Online Virtual Learning Environment Research Articles

How Online Learning Has Changed the Accessibility of Higher Education

It has become more accessible, flexible, and affordable than ever before as it completely does away with geographical and time barriers as have persisted in traditional education. This aspect accelerated not just in presence but also with identifying strengths and weaknesses in online learning during the pandemic. An advantage of online education has been low cost, based on reduced physical infrastructure. Another is flexibility in learning that learners enjoy as it balances personal responsibilities with their educational needs. Additionally, access for disabled students exists through assistive technologies. Many institutions have embraced this hybrid model where both the traditional learning experience and the online learning experience can give personalized educational experiences. On the other hand, it has posed such problems as the digital divide: students from lower-income backgrounds and those residing in rural areas often cannot access the internet and its other technological tools, which remain inaccessible to a high number of students with disabilities. This contributes to the isolation and disengagement of the online learners, who feel much more at home within the face-to-face learning setting. A further drawback relates to the issue of academic integrity in an online virtual learning environment, where there are no guarantees that students would be self-regulatory.The study examines how these challenges affect the accessibility of higher education and explores gaps in current research, such as the digital divide, inclusion of marginalized students, and the emotional and social impact of online learning. Online education has broadened access to higher education, but there is a need to ensure that all barriers are addressed so that equitable, high-quality learning opportunities are offered to all students.

The Impact of Virtual Reality Technology in Improving English Language Proficiency

Abstract As an online virtual learning environment based on virtual reality technology, the 3D virtual classroom provides a complete learning system for students to study, discuss, and collaborate, which can better improve their English language skills. The article firstly researches the 3D visualization modeling technology of Multigen Creator, and then the 3D virtual classroom environment is embedded in the network to complete the construction of the basic English teaching environment, which can help students to complete the English communication and collaborative learning in the virtual classroom environment. The article concludes with an empirical test of the application effect of using the virtual classroom environment in English language proficiency improvement and finds that after using the virtual classroom environment for English learning, students’ comprehensive language proficiency is improved, which is reflected in the improvement of language expression ability, and students’ total average score is increased from 3.03 to 3.50 points. The pre-test showed an increase in the student’s language learning experience from 2.96 to 3.83 points. It can be concluded that virtual reality technology plays a good role and influences in improving English language proficiency.

Online but Disconnected: Student Connectedness in Online Remote Learning i n Higher Education in New Zealand

New Zealand university students in the online learning environment may have feelings of disconnectedness, isolation, and suffer a lack of personal attention. Perhaps these universities are at a junction, where they can choose to offer students immersion into a virtual learning environment devoid of a physical presence, or a pathway which nurtures students’ learning in a hands-on, face-to-face, physical space. Understanding student online connectedness, or their sense of belonging with the online virtual learning environment, may help navigate a path through this junction as the emergence of online remote learning becomes commonplace in New Zealand. This article suggests that universities should foster a virtual place of learning by developing an online social presence and promote open communication between faculty and students, and between students and their peers. Students are more likely to value online courses that foster a high degree of connectedness, and they are more likely to complete these courses. In this article, online student connectedness is defined and tools to measure it are described. Strategies to promote student connectedness in the online learning environment are suggested, for example, comprising social media and social networking sites which facilitate communication and increase social presence.

Curriculum Implementation And The Right To Education During Covid-19 In South Africa

With the emergence of COVID-19 this brought about changes in teaching and learning worldwide. In most parts of the world including South Africa students were sent home in March 2020 and learning was moved to an online virtual learning environment. In the process, the government implemented various stringent measures to flatten the curve of new infections, reduce death and strengthen the ability of the public health system to deal with the pandemic. This column draws from the capabilities approach to examine how such restrictions and policies interact with human rights and advanced or limited the implementation of the curriculum during the onset of COVID-19. The paper suggests ways of balancing curriculum implementation in online and contact contexts and how respect for human rights could be enhanced during pandemics.

Shakespeare in Blended Learning Mode: Examining Effectiveness at the British University in Egypt (BUE) during COVID-19 Pandemic

Educational institutions aim to offer appropriate teaching environments that would enhance the learning process. They have come to embrace various tools that enable creating such learning environments, many of which are technological and are no longer limited to the institutions' physical premises. This led to the rise of what has come to be known as Blended Learning (BL): learning strategies that combine face-to-face with virtual instruction modes. The focus of such an atmosphere would be targeted towards a student-centred approach that maximises teaching effectiveness by employing relevant and effective learning techniques.The COVID-19 pandemic, with its forced lockdown of educational institutions, challenged face-to-face learning environments and contributed greatly to the adoption of BL approaches. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of a BL model applied in an undergraduate Shakespeare module at the British University in Egypt (BUE). To address the module Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), the process employed a Flipped-Enriched Virtual Model involving instructor-student interaction in face-to-face and virtual modes in which the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) was utilized as the medium for the online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The effectiveness of the model was assessed by interviewing students for their feedback. The findings of this study support that the Flipped-Enriched Virtual Model could benefit educators as best practice to achieve module ILOs within and beyond a literature module and in different teaching contexts.

