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ABSTRACT
Shaiffadzillah Omarali
Current trends and tempos on using internet-based virtual environments for education
Imagine an online learner from Fiji, taking a graduate degree in Australia, with his programme
lecturer carrying out lessons from Canada. How is learning performed, when considering time
zones, geography and even learning culture differences would constrain interaction? Although
distance education via post and telecommunication did enable interaction, virtual learning
environments (VLEs) enhance interaction further by providing organised spaces for them to
occur in an orderly manner. This paper looks at the many forms of VLEs used in education, from
the elaborate systems such as Blackboard, Microsoft Edu and GoogleApps being used by
universities, to those used on a classroom scale, such as Ning and Wiki. In addition, the use of
common Web2.0 components in the construction of Personalised Learning Environments (PLEs)
is juxtaposed against the use of a standalone VLE. Consequently, the significance of several
synchronous and asynchronous computer-based communication affordances provided by both
VLEs and PLEs, from text-based to video-based, will be elaborated. The accumulation of this
information is presented as a dossier from where the best practices of using web affordances
could guide educators in making the decisions required for their needs.
Keyword: VLE, PLE, CMS, KMS, Web2.0, Community of Practice