Virtual Educational Environment Research Articles

Intermediate results: how students assess distance learning and whether there are prospects for its application in interactive educational environments

The paper presents the results of the study of the use of services and technologies in distance learning for students. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using distance learning technologies that affect learning outcomes and students' satisfaction with the educational process. The work is relevant to improving the educational process by increasing the effectiveness of distance learning tools and technologies, taking into account their advantages, improving the quality characteristics of the educational process, its elements and the use of optimal technologies for both students and teachers. As part of the preparation of the work, a sociological study of 1,000 university students was conducted, in which the preferences of students in the use of distance learning services, the frequency of their use, the degree of application of such tools by teachers in the educational process were studied. The most popular digital services for distance learning were identified, including the most widely used interactive learning services. Identification of the main negative and positive aspects of distance learning in terms of students. Prospects for the use of digital services in virtual educational environments and meta-universes were shown, as well as the development of electronic didactic means for the implementation of the educational process. The results obtained during the study allow clarifying the attitude of students to distance education, assess the degree of influence of various factors on the effectiveness of distance education. The results can be used to make changes in the current educational process in terms of application or rejection of specific methods and technologies, their adaptation and improvement.

Environmental engineering students’ motivation through foreign language learning in the context of digital teaching realization (on the example of Moodle virtual environment)

The article analyzes the ways digital teaching implementation during the process of foreign language learning by future environmental engineers. The relevance of the work is the need of society for highly qualified specialists with foreign language communication skills. The theoretical significance of the study is in the fact that ways of digital teaching implementation are considered. The practical significance of given paper is in the development of electronic educational and methodological complexes for various levels on the Moodle platform education during the process of foreign language learning, which allow to stimulate the desire for students’ motivation to success, effectively organize independent activities and enhance students’ cognitive activity. “Motivation of success and fear of failure (questionnaire of A. A. Rean)” was applied in the empirical study. The results showed that learning in virtual reality leads to increased motivation and involvement of students in the learning process. It is concluded that the competent organization of independent work in a virtual educational environment and the use of modern tools improve the quality of future environmental engineers’ professional training.

Six sigma-oriented methodology for multivariate capability analysis to measure service quality in virtual education environments

Six sigma-oriented methodology for multivariate capability analysis to measure service quality in virtual education environments

Učenje engleskog jezika struke putem mudla u vanrednim okolnostima - perspektiva studenata

This paper investigates the experiences and opinions of students who learnt English for specific purposes via Moodle in the period between March and June 2020. The aim was to analyse the extent and forms of their engagement in this type of learning, explore their perceived positive and negative aspects of the course, and obtain suggestions for integration of this educational platform into English language classes in future. In addition, the paper aimed to investigate if there were any statistically significant differences related to the respondents' use of the platform and their participation in the course according to the level of their English language knowledge and digital competences. The sample comprised 107 students who completed an anonymous questionnaire. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using the descriptive statistics and content analysis. Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to detect the correlation between dependent and independent variables. The obtained results showed general satisfaction with the English language course run on Moodle, but also revealed the students' observation that the platform should accompany face to face classes in order to make learning more effective. The positive and negative aspects of the course identified by respondents were mostly in line with the existing research within the field of emergency remote teaching. Students pointed to the advantages of learning English via Moodle in terms of flexibility, accessibility of teaching materials, functions of tools such as tests, glossaries, forums. They also highlighted drawbacks, such as absence of real-time communication, work overload, and lack of self-discipline. It was interesting to discover that although research participants recognized the benefits of communication and collaboration tools, they did not engage with them to the anticipated extent. The fact that the mentioned issue has been identified in online learning in general suggests that the cause might lie in traditional, teacher-centred approach to teaching, which is still widespread in the educational system in Serbia. The obtained data carry important pedagogical implications for both learners and teachers in terms of incorporating digital tools in classes and devising a strategy for implementation of remote teaching in times of crisis. Students should be acquainted more thoroughly with virtual educational environment, which would, in turn, lead to the increased engagement and development of learner autonomy. In order to achieve this goal, teachers should strive to enhance their technological and pedagogic competences. This would also help them keep pace with technological educational innovations and encounter potential future educational emergencies better prepared.

