Development Of Virtual Learning Environment Research Articles

Developing an adaptive virtual learning environment for sustainable learning in individuals with Down syndrome

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to describe the development and implementation of a specialized Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) designed to enhance the knowledge and skills related to sustainability in students with Down syndrome. This VLE serves as a means to make sustainable concepts more accessible and comprehensible to this specific student group, with the aim of promoting their engagement and understanding of sustainability, environmental awareness, recycling, and sustainable construction. The ultimate goal is to empower students with Down syndrome by providing them with a tailored educational tool that facilitates their learning in a manner that is engaging and effective.Design/methodology/approachThe approach outlines the overarching plan for creating the e-learning platform, including the technological choices and design considerations necessary to make it effective and accessible for students with Down syndrome. It's a fundamental component of the methodology, as it sets the direction for the platform's development and aligns with the objectives of the study. And also encompass the strategy for teaching and learning sustainability aspects to students with Down syndrome.FindingsPositive Feedback from Tutors and Professionals: The feedback from tutors and professionals is generally positive, with 91.4% finding the platform to be well-organized and 88.6% considering the content adequate and understandable. This suggests that the VLE met the needs and expectations of educators and professionals involved in the learning process. Utility for Professional Practice: Approximately 80% of tutors and professionals found the platform useful for their professional practice, indicating that it has practical applications beyond student learning. This information highlights the success and potential impact of the VLE for this specific target group.Research limitations/implicationsThe study may not have explored the depth of sustainability concepts covered within the VLE. Future research could delve into the specifics of the content and its effectiveness in teaching complex sustainability topics.Practical implicationsThe incorporation of universal design principles in the VLE development could serve as a model for creating inclusive e-learning platforms. This has broader implications for improving digital accessibility in education. The positive feedback from tutors and professionals suggests the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in education. Professionals from various fields, including special education and sustainability, can work together to create effective and inclusive learning tools.Social implicationsThis study can contribute to the broader discussion on inclusive education and the effective use of technology to enhance learning experiences for individuals with disabilities.Originality/valueThe study addresses a crucial gap in the field of sustainability education by focusing on students with Down syndrome. It highlights the importance of making sustainability education inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of learners, including those with disabilities. This originality contributes to the broader discourse on inclusive education and environmental awareness. The development of a specialized Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for this specific target group is an original contribution. It demonstrates the potential for adapting educational technology to meet the unique needs of students with Down syndrome, potentially serving as a model for future educational tool development.

Young People’s Use of Technology and Its Implication for Second Language Education in Formal Settings

This paper considers the opportunities and challenges posed to formal second language education given the penetration of digital technologies in young people’s daily lives. This paper broadly discusses the issues of information technology (IT) infrastructure, classroom management and IT use restrictions in relations to language learning. The paper concludes by making suggestions for policy makers and language educators in terms of supporting technology-enhanced formal language education with more advanced IT educational programs and the development of virtual learning environment (VLE) system at school.

Development of Virtual Learning Environment Using Canvas To Facilitate Online Learning

The results of the study for Learning during a pandemic, several studies have resulted in dissatisfaction with the existing online learning system. This dissatisfaction is because the implementation of existing online learning is not well planned and structured. Online learning only transfers face-to-face learning to virtual face-to-face. This study aims to develop virtual learning environment (VLE) to help students learn independently and study with lecturers and friends online, following predetermined learning outcomes. The research design uses Research and Development, which uses a combination of three (3) models, the Borg & Gall model, the Step of System Approach Model of Educational Research and Development, and the Rowntree model. This research conduct at the Universitas Nasional. The research subjects were students of Electrical Engineering. Data collection techniques used are questionnaires, involving Instructional Design experts, Materials experts, Language experts, Design and Media experts, one-to-one evaluation, also testing, and evaluation in large groups. The study also used pre-test and post-test questions to determine the effectiveness of VLE and the learning materials developed. The data obtained from the results is divided into two parts, namely qualitative data and quantitative data. During the test, revealed four important things from the developed VLE, namely the interaction of discussion forums, face-to-face interaction through video conferences, time management, and problem-solving that directly received feedback. The test results show that students are happy, motivated to do practice questions, and always follow the learning process on time. The results of the pre-test and post-test showed an increase of 20.40%.

