A major challenge faced by teachers nowadays relates to the usage of proper educational technology to achieve a true and meaningful learning experience involving time for reflection. Teachers constantly seek new ways to improve instruction, but in virtual learning environments they often find themselves in a new role, interacting in a dynamic…

Open and distance learning (ODL) has created room for the emergence of virtual education. Not only are students found everywhere and anywhere undertaking their studies and earning their degrees, but geographical boundaries between nations no longer appear to have much relevance. As the new education paradigm irretrievably alters the way teaching…

This document sets out a novel teaching methodology as used in subjects with statistical content, traditionally regarded by students as "difficult". In a virtual learning environment, instructional techniques little used in mathematical courses were employed, such as the Jigsaw cooperative learning method, which had to be adapted to the…

This study used a desktop virtual environment (VE) of 15 large-scale residential streets to test the effects of environmental mystery and surprise on response. In theory, mystery and surprise should increase interest and visual appeal. For each VE, participants walked through an approach street and turned right onto a post-turn street. We designed…

This paper reports findings from a project implementing the VL (virtual labs) site featuring flash-based animations developed at Stanford University. The main conclusion in this paper stresses the need to design for flexibility and adaptability of interactive media to better suit the specific situation teachers encounter in their everyday work, in…

Online-learning advocates are calling a new report that recommends ten major policy steps states and districts need to take to use digital technologies to improve schools. With two former governors leading the promotion of "Digital Learning Now"--the first document released by the Digital Learning Council since former state chief…

The use of reflective pedagogies has long been considered critical to facilitating meaningful learning through experientially based curricula; however, the use of such methods has not been extensively explored as implemented in virtual environments. The study reviewed utilizes a combination of survey research and individual interviews to examine…

Education in virtual worlds has the potential, it seems, for engaging students in innovative ways and for enabling new discourses on a host of issues. Virtual locations like "Second Life," "Kaneva," or "World of Warcraft," among other multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), also come with unique challenges for educators as they consider the…

While many students and instructors are transitioning from the brick-and-mortar classrooms to virtual classrooms, labs, and simulations, this requires a higher-level of expertise, control, and perseverance by the instructor. Traditional methods of teaching, leading, managing, and organizing learn activities has changed in terms of the virtual…

The level of satisfaction and effectiveness of 3D virtual learning environments were examined. Additionally, 3D virtual learning environments were compared with face-to-face learning environments. Students that experienced higher levels of flow and presence also experienced more satisfaction but not necessarily more effectiveness with 3D virtual…

Distance learning has facilitated innovative means to include Cooperative Learning (CL) in virtual settings. This study, conducted at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, compared the effectiveness of online CL strategies in discussion forums with traditional online forums. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 56 graduate student…

The present study aims at showing the effectiveness of a suggested training program for staff members at Teachers' College of King Saud University to develop their skills of using virtual classrooms. The research is empirical as it used two experimental groups. The first group is taught how to use the common teaching method and the second group is…

Purpose: Teachers have access to a growing range of online tools to support course delivery, but which ones are valued by students? Expectations and satisfaction are important constructs in the delivery of a service product, and how these constructs operate in a service environment, such as education where the student can also take on the role of…

In this 2011 investigation, a modified Delphi technique was introduced to determine whether an informed group of post-secondary online faculty and students could arrive at a consensus regarding the importance of previously recognized verbal immediacy behaviors. Two expert panels were presented with Gorham's (1988) Verbal Immediacy Scale and tasked…

This paper outlines the adaptation of a course on the management of network services in operating systems, called NetServicesOS, to the context of the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA). NetServicesOS is a mandatory course in one of the official graduate programs in the Faculty of Computer Science at the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a…