Virtual Classroom Documentation

ABSTRACT:

The paper presents the results of

the "Virtual Classroom" project sponsored

by the University of Westminster,

Educational Initiative Centre (EIC) for

delivering lectures online. The ultimate

aim was to provide a portable hardware

and easy to use software toolset as well as

easy to follow guidelines on how to propel

the lectures from the conventional dull

chalk and talk environment to the realm of

all interactive computer assisted Web

based electronic classroom. The additional

goal was to minimize the number of staff

required to give the lectures and allow

them to use their valuable time for other

academic duties. The proposed system

hardware/software setup is a fully

automatic solution controllable from a

single PC. It allowed full student

interaction and use of multimedia in the

lecture.

Developing a virtual classroom

system to promote a greater count of

students to spend interest into the field of

education. It integrates the benefits of a

physical classroom with the convenience

of a virtual learning environment minus

the commuting hazards and expenses. It

will provide immense flexibility and

sophistication in the existing learning

platform structures with the perfect

combination of synchronous and

asynchronous interaction. It provides a

means of collaborative learning for the

students.

1. INTRODUCTION:

In 2006, the Open University of

the Netherlands (OUNL) started running

trials with a so called virtual classroom. A

virtual classroom is a combined set of

tools for conducting classroom like

sessions live over the Internet. Since 2006,

more than 20 pilot projects have been

carried out, involving more than 25 tutors

and over 200 students. We intended to use

the virtual classroom as a replacement for

face-to-face (f2f) tutoring sessions, which

are normally organized in our study

centres located across the country.

All pilots were organised in a

project that was positioned directly under

the OUNLcentral board, and in which

most faculties participated. We

investigated several virtual classroom

instruments in order to come to a first

selection of promising candidates.

All pilots were evaluated

extensively. Our findings indicate that the

virtual classroom is a valuable addition to

our educational offerings. In this paper we 1

Priyadarshini college of engg & tech

will describe what a virtual classroom is,

why we choose to implement it and how

we came to our selection of an instrument.

In the Virtual Classroom we are

attempting to approximate the shared and

supportive environment of a real-world

class. The aim of the Virtual Classroom

project is to create an environment that

will help stimulate purposeful

communication between English language

learners across the world.

In the real-world, language teaching

is becoming increasingly concerned with

giving students the ability to use their new

language spontaneously to express their

thoughts, needs and desires. In the

classroom context, the process is greatly

enhanced when the provision of new

language skills occurs in a supportive

environment where these new skills are

allowed to develop though use and

experimentation.

At starting point we felt that it was

necessary for all the participants in the

Virtual Classroom to use the same course

materials, since this would provide them

with some common ground regardless of

their geographic distance from each other.

The trial phases of the Virtual Classroom

were restricted therefore to learners

attending language classes.

The classroom material is

supplemented by extra activities available

from the virtual classroom pages of our

web site via the internet.

2.DESCRIPTION:

The description of virtual classroom

is as follows.

2.1 What is a virtual classroom?

A virtual classroom is an

instrument for conducting live classroom

like sessions over the internet. In this,

students and tutors can communicate using

voice, video, chat and whiteboard tools.

They also have facilities like application

sharing, polling, breakout sessions and

quizzes. It allows the tutor and students to

participate in real time lessons and

discussions. Students can ask questions,

drawn on the whiteboard, and participate

in breakout sessions. Almost everything

that can be done in a real classroom, can

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also be done in a virtual classroom.

Moreover, the whole classroom session

can be recorded and made available for

review afterwards.

In this figure we present a screen

shot of the virtual classroom instrument

Elluminate live(student view indicating

some interaction functions)

2.2 Why we are using virtual classroom?

The f2f meetings offer the students a

sense of connectedness. They get to know

each other and their tutor and get

immediate feedback on questions and

problems. So, as a result the students

were very positive about their experiences.

So, the main pedagogical (teaching)

model of the Open University of the

Netherlands aims at supporting self-

directed learning. Ana also they thought

the virtual classroom an efficient

alternative for the f2f-meetings, as they did

not have to travel to the study-centres and

as the sessions were more frequent.

Contact with tutors are limited and in most

cases it takes place through e-mail or in

discussion groups.