Process pattern and process capability evaluation model for interoperability in learning object environments

The variety of educational resources available on the Internet, the efforts made by educational institutions for the creation of digital content, the wide variety of educational platforms, and the lack of standardized processes in their development, means that the efforts are many but the impact poor. The objective of this research is to provide elements to standardize the development of virtual learning environments and to unify efforts through mechanisms for interoperability. A Reference Model of Processes for Interoperability in Learning Object Environments [RMPI] is presented, including a Process Pattern and an Assessment Model of Process Capability [AMPC], which would serve as an activity guide that educational institutions [HEI] can follow when implementing learning objects environments to make them reusable and beneficial for the users who exchange them. Among the main results are the formal definition of a process pattern, the identification of 115 activities for interoperability in the technical, syntactic, semantic, organizational, educational and cultural dimensions, the formulation of an Evaluation Model for the Capability of Processes and its disposition through a Web application for the self-evaluation of the HEI. The self-evaluation of 6 HEI was carried out following the developed model, which allowed its characterization according to its capacities for interoperability. From the results of this self-evaluation, it was possible to identify activities for the process pattern, to validate the capability levels and to know the vocation of the evaluated HEI. • There are sixteen processes, diferents activities and dimensions for interoperability in learning objects environment. • There is a model for quantifying the capacity of educational institutions to be interoperable. • Public educational institutions were able to selfevaluate their capacities for the interoperability.

Virtual learning environments for digital electronics using augmented reality

The 2020 pandemic represents another challenge for universities concerned with guaranteeing Educational Quality and the training of their graduates, which must be in accordance with the demands of the current global labor market. Distance Education, one year after becoming the global resource, has become monotonous and routine for many students. At the same time, augmented reality has become more accessible in many ways and represents a viable option that complements learning environments in a motivating way. Its application in education has been reported with success in various disciplinary areas and its advantages are listed in various investigations. In this work, a methodology for the development of virtual learning environments through augmented reality is reported, which can be developed and applied in any subject of higher education, with which it is presumed that AR can be a tool of general application for the creation of innovative learning objects and environments that improve learning outcomes.

Preparing dental students for independent practice: a scoping review of methods and trends in undergraduate clinical skills teaching in the UK and Ireland

Introduction The governing bodies for dentistry in the UK and Ireland require dentists, at graduation, to possess the knowledge, skills and attributes which enable them to practise safely, without supervision. The means by which dental schools achieve this may differ and may undergo modification in response to changes in the expectations of governing bodies and challenges within the teaching environment. It is therefore important to identify which of these approaches works well and to disseminate good practice described in the literature.Objectives To use a scoping review to identify from the published literature the methods used to teach clinical dental skills, including innovations, motivations for changes, and factors affecting the delivery and quality of teaching.Method Scoping review methodology was used to select and analyse 57 articles published between 2008 and 2018.Results Innovations in didactic teaching were facilitated by advances in IT and development of virtual learning environments, which promoted independent, self-directed learning. Pre-clinical practical teaching took place in clinical techniques laboratories utilising mannequin heads, with a minority of dental schools using virtual reality simulators in addition. Clinical experience was gained mainly in multi-disciplinary clinics and offsite outreach teaching centres. Insufficient numbers of suitable patients, increasing student numbers and a fall in teaching staff contributed to a reported reduction in clinical experience of certain treatments.Conclusions Contemporary clinical dental skills teaching produces new graduates who possess excellent theoretical knowledge, are prepared and confident in basic clinical skills, but are lacking in experience of complex treatments which may result in a reduced preparedness for independent practice.Zusatzmaterial online: Zu diesem Beitrag sind unter 10.1038/s41415-020-2505-7 für autorisierte Leser zusätzliche Dateien abrufbar.

Training of transport industry personnel in the digital economy: the evolution of information educational technology

The urgency of the study is stipulated by the problem of professional training of personnel for the leading industries of the material production of the Russian Federation, one of which is the transport industry, in the context of implementation of the digital economy program and the integrated scientific and technological project “Digital Railway”. The nature of knowledge belonging to the intellectual field of the industry is revealed through the synthesis of the humanitarian (associated with man) and formal logical (associated with artificial systems). New requirements make it necessary to refer to modern educational technologies in the e-learning paradigm 3.0. Such technologies are based on knowledge presented in accordance with the international standard ISO/IEC - in the ontology format. In this regard, this paper is aimed at revealing the possibilities of semantic technologies in the development of virtual learning environments for educational organizations in the network structure of sectoral subordination in the open projects model. Development of ontological content is carried out remotely by joint efforts of representatives of the employer and education. FSBEI of Higher Education “Siberian State Transport University” (Novosibirsk) implements an interuniversity project on the development of the multilingual electronic learning environment “Onto.plus” on the basis of new technologies in the format of the digital economy. The proposed educational solution has been tested in the real learning process. Its effectiveness has been proved for the training of future transport industry personnel; the directions of the project development are outlined.

