developers, tutors, teachers and the other involved people, and it is an important part for the guarantee of quality [7]. We are interested in finding general principles that are useful in the planning of the learning environment for the Public Administration employees. &#x0D; We describe the pedagogical implications of the adoption of e-learning in adult education, the reasons for its broad use in Public Administration. &#x0D; The virtual environment is a social space, and in this system a set of people (students, tutors, teachers, administration assistant, etc) interact, with different roles and needs. &#x0D; For this reason the evaluation of an e-learning environment embraces the evaluation of the process of delivery, the maintenance and the people involved [8]. The evaluation instruments could be created in order to estimate the quality expected, looked for and reached. For these reasons it is necessary to detect indicators able to find the minimum criteria of quality [3]. In a Virtual Learning Environment there are different elements that can be considered in order to evaluate the quality of the learning system, we have considered these:&#x0D; â?¢ The quality of communication system.&#x0D; â?¢ The quality of support services and the didactic staff.&#x0D; â?¢ The quality of administrative services. &#x0D; â?¢ The quality of learning objects.&#x0D; We also analyze the learnersâ?? needs regarding on-line education. The aim of this study was to find a learning environment suitable for Public Administration employees. &#x0D; &#x0D;

Several Aspects of Technical and Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments

Currently virtual learning environments (VLEs) and learning objects (LOs) repositories are under active implementation into general education and vocational training system in Lithuania. The article aims to review LOs interoperability standards development tendencies as well as to com- pare VLEs under existing well-developed pedagogical and technical evaluation frameworks in or- der to suggest the most suitable one for wider implementation to support active socio-constructivist pedagogies in in-service teacher training and overall in Lithuanian general education and vocational training systems.

Evaluating a virtual learning environment in the context of its community of practice

The evaluation of virtual learning environments (VLEs) and similar applications has, to date, largely consisted of checklists of system features, phenomenological studies or measures of specific forms of educational efficacy. Although these approaches offer some value, they are unable to capture the complex and holistic nature of a group of individuals using a common system to support the wide range of activities that make up a course or programme of study over time. This paper employs Wenger’s theories of ‘communities of practice’ to provide a formal structure for looking at how a VLE supports a pre-existing course community. Wenger proposes a Learning Architecture Framework for a learning community of practice, which the authors have taken to provide an evaluation framework. This approach is complementary to both the holistic and complex natures of course environments, in that particular VLE affordances are less important than the activities of the course community in respect of the system. Thus, the VLE’s efficacy in its context of use is the prime area of investigation rather than a reductionist analysis of its tools and components. An example of this approach in use is presented, evaluating the VLE that supports the undergraduate medical course at the University of Edinburgh. The paper provides a theoretical grounding, derives an evaluation instrument, analyses the efficacy and validity of the instrument in practice and draws conclusions as to how and where it may best be used.DOI: 10.1080/0968776042000216192

Brain Activity on Navigation in Virtual Environments

This article reports a first attempt to assess the cognitive processing that takes place in virtual environments, by measuring subjects' electrical brain activity using Fast Fourier Transform analysis. The aim of the study was the evaluation of virtual learning environments using the above methodology in addition to the standard methodology of social sciences and educational research, namely quantitative and qualitative empirical research. Twelve university students, undergraduates and postgraduates, were asked to perform the same task in a real and a virtual environment. During the two processes, their brain signals were recorded and analyzed. Eye-movement measurements showed that all the subjects were more attentive when navigating in the virtual world. The difference between alpha and beta rhythms for the virtual task indicated that students placed more attention in the virtual environment and were more responsive to the cognitive stimulation. Lower theta activity in the virtual task demonstrated that all the subjects placed less mental effort in the virtual task signifying that virtual reality provides environments suitable for knowledge transfer. These results show that virtual reality may provide educational environments for students to concentrate, perceive, and judge, and give us indications that there is a need of training of the users of virtual worlds.