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN PEDIATRIC RHEUMATOLOGY FOR PEDIATRIC RESIDENTS.

ABSTRACTObjective:To develop, implement and evaluate an online virtual learning environment (VLE) on pediatric rheumatology, aimed at pediatric residents, analyzing its effectiveness and satisfaction rates.Methods:A total of 92 first and second year pediatric residents at two pediatric reference centers were invited to participate in the study. Residents were randomized into a case group (that answered the pre-course test, attended the six virtual pediatric rheumatology modules, and then responded to the post-course test and a satisfaction questionnaire) and a control group (that only answered the pre-course test and, after 4 weeks, the post-course test).Results:Forty-seven residents (51%) completed their participation. In the case group (n=24), the mean percentage of correct answers was 14% higher on the post-course test (p<0.001). The number of correct answers was larger in the case group than in the control one (n=23) in the post-course test (p=0.045). In the assessment of satisfaction with VLE use, residents considered the site easy to navigate (91%), suitable as a learning tool (91%), and attractive in design (79%). They reported poor prior knowledge in pediatric rheumatology (91%) and agreed that there was good learning with the methodology (75%).Conclusions:The virtual learning environment in pediatric rheumatology proved to be an effective teaching tool with high satisfaction rates, providing pediatrician residents with adequate knowledge regarding the initial assessment and management of children with rheumatic diseases.

Incorporating augmented reality to enrich student learning

Learning in higher education is now performed across several dimensions, for example: face-to-face in the classroom or practical sessions; engaging with reusable learning objects; online distance learning and virtual learning environments, all represent significant 'places' of learning. With the advent of technology, the incorporation of multimedia resources to complement lecture theory/practical applications is increasingly evident in modules and programmes. However, with these advances come excessive supplementary digital resources that are available to students, often across multiple platforms. The resources can become separated from relevant lecture notes and this disconnection represents a potential block to learning. Augmented Reality (AR) addresses this concern. Through activation via a 'trigger' image placed in a printed handout, students can engage with specific multimedia content in real-time, and more importantly at the appropriate part of their course. Examples of these multimedia resources are pre-existing online, or customised electronic sketch, videos. Each can be made available for repeat viewings at a later stage, empowering students and benefiting self-paced learning and revision. Here, the role and benefit of AR in empowering students with regard to their learning and the steps needed to introduce AR are discussed.

Online Virtual Learning Environments

This article is an overview of online virtual learning environments for discovery learning. The paper defines Virtual Learning Environments and discusses literature findings on the benefits of using web-based VEs for self-directed learning. It gives an overview of the latest technologies/platforms used to develop online VEs, discusses development and delivery challenges posed by complex, information-rich web-based 3D environments, and describes possible solutions that can be adopted to overcome current limitations. The paper also presents and discusses two 3D web-deliverable virtual learning environments that were recently developed by the authors: the “Virtual Tour of the Muscatatuck State Hospital Historic District (MSHHD)” and the “VELS: Virtual Environment for Learning Surveying”. The “Interactive 3D Tour of MSHHD” is a web-based digital heritage application that uses Virtual Reality as a tool to document and preserve historic sites and educate the public about them; the “VELS” is an online virtual learning environment whose objective is to help undergraduate students learn surveying concepts and practices.

Evaluation of Strategic Emergency Response Training on an OLIVE Platform

Virtual worlds provide a new methodological framework for conducting emergency response exercises. The research attempts to evaluate whether the use of virtual worlds avoids recognized weaknesses of traditional emergency response exercises and facilitates further learning outcomes. The objectives of the article include, first, to examine whether the virtual worlds contribute to learning experiences for the emergency response exercises; second, to use a case study to evaluate and synthesize preliminary findings of the strategic flood response exercise; and third, to make recommendations for conducting a larger scale emergency response in an online Virtual Learning Environment. The preliminary findings suggest that the use of virtual worlds could potentially facilitate better learning outcomes and provide as an effective training methodology to the emergency communities. It also identifies the challenges of developing virtual world exercises, for instance, the need for better collaboration and communication between developers, academics, and end users.