Social networks and gamification in physical education: A case study

Recent research and studies on training plans in physical education agree on the need to incorporate digital technologies in teaching contexts. At the same time, the introduction of active methodologies, such as gamification, has become one of the major trends of recent years. In this paper we present the perception of teachers and students about a gamified proposal for physical education in secondary education that uses social networks as a way for communication, collaboration, and promotion of physical activity among students. <i>Edmodo</i> has been used to carry out this experience because, as a vertical social network, it has an attractive interface for students and protects their privacy by not requiring any personal data.<br /> This is a qualitative research, with a case study methodological design, which has used the focus group and group interview as data collection techniques. The sample consisted of 10 teachers, which represents all the teachers participating in the experience, and 56 students. The results show the positive assessment, both by teachers and students, of the <i>Edmodo </i>social network as a virtual teaching-learning environment for physical education in secondary education, and gamification as an active methodology. Likewise, the influence that the proposal, based on the use of digital technologies and gamification, has had on the promotion of physical activity among pupils has been high.

Creating a Virtual (Digital) Educational Environment for Teaching Biology in the Conditions of Technoparks and Quantoriums at School and University

The article describes the features of the interaction of a general education school and a technopark of a pedagogical university in the implementation of modern biological education. The relationship of biology with other sciences is considered, the types of educational technologies used in the process of interaction are presented, the significance of the digital laboratories of the technopark are revealed. The article considers as a scientific problem the identification of promising areas of didactic research, the expansion of their research field. In the article, the provisions of general didactics are concretized in relation to new objects included in its research field, the problems of didactics of higher education are considered. Also, the article deals with virtual reality, more precisely, its concept for creating a more powerful and useful virtual learning environment than existing approaches to learning based on traditional technologies, by incorporating new technologies and new learning criteria. A method of vector modeling of virtual reality, presented for use in various types of self-education, based on information and communication technologies, educational technologies for blended teaching of biology in high school is proposed and substantiated.

METHODS OF ORGANIZING AND CONDUCTING LABORATORY WORK IN TEACHING PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY FOR STUDENTS MAJORING IN «PHARMACY, INDUSTRIAL PHARMACY»

Therelevanceofthescientifictopicisbasedonfindingandsolvingtheproblemsofselectingandimproving themethodologyoforganizationandconductinglaboratoryworkintheteachingofpharmaceuticalchemistryfor students of the «Pharmacy, industrial pharmacy» specialty. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiaritiesoftheprocessofteachingthediscipline«PharmaceuticalChemistry»forstudentsofthe«Pharmacy,industrial pharmacy»specialty.Themethodologicalapproachoftheresearchisbasedonthemethodsofanalysis,synthesis, comparison,andgeneralization.Intheprocessofconductinga surveyoffull-timestudents,problemsduringthe study of pharmaceutical chemistry were identified and ways to improve the methodology of teaching laboratory work were outlined. A methodological toolkit was developed to improve the level of teaching pharmaceutical chemistry forpharmacy students, namely: the use of multimedia interactive lectures; development of electronic courses; method ofrole-playing games; preparation and defence of term papers; application of lectures or laboratory-practical classes with consideration of various professional situations, with proposed false formulas, definitions, possible mechanismsofreactions.Intheprocessofconductingtheformativestageoftheexperiment,theuseofa virtualeducational environment and multimedia lectures took place. Prospective directions for improving the methodology of organizingand conducting laboratory work in teaching pharmaceutical chemistry for students majoring in «Pharmacy, industrial pharmacy» have been formed. The practical value of the work lies in the improvement of organizational methods and conducting laboratory work on a specific topic