Building a Virtual Learning Environment to Foster Blended Learning Experiences in an Institute of Application in Brazil

Blended learning, the combination of face-to-face teaching with a virtual learning environment (VLE), is the theme of this study that aims at describing and analyzing the implementation of a VLE in the Institute of Application Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira, an academic unit of the State University of Rio de Janeiro. This study’s main contribution is to reflect on the complexity of the institute that comprises schooling for basic education students and teacher education, from elementary school to postgraduate education. The wide scope of the institute encompasses face-to-face and non-presential activities, in different proportions, depending on the educational segment. Thus, starting from the assumption that blended learning teaching processes foment more student-centered educational models and facilitate interactions between individuals, a collaborative way was chosen as the VLE development method, contributing to pedagogical practices that favor meaningful learning. The VLE design was developed to meet the different needs and demands of the different educational segments. Currently there are 295 registered users. However, there are no registered basic education students so far. This can be justified by the fact that the VLE is relatively new to the community, and the participation of basic education students in the VLE depends on their teachers’ enrolment and use of the VLE itself.

Claiming unclaimed spaces: virtual spaces for learning

The purpose of this study was to describe and examine the environments used by teacher candidates in multi-user virtual environments. Secondary data analysis of a case study methodology was employed. Multiple data sources including interviews, surveys, observations, snapshots, course artifacts, and the researcher’s journal were used in the initial case study, while using the resulting narratives of each student’s experience for the secondary data analysis. All data were coded and reviewed iteratively to inductively deduce the key considerations for virtual world environmental design. Five assertions were derived from the data to help guide the development of virtual learning environments. These five assertions focus on: novelty, the role of realism, fantastical and outdoor environments, maneuverability, and design for movement.

Quality features of university information environment in its external indicators

The paper represents the preliminary results of the ongoing comparative study of information environments in the frame of the European project 'IRNet'. The aim of this study is to substantiate and verify a set of external indicators for the virtual educational environment of the University, which allows to determine its quality and to identify concrete ways for its further improvement. This research phase was conducted within three universities: Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University in Ukraine, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovak Republic and Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. The Research instrument contains three sections (dimensions): characteristic of Open University resources; the questionnaire, detecting students' information behaviour and attitude towards different networking activities in university information environment; global ranking of university internet integration. The study shows that the proposed set of indicators allows to determine the overall level of university virtual learning environment development and to identify specific areas for its improvement. For a more complete study of the university virtual environment, the developed set of tools must be supplemented by internal indicators reflecting e-learning methodology, achieved educational outcomes, etc. But it is the task of the next phase of the study.

Enriquecimiento tecnológico y psicopedagógico del concepto de comunidades de práctica en la educación a distancia

This paper addresses the issue of the transformation of communities of practice as a collective strategy of knowledge construction, which has incorporated new technological developments, innovative forms of learning, constructive nature of knowledge creation and the use of virtual spaces of interactivity that promote teaching and learning. This paper describes how communities of practice (now converted in virtual learning communities) have been enriched by the contributions of theoretical approaches as connectivism and collective intelligence, development of virtual learning environments, personal learning spaces, use of Web 2.0 applications and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). The concept of communities of practice and their general characteristics is described and updated the concept based on the notion of virtual learning communities and some current technological and educational developments that enhance, mainly, distance education.

Use and development of teaching technologies presented in nursing research

Objective: characterizing teaching technologies used or developed in nursing dissertations and theses in Brazil. Methods: adocumentary research that had data collection sourced from directories of theses and dissertations available on the websiteof the Brazilian Nursing Association, from Volumes Nineteen (XIX) (2001) to Twenty-one (XXI) (2013). Results: of 6346studies, 18 (0.28%) used or developed teaching technologies, composed of the following categories: use of conceptualmap; use of games; development of Virtual Learning Environment; development of educational materials; developmentof Distance Education courses; and artifact development. Conclusion: national research on the development and use ofteaching technology in nursing are still insufficient, especially in the North and Northeast. Multiple benefits of the use ofteaching technologies in nursing and learning environments were highlighted, not only for students and professionals, butalso for patients.aprendizagem da enfermagem, tanto com estudantes e profissionais, quanto com os pacientes.

Sustainable Design Education: Designing Virtual Online Teaching Resources for Fashion and Textiles

In an environment of economic uncertainty and increasing competition, universities are challenged to find alternate methods of maintaining quality educational outcomes given the rising costs for teaching space. Furthermore, in countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand, geographical isolation from the international research community remains a key issue. The development of virtual learning environments (VLEs) is promoted as a viable solution, particularly methods of narrated lecture slides and video-casting which have the potential to be re-used and offer more flexibility through online delivery. As part of an on-going teaching and learning research fellowship project at Auckland University of Technology, this paper discusses the specific case of an undergraduate course which was developed using Microsoft TM PowerPoint TM and Screencast-O-Matic. Each approach is analysed in the context of developing and delivering course content via Blackboard Academic Suite TM in combination with low-cost technologies including Skype and YouTube TM. While the freedom to tinker with new technologies, particularly in fields of creative practice such as fashion design, provide an opportunity for visionary innovation (Finn and Fraser, 2012), the authors identify opportunities and limitations that warrant consideration for academics who are considering a higher level of engagement with technology to enhance teaching practice.