TheCN.com: An Academic-cum-Social Networking Online Platform

This article is a review of theCN, an online virtual learning environment. CN is more than a learning management system, as it not only focuses on course content delivery and management, but takes it a step further by introducing the networking of courses and their content. I n comparison with existing LMS’s, which are housed in closed walls with limited access to learners and instructors within institutions, used to merely manage courses online, CN is an open, free, academic and social networking framework scalable to massive numbers of learners from any place in the world within a single environment. CN is free for all to use across the globe. With some minor improvements, CN, as an LMS is surely one of very useful and helpful virtual learning technology tool available to distance learners and institutions to make learning entertaining and fruitful in achieving its learning objectives.

Facilitating the Development of the Autonomous Language Learner Using Online Virtual Learning Environments

This paper argues that if used correctly, computer-mediated courseware (CMC), in the form of an online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) such as Blackboard or Moodle, has the potential to offer adult learners in university settings an optimal autonomy-supportive environment for learning English as a second language at a distance. The paper firstly considers how to promote learner autonomy through offering participants choices during the initial stages of a course through a negotiated syllabus. It then divides the language learning process into metacognitive and cognitive linguistic capacities and provides examples of strategies to increase autonomy in these spheres. Autonomy with regard to metacognitive linguistic capacities can be developed first by the multimodal aspect of CMC, in particular, the unprecedented access to resources, second, through the array of mediums to select in the creation and submission of assignments and third, through the notion of ‘dissemination’ (Mayes, 2002), which allows for ‘vicarious learning’ (Bandura, 1986). Autonomy with regard to cognitive linguistic capacities can be promoted through goal-oriented participant interaction on spoken and written forums on the platform, followed by consciousness-raising language activities guiding students to notice patterns in the language. In conclusion, it is suggested that a VLE might lead to optimum learning through the facilitation of a state of ‘flow’ or ‘autotelic’ activity, a concept closely related to autonomy and intrinsic motivation.

The learningscape of a virtual design atelier

The development of e-learning platforms is fundamentally changing the nature of education across all disciplines. Art and design education has traditionally taken place within a studio environment and its model of teaching and learning has been informed by the ‘atelier’ approach which has a distinctive educational and cultural history. Signifi cant pressures arise today in undergraduate art and design education and partly these drive the need to establish an effective and viable modern studio experience. Not only must any new studio support student learning of practice and principles, for example, by allowing students to work alongside experts, it must foster the community and culture of the creative industries. As if this wasn’t diffi cult enough, any innovation in teaching and learning must not incur the huge costs and resource demands of our current models of art and design education and it must be scalable to provide a stimulating experience for large numbers of students with diverse backgrounds, abilities and needs. This paper reports on a suite of studies that were carried out as part of a JISCfunded project titled ATELIER-D. The aim of the project was to create an online virtual design learning environment that replicates and improves the features of traditional face-to-face studio education. The paper makes reference to new curricula at the Open University, particularly a new FHEQ level 4 online design course fi rst presented in February 2010 to 350 students.

Safety in numbers 3: Authenticity,Building knowledge & skills andCompetency development & assessment: The ABC of safe medication dosage calculation problem-solving pedagogy

When designing learning and assessment environments it is essential to articulate the underpinning education philosophy, theory, model and learning style support mechanisms that inform their structure and content. We elaborate on original PhD research that articulates the design rationale of authentic medication dosage calculation problem-solving (MDC-PS) learning and diagnostic assessment environments. These environments embody the principles of authenticity, building knowledge and skills and competency assessment and are designed to support development of competence and bridging of the theory-practice gap. Authentic learning and diagnostic assessment environments capture the features and expert practices that are located in real world practice cultures and recreate them in authentic virtual clinical environments. We explore how this provides students with a safe virtual authentic environment to actively experience, practice and undertake MDC-PS learning and assessment activities. We argue that this is integral to the construction and diagnostic assessment of schemata validity (mental constructions and frameworks that are an individual's internal representation of their world), bridging of the theory-practice gap and cognitive and functional competence development. We illustrate these principles through the underpinning pedagogical design of two online virtual authentic learning and diagnostic assessment environments (safeMedicate and eDose™).

Developing generic competences in online virtual education programmes at the University of Deusto

Purpose – The current paper focuses on the increasing demand for generic competences both from governments and industries. Despite this fact, there is insufficient awareness and information in education systems on how to equip graduates with appropriate generic competences for the world of work and citizenship. This is even more complicated in online virtual learning programmes where face‐to‐face communication is excluded in the design and implementation of the programme curriculum. The paper seeks to question if it is possible to develop generic competences in an online virtual learning environment.

Where does the learning take place?