디자인씽킹 교과목 학습 설문의 내용타당도(CVR) 분석연구

The rapid spread and development of the virtual educational environment occured with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. Interest and demand for effective educational methods for virtual learning from educational institutions have been increasing due to this phenomenon. As a result, there has been a shift from the origianly design thinking educaiton model that existed solely in person, has now had to transition into a virtual format. For this reason, research related to design thinking education in the online environment is insufficient. This study proposes an educational model for online design thinking based on flipped-learning. Students can actively form a team by learning common theories and sharing individual topics. The model was created based on the hypothesis that it would positively affect online team activity. The design thinking subject questionnaire was designed to cover four areas: class content, concept application stage satisfaction, instructor intervention, team activity. These four fields were tested originally by Lawshe's CVR(Content Validity Ratio) analysis in order to analyze the descriptive statistics for the mean and the standard deviation. Additionally, the KS(Kolmogorov-Smirnov) test was utilized in order to analzye the difference between these items. The validity of all the questions presented in the four areas: class content, concept application stage satisfaction, instructor intervention, and team activity method, were all proven to be valid. The items whose validity has been proven through this study can be used as primary data for systematizing the ideal design thinking class model of flipped-learning for instructors in the university class setting.

Virtual Learning Environments: Modeling a New Learning Policy Strategy

The paper examines the modelling dimension of the virtual teaching/learning environment and its implementation practices. Changing trends of the educational processes become apparent; thus, it is necessary to reflect and justify the contours of modeling the virtual educational environment. When looking for new ways of conceptualizing teaching/learning strategies, it is especially important to understand the inclusive, enabling context of the open learning spaces, to adequately assess the content elements and to predict the possible characteristics of their expression in the context of inclusive and sustainable economy. In this paper, the process of modeling the virtual learning environment is analyzed using reflexive approaches. It is stressed that the aim of the new education policy strategy is to create learning environments that enable people of different talents and interests to receive appropriate learning, adapt to different life situations and goals, and reconcile, say, formal learning and self-education. Qualitative data is presented along with both teachers’ and educational experts’ attitudes.

Investigation of virtual & augmented reality classroom learning environments in university STEM education

ABSTRACT This study investigates the use of virtual and augmented reality (VAR) in higher education on students’ self-efficacy in science and engineering, and academic performance. An innovative VAR classroom is set up as an immersive and interactive learning environment at Nanyang Technological University for curriculum-based learning. This classroom is equipped with 6 individual VR displays and headsets, where high-end computers are connected to each display providing the computational power required for VAR technology. 46 undergraduate engineering students experience the VAR lessons over the course of 5 weeks. The self-efficacy and academic performance of the students are measured for quantitative analysis with surveys and regular (pre-/post-) tests as they participated in the lessons. Post-lesson focus-group discussions and interviews are conducted for qualitative analysis. The data analysis shows a significant increase in students’ self-efficacy levels and academic performance after 5 weeks of VAR lessons. It is found that the collaborative, interactive and immersive nature of the VAR learning environment enriches students’ learning experiences and thus contributes to their learning effectiveness. The study provides insights into how the VAR learning environment affects undergraduate students’ learning, and how the VAR system can be deployed for effective STEM education

Pedagogical discourse and communication ethic in policultural virtual educational environment

The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for the transition of education to an online format. Clearly, most educational institutions and teachers were forced to adapt methods and forms of online educational process on the short notice. The issue of online education has long been considered from the scientific and practical sides, however, such a quick and forced transition to online revealed the problems, features and potential of online communication. The ethics of online communication in education is one of the most significant issues. The development of the information environment initiated the emergence of an educational multicultural environment, which entailed a certain kind of systemic changes, which, one way or another, will be reflected in the transformation of the elements of the information and educational environment (IEE) organization. This applies to both the traditional format of education and online educational practices. There is a number of specific features of multicultural educational environment that do not occur in monocultural environments: non-identical professional thesauri, various habitual communication patterns with a teacher, representation of educational information and educational content specifics, decision-making specifics, the attitude to creative tasks performing in the process of learning, ambiguous understanding of learning objectives, terminology, preferred type of control and measuring materials, etc.

