The use of technology-supported teaching and learning in higher education has moved from a position of peripheral interest a few years ago to become a fundamental ingredient in the experience of many if not most students today. A major part of that change has been wrought by the widespread introduction and use of ‘virtual learning environments’ (VLEs). A defining characteristic of VLEs is that they combine a variety of tools and resources into a single integrated system. To use a VLE is not just to employ a single intervention but to change the very fabric of the students’ experience of study and the university. Despite this, much of the literature on VLEs has concentrated on producing typologies by listing and comparing system functions, describing small scale and short duration applications or providing speculative theories and predictions. Little attention has so far been paid to analysing what effects a VLE’s use has on the participants and the context of use, particularly across a large group of users and over a substantial period of time. This work presents the evaluation of a VLE developed and used to support undergraduate medical education at the University of Edinburgh since 1999. This system is called ‘EEMeC’ and was developed specifically within and in support of its context of use. EEMeC provides a large number of features and functions to many different kinds of user, it has evolved continuously since it was introduced and it has had a significant impact on teaching and learning in the undergraduate medical degree programme (MBChB). In such circumstances evaluation methodologies that depend on controls and single variables are nether applicable or practical. In order to approach the task of evaluating such a complex entity a multi-modal evaluation framework has been developed based on taking a series of metaphor-informed perspectives derived from the organisational theories of Gareth Morgan(Morgan 1997). The framework takes seven approaches to evaluation of EEMeC covering a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. These are combined in a dialectical analysis of EEMeC from these different evaluation perspectives. This work provides a detailed and multi-faceted account of a VLE-in-use and the ways in which it interacts with its user community in its context of use. Furthermore, the method of taking different metaphor-based evaluation perspectives of a complex problem space is presented as a viable approach for studying and evaluating similar learning support systems. The evaluation framework that has been developed would be particularly useful to those practitioners who have a pressing and practical need for meaningful evaluation techniques to inform and shape how complex systems such as VLEs are deployed and used. As such, this work can provide insights not just into EEMeC, but into the way VLEs are changing the environments and contexts in which they are used across the tertiary sector as a whole.

Although there are numerous online classes now, yet it is still questionable whether it can achieve the purpose to be initiative, diversified, interactive and collaborative. Taking a look at the current online classrooms, the functions developed by the systems are getting more and more complete; meanwhile, the user-friendliness which is getting improving has brought more convenience for users. However, if there should not be any powerful drive that is pushing from behind, most students would not spend much time getting online to participate in interaction and such classrooms with nearly no students were similar to nonexistence at all. Even for those online classrooms that are more popular among students, the messages left on their bulletin boards are mostly questions for requirements of the class and reposting of some online articles. Not many students can share what they know about these lessons and express how they feel in a profound way, which does not help a lot for learning efficiency of knowledge construction. This study is based on the related theories of learning communities by referencing Tsai, Chung-Yuan¡¦s (Tsai, Chung-Yuan, 2001) instructive interactive design of control, feedback, and facilitate strategies to provide students an online classroom for their spare-time learning by themselves as an experimental platform. Based on a mode of quasi-experiment, it is to group them and manipulate the dependent variables, and to observe the learning behaviors and participation of the subjects in order to empirically test the instructively and socially interactive strategies among teachers and students, students and their peers. For teachers, this study is expected to find an empirically proved strategic mode that can encourage students to have initiative learning and highly participation in the online classroom, and designs a questionnaire aiming at students¡¦ motivations and satisfactions, and the efficiency of group collaborative learning and studying groups. As for students, it is to explore the bottleneck that they have faced and couldn¡¦t break through all the time, then makes a deduction and designs some successful operational strategies to make online classroom work in order to achieve the learning efficacy so that online classroom will not become just another BBS established on the internet platform but can help to fulfill the dream of online learning.

This project is associated with the field of Information Systems and more specifically with Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). These environments are becoming very popular the last years, especially in higher education. However we decided to focus in lower level education since there is lack of these learning platforms and their spreading is limited. More specifically our project will focus on the description of a Virtual Learning Environment for preliminary schools. The target age will be 5-8 years old. The design of our system is based on the guidelines of a preliminary schoolteacher in Spain, who is actually our stakeholder. Designing a system for so young students means that various aspects have to be taken into consideration such as their level of computer knowledge, their maturity, their not still developed studying abilities and the fact that it is their first approach to school as a learning environment. However we believe that if they can be integrated in the information society in such an early age, it will be beneficial for their future and the future of information technologies as well. We hope that through this project we will be able to contribute to computer based education and equip the young students with new ways and potentials of learning. On a theoretical basis, we could say that our project contains two different parts: a theoretical part and a more practical one. In the theoretical part, all the related work of similar VLEs is presented in an effort to see what products already exist in the market and try to create a new, innovative system taking into consideration various educational aspects. In addition, a review of our literature research concerning computer based education and VLEs is included in order to provide the necessary theoretical background before starting to design our system. Finally, a summary of our research made including questionnaires and interviews as well as the analysis and the conclusions of this research are presented since before designing our system we tried to include the opinion of the different people involved in this system like the students and their parents, the teachers and the pedagogues. On the other hand, the second more practical part focuses on the description of the learning platform. The architecture of the system as well as the use cases is included here. A prototype of the system is also provided but we were not able to complete the whole implementation due to time limitations.