But students and tutors all still felt

that the virtual classroom should be a

supplement to f2f meetings and not a total

replacement. They missed the direct

communication, the meeting over coffee

and the general chitchat which makes

learning fun. In the beginning tutors felt

very insecure when using the virtual

classroom and they certainly felt exhausted

afterwards. But after some sessions they

got used to the specific requirements on

communicating and keeping track of

interactions in the virtual classroom.

2.3 Selecting a virtual classroom:

In order to select a virtual

classroom we developed a list of

specifications based on the needs of tutors,

students and educational experts: we

scored potential candidates on educational

use, user friendliness, features and

administration.

For procedures, the features of the

integration educational use we looked at

the way different teaching activities were

supported, such as discussion, workshops,

group work, assessments etc.

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User friendliness was assessed by

examining the installation into our Virtual

Learning Environment (VLE) and the

availability of training materials for

students and teachers.

For features we looked at the

availability of voice over Internet(VoIP),

presentation tools, whiteboard tools,

application sharing, public and private

chat, feedback tools, document sharing,

polling and quizzes.

We looked at how the system should

be installed/administered way students and

tutors were authorized. the way students

and tutors were authorized for use and the

licence fees. We initially looked into a

whole range of virtual classrooms and

assessed them using the list of

requirements. Finally we decided to

choose for virtual classroom, mainly

based on quality of audio, extensive

feature set, support for multiple platforms,

automatic reconnection features and low

bandwidth requirements for use and the

licence fees.

2.4 When to use a virtual classroom?

Virtual classroom is a powerful

tool to use as a replacement for traditional

teaching sessions such as workshops and

structured discussion. We even had some

experience with structured role play and

this also worked very well. Supporting

group work and free discussion is a bit

more difficult, as it requires more

student/tutor experience and feeling-at-

ease in using the virtual classroom. We

expect that all involved will become more

comfortable in using the tools and as a

result it will become much easier use them

in a less directive and restricted way.

The virtual classroom is technically

well suited for lectures, but teachers have

to be aware of the fact that boring lectures

become even more boring when you listen

to them on the computer.

Group size should not be to big,

certainly not in the beginning when tutors

and students are not used to the tool. We

worked with groups of 8 to 15 students

and that seems a manageable size. A

virtual class session should also be fairly

short. One and a half hour is an absolute

maximum. otherwise attendance is too

exhausting for both the tutor and the

students.

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2.5 Preparations to make:

The first teaching session in a virtual

classroom feels the same as first-time

teaching in a real classroom. Tutors feel

thet they are well aquainted with the

software and are well trained. It is

important that the tutor must have some

hands-on experience before facing the

students. It really helps to use two pc’s,one

showing the student perspective and the

other the tutor’s perspective or to work

with one or two colleagues. Specially for

the first session we recommend having an

experienced colleague around who can

point out things or take over when you

forget something.

A virtual classroom session requires

good preparation. Tutors should have a

scenario of their lesson available and

upload all the required materials to the

classroom before the students enter the

session. It is a bit more complicated to

improvise during a virtual classroom

session than it is in a real classroom,

especially for the inexperienced tutor.

One should also be aware that

everything proceeds at a bit slower pace

then in a normal classroom setting.

Furthermore, the students who participate

in the virtual classroom should be well

prepared and instructed.

2.6 Training and support for tutors and

students:

Several training sessions for tutors were

organized. Each tutor who contemplates

using a virtual classroom is offered to

participate in an introductory virtual

workshop. After she/he decides to set up a

real virtual class a f2f tutorial is organized

in which the tutors learn how to set up the

classroom and how to use it in their role of

session moderator. However, even after

the training some tutors still feel insecure

about conducting a virtual class all by

themselves, so for help and support during

the first few sessions we always provide

backup from someone from the Online

support project. All the participating

students receive an instruction on how to

prepare their pc’s. Each student is offered

an individual 30 minute test session,

during which the audio communication

facility is tested and a short instruction is

provided.

2.7 Interactions:

It is advisable to encourage interaction in

the virtual classroom and to consider how

you will interact with your students. There

is a whole range of tools available in the

classroom but it is important to decide in

advance which tools you are going to use.

We felt that using polls and quizzes and

then presenting the results to the whole

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group were a very powerful way of

interacting with the students and to keep

their attention.

2.8 Recordings:

Students appreciate the fact that the

virtual class can be recorded and made

available via the VLE for later use.

Students use it for revision or to make up

for a class they missed. Just make sure

that, in accordance to privacy laws,

students agree from the onset of the

session that the class will be recorded.