The Ethics of the Virtual Educational Environment, New Meanings

Introduction. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ethical and linguo-didactic aspects of the virtual educational space of higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for the transition of education to an online format. Of course, most educational institutions and teachers were forced to quickly adapt the methods and forms of online organization of the educational process. The issue of online education has long been considered from the scientific and practical sides, but such a quick and forced transition to online revealed a number of problems and features of online communication. One of the most significant is the problem of the ethics of online communication in education.Methodology and sources. The theoretical base of the study is represented by the works of Russian and foreign authors in the field of pedagogy of the Higher School (I.V. Robert, I.P. Kuzheleva-Sagan), the theory of generations (N. Howe and W. Strauss, D. and I. Stillman, Shamis) and intercultural communications (G. Hoftede).The empirical base of the study was data obtained during interviews with teachers (23) and students (27) of a higher school (semi-structured, random sample), analysis of the content of educational chats and visual analysis of student avatars (625) used in Zoom.Results and discussion. The article outlines the directions of research into the problems of ethics in the process of online education. On the basis of empirical data, the authors record the transfer of an informal style of communication into the format of educational communication with a teacher, which is spontaneously emotional in nature. The authors make the assumption that the regulation of communication processes had an optional and often non-mandatory format. Particular attention is paid to the understanding and perception of the ethical norms of communication by representatives of different generations.Conclusion. The synchronous format of educational communication in the online format has other syntactic, semantic and stylistic features that differ from the previously generally accepted academic language. In the future, this issue requires a comprehensive consideration not only from the communication and ethical side, but also from the point of view of legal and information security. It is necessary to form ethical standards for online teaching.

Artificial Intelligence in Education: AIEd for Personalised Learning Pathways

Artificial intelligence is the driving force of change focusing on the needs and demands of the student. The research explores Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) for building personalised learning systems for students. The research investigates and proposes a framework for AIEd: social networking sites and chatbots, expert systems for education, intelligent mentors and agents, machine learning, personalised educational systems and virtual educational environments. These technologies help educators to develop and introduce personalised approaches to master new knowledge and develop professional competencies. The research presents a case study of AIEd implementation in education. The scholars conducted the experiment in educational establishments using artificial intelligence in the curriculum. The scholars surveyed 184 second-year students of the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology at the Abay Kazakh National Pedagogical University and the Kuban State Technological University to collect the data. The scholars considered the collective group discussions regarding the application of artificial intelligence in education to improve the effectiveness of learning. The research identified key advantages to creating personalised learning pathways such as access to training in 24/7 mode, training in virtual contexts, adaptation of educational content to personal needs of students, real-time and regular feedback, improvements in the educational process and mental stimulations. The proposed education paradigm reflects the increasing role of artificial intelligence in socio-economic life, the social and ethical concerns artificial intelligence may pose to humanity and its role in the digitalisation of education. The current article may be used as a theoretical framework for many educational institutions planning to exploit the capabilities of artificial intelligence in their adaptation to personalized learning.

CHANGING THE PARADIGM OF BLENDED LEARNING IN THE SYSTEM OF CLASSICAL EDUCATION IN CONDITIONS OF THE ACTIVE USE OF LMS MOODLE AND GOOGLE CLASSROOM

