Virtual Education free essay sample

The processes by which learners learn and teachers teach are about as ever-changing as the seasons. Throughout time, pedagogical researchers have developed new methods for the educational process, but none have been quite as revolutionary or as controversial as e-learning. E-learning, often referred to as distance learning or online learning provides a platform that facilitates learning through communication without requiring a face-to-face contact in the same space and time. Optimistic commentators see a new world of an educational process: â€Å"Every learner can, at his or her own choice of time and place, access a world of multimedia material†¦immediately the learner is unlocked from the shackles of fixed and rigid schedules, from physical limitations†¦and is released into an information world which reacts to his or her own pace of learning. †[5] E-learning has, indeed, redefined education, but it has not replaced class-based learning. Teachers and schools cannot simply ignore this new technology. We will write a custom essay sample on Virtual Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Rather, e-learning can be used as an interactive enhancement to the established classroom. E-Learning introduces a new term to education, as Virtual Classroom, where students will be present with their teachers and co-learners in classroom virtually. This type of physically separated but logically connected education system can be termed as â€Å"Virtual Education† where the education is independent of the time and space of the learners. . What is Virtual Education Virtual education refers to instruction in a learning environment where teacher and student are separated by time or space, or both, and the teacher provides course content through the use of methods such as course management applications, multimedia resources, the Internet, and videoconferencing. Students receive the content and communicate with the teacher via the same technologies. Characteristics of virtual education: Virtual education is a term describing online education using the Internet. This term is used in K-12 schooling, often to refer to cyber schools, and in higher education, where so-called Virtual Universities have been established. A virtual program (or a virtual course of studies) is a study program in which all courses, or at least a significant portion of the courses, are virtual courses, whether in synchronous (i. e. real time) or asynchronous (i. e. self-paced) formats. Virtual courses – a synonym is online courses – are courses delivered on the Internet. Virtual is used here to characterize the fact that the course is not taught in a classroom face-to-face but through some substitute mode that can be associated with classroom teaching. That means people do not have to go to the real class to learn. Both the asynchronous and synchronous methods rely heavily on self-motivation, self-discipline, and ability for effective written communication. Although there is a long and varied history of distance education, the current intersection of technology as a means to facilitate real-time communication with community-centered interaction, and the increasing acceptance and employment of those developments in the broader culture, have positioned virtual class in a position of significant innovation and responsibility. In an educational environment in which school choice for families and students is valued, â€Å"cyber charter schools, as an outgrowth of the charter movement and the virtual school movement, represent a unique group of schools characterized by both their administrative model and their course delivery technology. † Instruction modes for virtual education: Many virtual study programs are mainly text based, using HTML, PowerPoint, or PDF documents. Any attempt to personalize the educational experience is essential in that students respond to personal attention and feedback. Today a wide spectrum of instruction modes is available, including the following: †¢Virtual Classroom: Live teacher instruction and feedback online that enables real-time voice interaction, whiteboard sharing, and breakout sessions to enhance a students learning experience. This provides students an opportunity to interact with the teacher as well as classmates by oral and written communication. †¢Virtual operating room: giving students a space to learn the basic induction procedure before stepping foot in the real-life operating room. †¢Hypertext courses: Structured course material is used as in a conventional distance education program. However, all material is provided electronically and can be viewed with a browser. Hyperlinks connect text, multimedia parts and exercises. †¢Video-based courses are like face-to-face classroom courses, with a lecturer speaking and PowerPoint slides or online examples used for illustration. Video-streaming technologies are used. Students watch the video by means of freeware or plug-ins. †¢Audio-based courses are similar but instead of moving pictures only the sound track of the lecturer is provided. Often the course pages are enhanced with a text transcription of the lecture. Animated courses: Enriching text-oriented or audio-based course material by animations is generally a good way of making the content and its appearance more interesting. Animations are created using Macromedia Flash or similar technologies. †¢Web-supported textbook courses are based on specific textbooks. Students read and reflect on the chapters by themselves. Review questions, topics for discussion, exercises, case studies, etc. are given chapter wise on a website and discussed with the lecturer. Class meetings may be held to discuss matters in a chat room, for example. Peer-to-peer courses are courses taught on-demand and without a prepared curriculum. A new field of online education has emerged in 2007 through new online education platforms. †¢Social Networking: Using Web 2. 