The development in science and technology have made information landscape to be very huge. This has made the traditional teaching and learning to be insufficient to meet the needs of young generation. The recent trend in teaching and education shows that virtual environment has become one of the best approach to overcome the challenges of traditional teaching and learning. However, the questions like “How can present virtual environments be made versatile and activating?” still remains open. Here, versatile means the virtual environment should be able to use both for teaching and learning, and activating means how to use virtual environment for teaching and learning. Before I address this question I would like to clarify the meaning of virtual (online) teaching.
Virtual learning environment refers to web-based learning where students and teacher meet online instead of traditional face to face class room teaching. Moodle, Blackboard, It’s learning, Khan academy are the few examples of virtual learning environment. These days virtual teaching is becoming more and more popular, especially in the western societies. However, some teachers prefers traditional lectures i.e. face to face teaching and learning instead of virtual teaching. This might be because of the fact that some courses needs face to face teaching, i.e. the courses where there is need for physical work and experiments (both scientific and non-scientific). In order to have better learning experience in virtual teaching both students and teachers should have the knowledge of online platform and should be able to use the different features. In the similar manner, the virtual learning environment should be reliable (refers to properties that supports the system functionalities), relevant (refers to the learning materials), and responsive (refers to availability of sources as and when needed).
A virtual learning can be made versatile and activating if the users pay attention to sound quality during communication, for example both high and low pitch sound, background noise impacts the way we communicate. Good internet helps in maintaining stable communication. Discussion should be promoted, this helps in better understanding the topic under discussion. However, the discussion on personal level should be avoided. Proper listening, active use of body language especially facial expression, and the use of common language of communication, for example English are very useful in making virtual learning to be versatile.
In the similar manner, a virtual learning can be made activating if the users (teacher and student) are provided with enough training and guidance, so that they can understand the different features and system requirements. The knowledge of installation and registration procedure, terms and conditions, practical knowledge (How to share files or video call, what video call is meant for and what file sharing is meant for) etc. helps virtual environment to be activating.
Here, we need to understand that the virtual environment is also not free from safety issues. Here, the safety issues in virtual environment refers to factors like equality, bullying etc. Sometimes it can be problematic not only to students but also to teacher, therefore, both teacher and students should be aware with these factors. Both the teacher and students should be aware of
- terms and conditions of using online materials, should be able to analyze the good and bad impact of virtual learning environment, and should be aware of the use of personal credentials (is it safe to share personal information?)
- a teacher should respond immediately if any student faces bullying (use of vulgar language to others, misusage of personal information), also the student should be aware of the impact of bullying.
- the knowledge of cyber ethics (e.g. how to use and mention the source, plagiarism, copy rights, licensing etc.), cyber safety (e.g. complication of using of public Wi-Fi, public computer, etc.), and cyber security (e.g. chances of virus attacks, use of cookies etc.) is very useful.
There are many different teaching methods that can be used in both traditional and virtual learning environment, for example, mind-map, teaching discussion (splitting students into small group for discussion during teaching session), step by step discussion, and presentation i.e. lecturing and so on. However, if there is need for the use of physical objects (like paper, glue etc.) or physically experimenting something during teaching then the methods like reading circle, presentation walk, role playing and so on may not appropriate for virtual learning environment.
In conclusion, it can be said that virtual environment is not different from traditional teaching and learning, but one needs to understand how to use it. For better learning experience both teacher and students should be provided with training and workshops before shifting to virtual learning environment from traditional learning environment.
My Journey to Vocational Teacher Education 2019-20 