The paper summarized the experience of blended learning of students in quarantine conditions caused by the pandemic of the coronavirus infection COVID-19, which fundamentally changed the blended learning paradigm through the use of LMS Moodle and Google Classroom. The technical and methodological aspects of the implementation of blended learning are considered in the system of classical education. The didactic and methodological support of the educational process has been developed using LMS Moodle and Google Classroom. Using LMS Moodle, educational platforms have been created, both for students and for everyone, in the virtual educational environment of the university. It is shown that the use of LMS Moodle and Google Classroom tools is a new basis for independent work of students, since it completely changes and expands the format of learning: provides a complete electronic box of educational materials and resources during lectures and practical classes, creates an individual educational environment and sufficient methodological support for the chosen specialty. This is especially relevant to ensure quality education during the quarantine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Attention is focused on the need to structure educational training and teaching materials in such a way as to provide individual educational trajectories in the mode of synchronous and asynchronous learning with a mandatory system of monitoring and control of knowledge assimilation, in particular by means of LMS Moodle. A system of automated monitoring of knowledge control has been introduced, which is mandatory in the distance education system and includes initial, final control, self-control, an electronic journal with teachers’ grades and comments, which makes it possible for an individual approach to learning, improves the effectiveness of educational activities on the part of the student and increases motivation of teachers to use distance technologies through LMS Moodle and Google Classroom. The paper presents the results of a survey, which was attended by teachers who worked in the blended learning system during the quarantine caused by the coronavirus infection COVID-19 in March 2020 - June 2021 and used LMS Moodle and Google Classroom tools in their classes. Given the introduction of a blended learning system for students in a quarantine environment caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the described experience can be used not only in organizing the educational process, but also to form the prerequisites for creating an open learning system in the virtual educational environment of classical universities.

Problem Solving for Teachers – Action Research in a Cross-Listed Undergraduate and Graduate Course

This article describes a course-based research experience in a cross-listed mathematical problem solving course for middle school pre-service and in-service teachers. The course was conducted entirely online due to statewide and university restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. This study examines 4 undergraduate and 5 graduate students’ understanding of mathematical modeling. Undergraduate and graduate students were paired in groups to develop open-ended model-eliciting activities for their classmates to solve, and groups conducted educational action research to analyze their classmates’ work on the activities. We present one group’s activities and their results as an example of how action research can be conducted in a virtual teaching environment.

Cloud Computing based E-Learning System for Collaborative and Blended-Learning Environment

In recent years cloud computing technologies managed and changed the way applications are going to be developed and accessed in various E-learning platforms. Now days the use of collaborative and blended learning applications has been notably supported by cloud computing environment. Cloud computing provides a very low cost services to different academic institutions to access learning applications through mobile devices ,laptops and desk top computers. In this paper we present a solution that is based on cloud computing which is used for building a virtual environment both for teaching and learning. We present an interactive, modifying and monitoring educational or course contents. The environment and the design proposed can also be used as a platform for exploring and sharing new ideas as well as for designing integration of different pedagogical approaches for both teaching and learning.

Online platforms for public speaking skills development of education seekers

The article is devoted to the issue of the formation and development of public speaking skills during the forced transition to distance and blended learning in the system of formal, non-formal and informal education. A number of online platforms for the development of public speaking skills were analyzed, in particular online platforms in the virtual educational environment of a higher education institution, specialized international online platforms for developing public speaking skills, courses for developing public speaking skills on educational online platforms, and author's online platforms of this direction. The advantages and prospects of using online in the classroom and during independent work on rhetoric at higher education institutions, as well as self-improvement in oratory skills, are outlined.
 The study of rhetoric at higher education institutions is considered and it is indicated that it is advisable to expand rhetoric training courses on university online platforms with the help of the creation and active use of online platforms of university or inter-university oratorical schools or clubs, thus forming a favorable rhetorical educational environment. On the basis of the analysis of specialized, educational and author's online platforms for the development of public speaking skills, it is concluded that the use of theoretical material or practical recommendations and cases of the above-mentioned online platforms for future specialists’ rhetorical training will ensure the diversification of the material presentation and increase interest and motivation in studying rhetoric, as well as understanding the importance of public speaking skills development. It is summarized that the combination of formal, non-formal and informal rhetorical education will facilitate the exchange of important and interesting information, views, values and will contribute to individual development and professional growth.