0 technologies in virtual classrooms promotes increased social interaction, student-centered instruction and a problem solving curriculum. Students can address a problem that is oriented to a cross curriculum activity. Teachers will act as guides and resources, but it is up to the students to collaborate, discuss, review ideas, and present solutions. Communication and interaction Students in virtual education acquire knowledge in a unidirectional manner (e. g. by studying a video, reading a textbook chapter), this would be known as asynchronous instruction. Subsequent discussions of problems, solving exercises, case studies, review questions, etc. help the students to understand better what they learned before. This learning is delivered at the students pace, not instructed live by a teacher. Although asynchronous courses are student driven, teachers are often needed to act as a guide. Therefore teacher facilitators are often available to provide any assistance that may be needed throughout the course. Communication with teacher facilitators is accomplished through discussion boards and email. This communication may be needed at times to better explain a specific topic or make grade corrections. Students enrolled in virtual classrooms or synchronous courses still acquire the content via real life instruction. A real teacher in real time delivers virtual classroom instruction. The virtual classroom teacher uses the computer screen as the board delivering instruction by using videos, PowerPoint’s, or podcasts in conjunction with audio of the teachers voice. Students enrolled in the virtual classroom have opportunities for immediate teacher feedback and input while logged into class, just as they would in a traditional classroom. Students can also interact with other students via notes, texts, and emoticons. Additionally, many conferencing platforms used by virtual educators allow for students to work in small groups during class time, thus again mirroring the look and feel of a traditional classroom. Electronic media like a discussion forum, chat room, voice mail, e-mail, etc. are often employed for communication in both synchronous and asynchronous courses. Homework assignments are normally submitted electronically, e. g. as an attachment to an e-mail or uploaded to the LMS system in a view complete. When help is needed, lecturers, tutors, or fellow students, or a help desk are available, just like in a real university. The difference is that all communication occurs via electronic media. Virtual teachers are encouraged to use technology more in the classroom. They are also motivated to share their ideas and lesson plans with other teachers through wikis, blogs, facebook, etc. Communication in the synchronous virtual classroom is a collaborative learning experience. Students are encouraged to interact with peers through web-conferencing technologies. Small-group and whole-group collaboration is a suggested platform for virtual education. Communication can take place in real-time, i. e. during a class session. A small-group session is often referred to as a â€Å"Breakout Room. † This is a platform that allows real-time, social interaction between students. Students collectively work on a learning task designed by the virtual classroom instructor. Individual microphones, whiteboard tools (drawing rights for the group board), and/or notes are suggested ways students communicate with one another during live Breakout Rooms. Outside of the virtual classroom setting collaborative communication may also occur through various technologies; blogs, wikis, and/or multi-media tools. 3. Concept of E-Learning E-Learning can be defined an approach to facilitate and enhance learning by means of personal computers, CD-ROMs, and the Internet. It may be as simple as those teachers may simply post their material on Internet; students can read it online or can download it for further access [4]. Since student won’t be in a classroom with professor and classmates, he will need to be capable of independent learning. Instructor will provide him with a syllabus, course documents, and required readings. The interaction between the professor and the student will happen via e-mail, discussion board, forums etc. Since the class doesn’t meet in a physical space at a scheduled time, the student will have to learn independently. He will be responsible for keeping up with the assigned reading and completing assignments according to the timeline on the syllabus. The growing popularity of E-Learning has introduced new terms to education, as Virtual Classroom, where student will be present with his professor and fellow learners in a classroom. They will not be present physically in the classroom but connected to the classroom via Internet. 4. Concept of Virtual Classroom Just as the term virtual means a simulation of the real thing, Virtual Classroom is a simulated classroom via Internet, which provides a convenient communication environment for distance learners just like traditional face-to-face classroom. It is a network system to provide a distributed, near real-time electronic collaborative environment that allows video, audio, data and sensor participation by a worldwide set of participants in experiments undertaken n physically remote locations. These locations, due to cost, accessibility, safety or other concerns often do not permit communities to participate at the location. The Virtual Classroom is an integrated system of modern wireless networks that distribute video, audio, data and text within a remote experimental area and provides for the interconnection to remote participants in classrooms or indeed any worldwide location with a broadband Internet connection. Virtual Classroom provides a powerful platform for the support of experiments and education that is not limited to the physical classroom. A virtual classroom enables to bring learners from around the world together online in highly interactive virtual classes while greatly reducing the travel, time, and expense of on-site teaching/training programs. It can be used as a solution for live delivery and interaction that addresses the entire process of creating and managing our teaching-learning process. It facilitates instructor and student in teaching-learning events, such as a seminar, online discussion or a live training for employees in company. As in traditional classroom, there are professor and fellow learners present with the student; we have many participants present in virtual classroom. They can talk with each other as in the traditional classroom via chat. Similarly presenter uses whiteboard, gives notes/resources, gives presentation as given in traditional one. Thus, virtual classroom can be visualized as a classroom where a lecture or session is conducted using Internet. Fig. 1 shows a basic model of virtual classroom.