Advantages of Virtual classes

There are some advantages of Virtual classes which is discussed in the following:

·        Removal of geographical barriers (Anywhere learning):  A virtual classroom allows learners and teachers to attend a single live training session from any place in the world, provided they have a computer and Internet connection.

·     Sessions can be recorded:  If learners miss a traditional classroom-based training session, they have very little opportunity to engage in the learning experience that took place. A virtual classroom has a facility to record the session, so learners or teachers can replay it afterwards. Teachers too get an opportunity to review their own or their colleagues performance.

·       Quicker to organize:  Training can be organized more quickly than traditional classroom-based training. Classrooms and projectors do not need to be reserved; materials do not need to be distributed. The sessions are easier to schedule or reschedule since attendees will not be traveling to the venue of the session.

·   One to one communication:  In a virtual classroom environment, learners can talk to the teacher and to each other, and although this communication is not as rich in a traditional classroom, it still can help learners, since it is one to one.

·     Synchronous Learning:  In this type of learning process, students and professors connect and interact with each other in real time. This is indeed a very significant process where students get answers to their queries & questions then and there. Interaction with professors and peers makes the learning process interesting and enriching for students.

·       Live Audio-Video Support: 

Audio and video support both contributes towards the e learning process in virtual classroom. Various tools are available for text-based chat- verbal interaction through audio conferencing and sharing of one’s own video through web-camera. Professors can share their audio and video, thus establishing one-to-one relation with students. This builds confidence in students about the pedagogy methods and allows professors to communicate effectively with the students. Moreover, the students asking questions can share their videos with the fellow students as well.

·       Session recording:  

The entire classroom session can be recorded in video format and stored in library for future reference. This feature is extremely useful, especially for absent students, who can review the recordings later and understand the concepts elaborated by the professors. Moreover, the students can also refer to the recordings for revision purpose, at their convenience.

·         White Board:  

White Board is an alternative to the traditional blackboard method, used as a tool for drawing graphics or diagrams in virtual classroom. It comes handy when professor wants to visually explain any abstract concept. If any student has a query, which needs some graphical explanation and the professor does not have an apt graphic for it, then even a crude diagram can be extremely beneficial for emphasizing on the concepts.

·      Sharing of Learning Resources and/or Desktop Screen:  The resource sharing feature in virtual classroom allows professors to share varied content in different formats with the students in real time while delivering lectures on various course topics. This resource sharing feature supports sharing of various file formats - MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint Presentations, PDF files, flash presentations, flash videos etc. While teaching, the professors can exhibit all the operations from the desk, by sharing a particular application or the entire desktop. This resource sharing feature is extremely useful for sharing various course materials like topic notes, subject diagrams or graphs, explanatory videos etc. With this type of supportive and informative course material, learning becomes interesting and gives an interactive experience.

·  Classroom Control by Professors & Active Student Participation:  

In virtual classroom when professors deliver lectures to the students while explaining or elaborating concepts, ideally one sided process of communication is followed, and students are not permitted to talk/ express themselves at the same time in order to avoid chaotic situations. Though all the participants from the virtual classroom are connected through audio and/or video conference, the participation rights are controlled by the professors. During the lectures, in case the students come across a particular doubt or query, while the professors are explaining, the students can set their status to “raise hand” which indicates that the student has a question which needs to be addressed by the professor. However, only 1 student can ask question at a time, in order to avoid confusion as well as commotion and to maintain focus and clarity on queries asked. Since the professors have the control rights, they can respond to the question or else disable the status of “raise hand” and take the question at the end of the session.

·         Multi-Level Fallback Mechanism for Class Continuation:  Virtual classroom is a web-based tool which is solely dependent on internet connectivity. If in the remotest possibilities, participants get disconnected from virtual classroom, there are various alternatives to keep the class active. The technical team operates the fallback mechanism. If the internet is intact, then with the pre-configured Skype accounts of all participants, a common Skype call is initiated to connect all participants to further carry on with the class. In case all the participants lose internet connectivity then the successive portion of the class is conducted through telephone.