In the years 2004 to 2012, a long-term study on the effectiveness of safety experts was commissioned by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). An interdisciplinary team of scientists investigated in these years the activities and the effectiveness of services for professionals responsible for occupational safety and health (OSH). In a case study-like manner it is discussed how the technology that was originally developed as an acquisitions and incentive instrument for the various phases of the safety experts' long-term study, now has become the safety experts’ online community. Both as a stand-alone instrument of prevention as well as a place of learning for professionals for occupational safety, it seems to be a highly appropriate technology. Accompanying the mentoring ensures regular technology updates to meet the increasingly broad use by a growing number of OSH specialists.

The purpose of this comparative, quantitative study was to explore the relationship of interim test scores among remote and in-person learners, low-income students, and students with disabilities. In March 2020, a portion of students enrolled in a K-12 school in Northeast Tennessee was moved into remote learning until the end of the school year in May 2020. In July 2020, parents were given the option for their child to attend remote or in-person learning. While some chose in-person learning, giving reasons such as child-care, work obligations, or personal preference, others chose for their children to continue to receive online learning due to health concerns brought on by the pandemic. Since these decisions were made, some parents that originally opted for online learning chose to send their child back to school due to perceived obstacles faced within the online environment. This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of online learning in comparison to in-person learning for students grades three – six separated into the following categories: general population, students with disabilities, and low-income students. Comparison of both mathematics and literacy interim third quarter checkpoint data were analyzed using SPSS software to conduct a series of independent t-tests. Data were analyzed at the 0.05 level of significance. Twelve research questions were addressed testing corresponding null hypotheses. Results included third grade online literacy scores significantly exceeding the scores of in-person. Mean literacy and math scores were approximately equal for online and in-person learners. Overall, scores for students with disabilities and low socio-economic students were approximately equal whether the learners were online or in-person.

This study examined the learning experiences of 6 young adolescent students in Grades 6 to 8 in India during COVID-19 lockdowns. The lockdowns resulted in teaching through virtual learning instead of the traditional face-to-face learning in a formal classroom during 2020-22. Since students are important stakeholders in their education process, hearing their voices and understanding their perspectives in this learning process was important as they had been directly affected by this sudden change in the teaching-learning medium. To understand the personal and cultural conditions of the young learners the study drew on socio-cultural theory (Rogoff, 2003, Vygotsky,1978) and the dialogical perspective of Bakhtin (1984). In-depth narrative interviews with 6 adolescents were conducted and were analyzed using the framework proposed by Clandinin and Connelly (2000). A narrative interpretation focused on both the individual experiences and the common themes that emerged from six in-depth narratives. The analyses revealed the learners' resilience and their ability to adapt to change by developing constructive coping strategies. They also revealed the learners' recognition of the value of in-person social connection and the role that in-person classes, which foster collaboration, have for meaningful learning to take place. Finally, all the young learners expressed joy in being invited to share their learning experiences.

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Yes / With the advancement of technology, significant changes have been introduced into the learning and teaching environment. The importance of enhancing the interest of learners is an on-going challenge for educators of all levels. In this respect, teaching and learning practices are adapting to students¿ exposure to technological and social trends. In this presentation, a case study of using technology to enhance the learners¿ environment for engineering-based subjects in higher education is presented. The approach consists of delivering interactive materials through a Virtual Learning Environment and integrating web application technologies to enhance the learners¿ experience. Due to the vast subject areas in engineering and the variety of content of each subject, a general methodology is first identified and adopted. This consists of stages that show the progress from initial development to deployment of the materials, followed by evaluation of the module and further improvements carried out on the module based on qualitative evaluation. The evaluation process consists of the application of electronic surveys for feedback on the distance learning module. In addition, monitoring of the students¿ usage of the materials is also carried out. The presentation concludes with the presentation of the initial results from a current e-learning module.

<p><!--[if !mso]> <object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object><mce:style><! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } --></p><p>Traditional education have for long been remaining without major changes made to the actual system. Up until very recently, there has been reluctance towards making fundamental and dramatic changes to the system, but as societies change and develop by mirroring on past experiences, new minds and new ways of thinking emerge suggesting changes and new developments. Consequently, new educational approaches such as e-learning and virtual learning have emerged.</p><p>Lately, technology has been transforming and developing than ever before and the demand for modifying accordingly to new technology has become a prerequisite for all industries and institutions. Already with e-learning, a derived concept is worthy of notice. Authenticity, meaning validity and accuracy, has been imposed as one major issue when it comes to e-learning, and also v-learning.</p><p>The main goal of this thesis is to present answers and suggestions to the following research questions:</p><p>Ø  What value does a virtual education method create for the students?</p><p>Ø  What implications are there for an education through Second Life and what is the significance of such an environment?</p><p>Ø  What are the main auxiliary instruments or tools that enhance authenticity and the achievement of high presence in a virtual environment?</p><p>This research adopted an inductive approach using a qualitative research. The characterizations of knowledge used were descriptive knowledge, normative knowledge, explanatory research and evaluating research for the respective research questions. As a result of collaborating with Kalmar University, Sweden’s first Second Life course <em>“Oral Production” </em>was observed and to intensify the results, an interview was held with the course’s lecturer. The results were thereon analyzed and scrutinized based on the Empirical Findings, Theoretical Framework – consisting of mainly pedagogical theories and of articles concerning virtual learning environments.</p><p>The conclusion of this research entails the answers for the research questions. An education via a virtual environment is a development of e-learning, which is an enhancement of a traditional physical education. All students are persuaded to be active and participate in learning, which also promotes interconnectedness between students and teacher. Students can do role-playing and do presentations without feeling embarrassed about their “real” identities being represented. Main auxiliary instruments include virtual presentation boards, audio to communicate with each other and the avatar to direct the speech. Additionally, to enhance high presence in a virtual environment, involving all students with creative exercises seems to be another means in achieving high presence in a virtual environment.</p><p> </p>