This paper presents the concept of learning spaces to demonstrate where and how learning takes place within a networked learning programme. The focus of the study is a ten month leadership and development programme, called LEAD, for owner managers of small to medium sized enterprise (SMEs). The programme incorporates different types of learning interventions including experiential sessions, masterclasses, coaching, action learning and business shadowing and exchanges which are brought together with an online virtual learning environment. The paper draws upon data from an ethnographic study including a virtual ethnography of one cohort of 25 delegates on LEAD. The data is supported by interviews and observations from six previous cohorts. LEAD is based on a social theory of learning and the SMEs learn about management and leadership predominantly through peer-to-peer learning. The paper conceptualises five learning spaces; (1) LEAD, (2) reflective, (3) social, (4) peer-to-peer and (5) future. These spaces are relational and the paper explores what they mean in terms of the SMEs’ learning. Drawing on situated learning theory the paper shows how participants engage in these spaces through Lave and Wenger’s (1991) reading of legitimate peripheral participation . Building on this the concept of the situated curriculum (Gherardi et al., 1998) is used to show how the delegates learn to ‘behave’ in these spaces and how their identity shifts according to which learning space they occupy. Finally, building on Ponti and Hodgson’s (2006) networked learning principles for SME managers the paper will present some learning principles for designing networked learning programmes for SMEs. This paper will be of interest to academics and practitioners alike who have an interest in learning technologies, SMEs and debates surrounding communities of practice. Additionally the paper has relevance to government policy in the area of higher education and knowledge transfer through networked learning and SMEs.

A Study of Virtual Learning Environment with Reference to the Perceived Preparedness of the College Students in Tamil Nadu (South India)

This study intends to understand student’s perception and preparation for a Web-enabled learning. The purpose of this study is to asses the preparation of learners to adapt to the virtual learning environment, (VLE) as all students are expected to be computer savvy if they are to participate in the VLE. This research paper investigates the preparation and attitude of the students towards the online virtual learning environment, and the conditions under which web-based courses are or are not accepted by students. Data were collected from the questionnaires completed by the 350 students enrolled in self-financed and aided colleges in Chennai and Tamilnadu, having prior experience with open education resources such as wikepaedia, Blogs, U-Tube digital libraries and other multimedia applications. The questionnaires for the study were developed from the framework of Technology acceptance model (TAM) developed by Davis Bagozzi and Warshaw (1989) and Pedagogical theories from educational research and group interaction/Social theories from social psychology and sociology. Two aspects, instructional and interactive, are considered in this study. The instructional aspect of a VLE refers to the providing study materials & Learning resources via the World Wide Web, that are relevant to the pedagogical theories from educational research. The interactive aspect is related to group interaction/ social theories from social psychology and sociology. This empirical study centers on understanding students perception and skills within these two aspects which is considered essential in assessing students readiness towards web based courses. It is assumed that with the increased capacity and potential of the information networks there will be a growing number of students using electronic resources in order to pursue their education, thus research will help the policymakers and educational institutions in assessing the needs and demands of VLE. The study will help in understanding the student’s perception towards VLE, thus improving the design of VLE for further improvement.

Increasing Staff and Student Capacity to Use the Communication Facility in Queen's Online in Order to Support Learning and Teaching on a BSW Programme

In this article the authors explore and evaluate developments in the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) within social work education at Queen's University Belfast since the inception of the new degree in social work. They look at the staff development strategy utilised to increase teacher confidence and competence in use of the Queen's Online virtual learning environment tools as well as the student experience of participation in modules involving online discussions. The authors conclude that the project provided further opportunity to reflect on how ICT can be used as a platform to support a whole course in a systematic and coordinated way and to ensure all staff remained abreast of ongoing developments in the use of ICT to support learning which is a normative expectation of students entering universities. A very satisfying outcome for the leaders is our observation of the emergence of other ‘experts’ in different aspects of use of ICT amongst the staff team. This project also shows that taking a team as opposed to an individual approach can be particularly beneficial.

An online image analysis tool for science education

This paper describes an online image analysis tool developed as part of an iterative, user-centered development of an online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called the Education through Virtual Experience (EVE) Portal. The VLE provides a Web portal through which schoolchildren and their teachers create scientific proposals, retrieve images and other resources, and produce collaborative scientific papers summarizing their learning experiences. The VLE underwent substantive formative testing involving over 200 schoolchildren producing over 50 collaboratively written research papers. Detailed analysis of these research papers identified some shortfalls toward the goal of producing authentic scientific engagement. The absence of data collection and data analysis within these research papers was disappointing despite having scheduled time for this activity and having several professional imaging tools available. The post-evaluation analyses have enabled the development team to identify specific design flaws in the previous VLE and have shaped the design of the new custom-built tool. The success of the tool will be born out through content analysis of future collaboratively written student papers.