·         Live Tech Support:  

With this feature, technical support representatives of the institutes or corporate organizations will be able to provide text based chat and live tech support to their users.

·    Increased Convenience. Without the location or time limitations of a traditional classroom, I have the freedom to absorb class content, engage with my peers on classroom topics, complete an assignment, or take an exam at a time, and for a duration, that best fits my schedule.

·         Schedule Flexibility. 

The ease of accessibility of an online learning platform gives me the opportunity to work and take classes at the same time, so I can attend class no matter what my work schedule for the week looks like.

·         Knowledge Retention. 

For me, online instruction delivers a more effective learning experience due to interactive modules, narrated online textbooks, multimedia tools, and knowledge checks that can be repeated until the concept is mastered. These repetitive learning tools help me retain the information I learn while helping me stay focused and on-task on the learning objective at hand.

·         Immediate Feedback. 

Instead of waiting weeks to receive a score on an assignment or exam I can read and review comments on assignments as they become available, and receive scores for online tests and quizzes upon completion. These online progress reports help keep me informed on my academic performance so I can stay on track to obtain the grade I want.

·         Increased Participation & Engagement. 

Interestingly enough, I’ve found that online correspondence with my peers and instructor is faster and more helpful than face to face conversation on important course topics. The interactive comment and share features help me engage with and connect to my classmates. 

      Instead of sitting in a classroom at the same location, time, and days each week I can login into an online learning platform that connects me to my course content, classmates, and academic performance anywhere, anytime, making it easier for me to learn on my schedule. Important course content is available at my fingertips, and communication with my classmates is faster, and more efficient through live virtual discussion boards where I can read and respond to my peers questions, thoughts, and responses to what they’ve learned instantaneously.

Scope of Virtual Classroom: 

Since the 1990s, we have been hearing that virtual classroom is the next big thing.  However, it has taken a while for it to reach the level that was predicted them.  Earlier these were a lot of things that were missing from the eco-system.  But now due to the advancement of technology and information processing the scope of virtual classroom is increased day by day.

·         Boost in the field of technology:  Because of the new inventions in the field of technology these days’ people starts thinking of education out of the box and people are more willing to use technology in the field of education.  Many educational institutions now starts taking interest to provide education through virtual classes because it is less expensive and more suitable to the masses because of its accessibility.

·         Adopting IT culture in the field of Education:  With the enhancement of e-learning these days students and working people are now much interested in e-learning or in virtual classes because now our society is adopting the IT culture in the field of education and now technology is not considered as barrier rather it has been considered as Bridge towards the gateway of knowledge.

·         Distance learning:  Now virtual classrooms are also very much helpful for distance learning.  The students of distance learning can easly access to the different educational activities.  With the help of it they can enhance their knowledge regarding their subject.

      Thus we can say that virtual classes have a big scope in the field of education because of its accessibility and approachability to the lesson.

Activities:  There are two different categories, i.e. unsupervised activities and teacher led session.

·         Unsupervised Activity:  Unsupervised activities that the virtual classroom setting can have their benefits and drawbacks.  Some of the benefits include the ability to accommodate participants with unusual schedules due to the 24/7 availability.  Another benefit of this structure is that it allows participants the opportunity to move at their own pace.  But an obvious drawback is that unsupervised activities don’t allow the student access to immediate feedback or answers from a live person.

•    Power- Point slide
• Multiple choice surveys.
• Websites
• Live application, such as word and Excel.
• Online video source.
• Tutorials.
• Flash Presentations.

·         Teacher led activities:  These activities are those in which the teachers give instruction to the learners and learner did everything under the supervision of teacher or tutor.  With the help of web- phones and online video source teacher led activities can be possible e.g.

•      Providing instructions through web-phones.
• Correcting the learner or guiding toward a desirable response.
• Online video source.
• Tutorials.

     Thus from the above discussion we can conclude that virtual classrooms are very much helpful for us for enhancing the scope of education.  It helps to provide wide platform to the teachers as well as the learners.  It is just because of Virtual classrooms that the Distance and e-learning can become more interesting.