Exploring Virtual Methods for Teaching Engineering Teamwork

Teamwork plays a key role in engineering due to the complexity and skill requirements of modern engineering projects. For this reason, emphasis is placed on the development of teamwork skills in most engineering education programs across Canada. In most cases, teamwork scaffolding and training occurs in person using team-based projects or experiential activities. Unfortunately, virtual teaching environments make a good deal of traditional teamwork training activities difficult to implement. This paper explores methods that have been shown to be successful in teaching teamwork skills to engineering students, taking into account the particular challenges faced in technical environments. Unique implementations of these methods for virtual learning environments are discussed, and additional challenges created by virtual teamwork are also examined in relation to these methods. Finally, a strategy for proving experiential learning activities based on “paper challenges” is described and a new virtual learning environment that allows students, working in teams, to learn teamwork skills and simulate real-world team-based challenges synchronously over the web is presented.

TRENDS IN DIGITAL ADAPTATION OF SCHOOLS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has launched school digital transformation with educational technologies implemented in classrooms worldwide. Teachers and learners have faced the challenges of adaptation to a new mode – digitally-based distance teaching and learning. In this regard, a question arises, whether schools have adapted successfully to new digitally-based distance learning or failed. Therefore, the research is focused on revealing the trends in schools’ digital adaptation and transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The research issue is solved due to a combination of various approaches, e.g. a qualitative content analysis of documents published online in 2020-2021 and conducting surveys and interviews of students at Ukrainian schools from December 2020 to February 2021. These approaches make it possible to reveal positive and negative trends in school digital transformation at macro- and micro levels from the perspective of pandemic-related measures on international and national levels, as well as students’ perception of emergency distance learning. The research presents the ranks of countries in line with the accessibility and affordability of EdTech having been implemented in schools in crisis. Moreover, the research discusses the following issues: the COVID-19 pandemic impact on schools and school-related measures, EdTech implementation in classroom and schools’ digital transition, digital divide and inequity in education, generation gap, learning loss and achievement gap, teacher’s creativity and methodology shift. The collected data supports theoretical insights about trends in school education during the pandemic. The principal findings of the research are that the emergency integration of information technology in school education has changed the traditional way of teaching and learning worldwide. EdTech implementation encourages teachers to provide creative teaching and develop novel approaches to meet Net generation students’ needs in a virtual educational environment. The research results can contribute to policymaking and strategy development of further school digital transformation in times of crisis.

PECULIARITIES OF STIMULATING COGNITIVE ACTIVITY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS BY MEENS OF COLOUR THERAPY

The article reveals the necessity of careful planning of colour schemes in the process of creating sensory zones and a virtual informational and educational environment for elementary school students. The article emphasizes that the correct algorithm of creating sensory zones allows excluding the risk of emotional exhaustion and nervous system depletion. The author has considered the possibilities of the effect of colour using on child’s sensory-cognitive development. It has been established that younger school age is the sensitive period for developing creative thinking skills, which is essential when forming cognitive interest.This article highlights the benefits of dividing a sensory space into areas, especially for children with special educational needs. When designing a sensory space, it is necessary to consider various factors to optimise students learning, such as lighting, escape spaces, equipment, etc.The development of a virtual informational and educational environment is based on innovative approach. Lacking complex and structured actions concerning main directions of creating a virtual learning space has been interfering with the innovative strategies implementation. The article presents the range of innovative technologies to improve the educational quality. The author explains how the presence of a large number of visual aids and educational materials facilitates students’ sensory enrichment.Based on research factors, that determine the peculiarities of colour perception, the expedience of introducing creative approach elements to features selection of colour palettes of the modern classrooms and providing quality functional and aesthetic design of a virtual informational and educational environment have been justified.
 Keywords: colour; colour therapy; cognitive activity; sensory environment; a virtual educational environment; learning space; elementary school students; innovative technologies; sensory development; colour perception.