3. APPLICATIONS:

Virtual classroom is used in

applications like robotics and engineering

educations.

4.ADVANTAGES:

The advantages of virtual classroom are as

follows:

4.1 Sharing live experience:

Like conventional classrooms, the students

within a virtual classroom can exchange

and share their experiences with

themselves or with their teacher. They ask

their questions and get the answers just

like the conventional classrooms but have

an edge over those who attend the latter. If

they wish (and provided the technique

used permits so) they can ask questions in

the complete privacy as if each student is

individually interacting with the instructor.

Adult education has a long tradition of

valuing the life experience of learners. The

live virtual classroom enables learners to

share their experience in a virtual

environment with tools that can take that

sharing to a new level. The LVC(live

virtual classroom) allows learners to do

things such as share their screens to

demonstrate tricks and tips for searching a

customer database or surf to helpful

websites.

4.2 To Extend the Access to Experts

A related benefit of the virtual classroom

is the ability to make scarce resources

accessible to a wider audience. The

program is more widely rolled out, it is

delivered by people who are less skilled.

4.3 To Do Modeling and Application

Sharing in Breakout Rooms

Educators have long known that learning

is more likely to occur when the students

can transfer learning from the abstract to

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the practical. In the virtual classroom there

are tools that make it possible for students

to run simulations or test models. That is

rather simple talking about investment

concepts such as dollar cost averaging, and

Capital Asset Pricing Model students can

learn about these concepts by conducting

modeling exercises in the LVC.

4.4 To Capture and Repurpose

Recorded Sessions:

If you are reading this and recall a corner

of your office in which there is a pile of

dusty videotapes of classes that no one has

ever watched, I don’t need to caution you.

There is very little to recommend the

recording of a typical live virtual session

for playback at a later point. On the other

hand, if you have the ability to add value

by creating a program that has the purpose

of being viewed later or if you have the

ability to edit the key pieces of the

program, then you may have an asset.

5. LIMITATIONS:

5.1 Limit Class Size for Optimal

Interaction:

Don’t get confused by the recommended

maximum number of learners who can

attend a live virtual classroom versus the

recommended number who should attend a

live virtual classroom program.The answer

to how many people should be in a live

virtual classroom is . . . it depends. The

number of learners per session depends on

how complex the content, how technically

competent the learners, how skilled the

facilitator, and how much interaction you

have designed into the program.

5.2 Avoid Teaching Software Skills:

The ability to do application sharing

means that you can teach software skills

using the virtual classroom. Choosing to

teach software skills such as Word,

PowerPoint, or custom applications is

tempting because it seems like such a

natural use of the LVC. It is technically

possible, but the virtual classroom adds a

level of complexity that must be

considered. If learners are not computer

savvy and technically self-sufficient

enough to manage the new application and

the LVC application at the same time, you

may overwhelm them. It is also boring to

watch other students practice an

application.

5.3 Anticipate That LVC Classes Will

Take Longer to Deliver than

Traditional Classroom Courses

There are longstanding statistics on the

power of computer-based training to

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reduce the time. These statistics do not

apply to live virtual classrooms. The often-

quoted statistic assumes that through

pretesting, branching, and empowering

learners to move at their own pace, the

time spent learning can be shortened. In

the live virtual classroom, pretesting and

branching are of little help because the

program requires all learners to go through

the entire program at the same pace. The

virtual classroom can theoretically take

longer to deliver the same content than a

traditional classroom. The LVC has the

added burden of frequently stopping and

checking on learners understanding, which

would be seen in the traditional classroom.

6. CONCLUSION:

The virtual classroom transcends the

boundaries of location, time and space

providing a flexible learning environment

for all. Schools, universities and corporate

organizations benefit form Virtual

classrooms because it provides an

excellent way for experts to teach a

geographically dispersed group of students

without hassle.

7. REFERENCES:

1) Giesbertz, Wil, Rusman, Ellen,

Spoelstra, Howard en Wigman, Marcel

(2008). Verder met de virtuele klas.

Heerlen: Open Universiteit Nederland –

IPO.

2) Rusman, Ellen en Giesbertz, Wil

(2008). Gebruikerservaringen met een

virtuele klas. Heerlen: Open Universiteit

Nederland – IPO.

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Documents

Virtual Classroom Documentation