Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is an internet-based platform that provides students and teachers with digital solutions that enhance the learning experience.
What is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)? - Uses and
Benefits of VLE in the Teaching/Learning Process
Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE)
A virtual learning
environment (VLE) is a web-based platform used for educational purposes.
The VLE is a technical system that has been developed to manage online educational courses, whether they are free-online courses or regular education.
Online teaching resources are a trend to use modern technologies and techniques to provide new outlets and create a new learning environment through the Internet.
The participant feels in
this environment that he is inside an integrated educational environment that
includes study materials, specialists, discussions, and interactions that do
not require being on one land or one place.
Virtual Learning
Environment Features
The virtual environment
provides a vivid picture of shapes and scenes mixed with sound and movement,
forming a system for the required environment, as it enables us to participate
in a variety of visual and audio sensory interactions in addition to the
kinesthetic interactions.
The ability to display
things in three dimensions helps the user to get a close acquaintance with the
relationship that binds these objects and their parts with each other, in
addition to the process of their interaction.
It is easy for you to
envision a factory and build its virtual environment to look at it from the
outside and enter it from the angle that you want to get to know the normal
situation of this factory and to modify and add to what you aspire to, and you
may run it to see how the production process will take place. You can do all of
this before placing a single stone in the foundation of this plant.
It is also possible to
explore an environment in the same way as the previous one that is difficult
for a person to enter in its natural form and conduct his experiments on it to
improve his conditions to face such environments in their natural state.
The 10 must-have features
in a virtual learning environment may include:
1. Access to coursework from
anywhere at any time
2. Combination of structure
and freedom
3. Testing engine
4. Flexible user organization
5. Multimedia lessons
6. Sharpened digital skills
7. Variable questions
8. Adaptable learning curve
9. Content management system
10. Customizable grading
system
What are the Uses of
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in Teaching and Learning?
A well-maintained VLE
should enable students of all learning styles to receive the best possible
education. And it may help teachers plan lessons, manage administrative work,
track students' activity, performance, and engagement levels, as well as
provide additional materials and support for those who need that.
Studies have shown that
the opportunity provided by this environment is great for students to enable
them to coexist in their virtual environment and benefit as much as possible
from the Total Physical Response Method (TPR) in education, which depends mainly
on the principle of listening and observing before practice.
The VLE can create an
interactive educational atmosphere that attracts the student and even immerses
him in this atmosphere to deal with the things in it in a natural way. This
process will be facilitated by providing the student with audio or animated
instructions that facilitate his involvement in this environment.
If VLE is prepared in an
appropriate way and the available capabilities are exploited in a proper manner
and thus built in the required manner, the student will get a great educational
opportunity that will enhance and refine his exploration capabilities, so he
builds his concepts and procedures that help him learn and develop the required
skills.
Here is a brief overview
of some of what the virtual learning environment can offer to teacher and students:
First: If we look at the reality of
education today, especially in India, we find that the student depends mainly
on acquiring most of his knowledge theoretically and has little access to practice
and experiment with this knowledge on the ground. This is due to several
reasons, including the lack of suitable laboratory equipment in his educational
institution, or the risks that may result in conducting some experiments, and
the high cost of their materials.
When the
student finishes his school stage, he finds a big gap between what he
learned in theory and what is in reality. This is an issue that many
specialists have been trying to find ways out of for a long time.
A well-built and scientifically constructed virtual learning environment can link skills acquisition in the classroom with real-life outside of school.
VLE can help:
• Train
students to use complex and sensitive equipment, such as those found in airport
control towers, without the risk of giving wrong instructions that may lead to
a disaster.
• Train the
student to face potential dangers and prepare him to do good in such
circumstances and how to act with them, as this is the case when earthquakes
and volcanoes occur.
• Train the
student to achieve skills that cannot be practiced on the ground or are
difficult to provide the requisites to practice such as a dangerous surgical
procedure that does not tolerate the experience.
• Provide
the possibility of exposing the student to many possibilities while living with
a certain environment in order to make the appropriate reaction to each
possibility that he is exposed to as preparing a chemical compound.
• Deepen the
values and concepts related to the student’s culture and beliefs that are
difficult to root in this student through traditional methods; telling stories
and narratives, such as experiencing events that occurred in the past that
highlight the values and morals that a person should have.
Second: The virtual learning environment can
present to the student a virtual library similar to the real library, including
book indexes and classifications.
The student can browse the
shelves of this library and select the desired topic to be reached.
The capabilities of this
library do not stop to this limit, but there will be librarians at the
student’s service ready to respond to any inquiries or clarification that he
may need, just as the real librarians do.
This library has many
features that distinguish it from the real library, and among these features:
• All the library's
contents are always available.
• VLE and digital library
enable the student to access the required book in several ways, and this saves
effort not on the student alone, but on others.
• The student can enter it
in a way that suits him
Third: Modern technology possesses
capabilities that make the creation of a virtual classroom not impossible, as
its components include live radio, interactive video, e-mail in addition to the
global network, thus giving the student the opportunity to learn wherever he
wants and whenever he wants.
Many educational
institutions, especially those that adopt the idea of distance education, use
such capabilities.
Among the advantages of
the virtual learning environment are the following:
• The student can access a
huge amount of resources in different parts of the world through the global
network.
• The student can
communicate through e-mail to whomever he wants (colleagues, teachers,
supervisors) easily and quickly.
• The student can have a
face-to-face conversation with his teacher through interactive video.
• The teachers
can plan lessons, manage administrative work, track students' activity,
performance, and level of engagement.
In addition, the opportunity for education will be available to greater numbers, especially as tuition fees are low. This possibility provides an opportunity for people with limited income to enroll in university and achieve their ambitions.
Good information about the use educational technology in teaching and learning
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