Las estructuras cognitivas en la construcción de un modelo didáctico para Ambientes Virtuales de Aprendizaje (AVA)

Hoy en día existe una gran variedad de ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje (AVA) que intentan dar respuesta a las demandas educativas actuales pero que, en muchos de los casos, resultan poco eficaces en el cumplimiento de las expectativas para los cuales fueron creados. El desarrollo de un AVA requiere de la definición de una serie de estrategias didácticas cognitivas, en relación a la planeación del acto educativo y de la expresión visual y formal del mismo, los cuales permitan definir modelos para su creación acordes con su eficacia en el cumplimiento de las intenciones educativas. Esta revisión busca apoyar con sus planteamientos la influencia de las estructuras cognitivas en la construcción de un modelo didáctico acorde a la identificación de los factores que determinan la creación de un AVA.

Participatory design in the project of virtual learning environment of histology

This present article describes a research on the development, under the approach of participatory design, a virtual teaching-learning of Histology in which students and teachers participated actively in all stages of development of the educational environment. We postulates that the development of virtual learning environment of Histology, through the Participatory Design approach, contributes to greater acceptance and use by students and that the adoption of virtual environment for teaching and learning by teachers is a determining factor of use by students.

Five Years of Research Into Technology-Enhanced Learning at the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology

Five Years of Research Into Technology-Enhanced Learning at the Faculty of Materials Science and TechnologyThe article describes a five-year period of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) implementation at the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology (MTF) in Trnava. It is a part of the challenges put forward by the 7th Framework Programme (ICT research in FP7) focused on "how information and communication technologies can be used to support learning and teaching". The empirical research during the years 2006-2008 was focused on technology-driven support of teaching, i. e. the development of VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) and the development of database applications such as instruments developed simultaneously with the information support of the project, and tested and applied directly in the teaching of bachelor students.During this period, the MTF also participated in the administration of the FP7 KEPLER project proposal in the international consortium of 20 participants. In the following period of 2009-2010, the concept of educational activities automation systematically began to develop. Within this concept, the idea originated to develop a universal multi-purpose system BIKE based on the batch processing knowledge paradigm. This allowed to focus more on educational approach, i.e. TEL educational-driven and to finish the programming of the Internet application

Yearning to learn from e‐learning: the experiences of a University of Glamorgan practitioner

On the world stage, the use of e‐learning is not a new phenomenon. However, many teachers within higher education favour, and are most comfortable with, the “talk and chalk”, face‐to‐face mode of plying their trade. For them, facilitating learning within virtual learning environments (VLEs) is often alien, and technically and pedagogically challenging. This paper outlines the trials and tribulations of a higher education institution (HEI) practitioner when engaging in the design, use and development of virtual learning environments as a departmental ground breaker within his institution. A model is proposed that will help other practitioners who view conversion of their teaching and learning from the traditional “talk and chalk” mode to a VLE as perhaps daunting and frightful.

Development and evaluation of a virtual learning environment in professional nursing courses

This study aimed to: develop and evaluate a Virtual Learning Environment in the theme administering medications in a professional nursing course in Curitiba/PR, Brazil. The program's elaboration was divided in three phases: 1- Virtual Learning Environment development Guide. Phase 2, corresponded to implementation and assessment of its use. Phase 3, learning Evaluation. The program evaluations demonstrate that it is in accordance to the educational goals intended to develop and implement an educational technology. The assessment on learning showed that the students answered correctly 85% of the questions discussed. The possibility of elaborating new educational technologies can be helpful in the teaching/learning process, as well as in the development of future nursing professionals.

Los Learning centres en el Reino Unido. Estudio de caso de seis universidades medianas.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether academic libraries at small and medium-sized British research universities are adopting the Learning Centre concept and determine the consequences from the point of view of services, space allocation and personnel structure. Provision of electronic resources in these libraries is described, especially the development of Virtual Learning Environments. Organizational structure and user services are also detailed, illustrating how structures are evolving and the possible impact of changes in services and the physical plant on support for research.

A Virtual Learning Environment Development. Some Experiences at the University of La Plata

E-learning is a new and rapidly evolving discipline. Particularly, e-learning environments have become a topic of research and study. This paper presents an investigation related to e-learning and the development of virtual learning environment (WebINFO) made by an interdisciplinary team at the University of La Plata. Some experiences within university scope using this kind of technology are also presented.