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Reduction of Teaching in the Classroom And the Use of Virtual Worlds Environment

Introduction

For a very long time, the education system has been advocating for a learning system that requires students to sit in actual classrooms for learning. However, this system has many shortcomings that make learning inefficient for most students. It is with this knowledge that researchers have recommended a departure from the actual learning classroom system to Virtual Learning Environments where students can interact with one another as well as with their teachers via a virtual network. This research paper explores the problems associated with the actual classroom learning system and further compares it with the Virtual Learning Environment system.

Problem Statement

The actual classroom learning system requires a teacher to come to class and teach the students in an actual classroom. This system has a number of shortcomings that make it ineffective for both the teaching process as well as the learning process for students. One of the main disadvantages associated with this system is that it works against students who are slow in understanding. This is mainly because the teacher teaches at the learning pace of the most students in the class. Therefore, the teacher is not able to cater for the needs of the students who are slow in understanding. In this way, they always end up being left behind. In addition to this, this system of learning does not favor shy students (Moore & Anderson, 2003). This is because they might not have the audacity to ask their questions in the midst of their fellow students. In this way, their questions are left unanswered and this affects their learning process in a negative way. Another disadvantage of this learning system is that it is time consuming and expensive. This is because it requires students to travel to a central place from where their classes can be conducted. It also requires teachers to come and teach the students from a common place (Gillespie, 2007). Therefore, this makes teachers and students to not only waste money for transport but also waste time that could have been used for learning. Whereas in a Virtual Learning Environment one teacher can teach ten classrooms at the same time, this system requires a teacher to teach only one class at a time. This means that for every class, the education providers have to pay a teacher, which proves to be too expensive compared to the Virtual Learning Environment system (Weiss, 2006).

The research will focus on the disadvantages and weaknesses in the actual classroom and the other better ways in virtual worlds that can help in addressing these disadvantages and weaknesses.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore the challenges associated with the actual classroom learning system. In doing so, this research seeks to find out whether the actual classroom learning adds value to the learners. It also seeks to find out whether compared to Virtual Learning Environment it has any unique strengths. In addition to this, it also seeks to find out the preferences of the teachers as well as the students (Ragusa, 2010). This includes finding out whether the students and teachers are comfortable with it or whether they prefer a Virtual Learning Environment system. It further seeks to analyze the damages or the loss it causes in the students’ learning process. Besides being helpful to students, this research aims at assisting all education stakeholders. One of the main beneficiaries of this research is the education providers. This is because this research also aims at finding out whether compared with the Virtual Learning Environment system of learning it is cost effective or too costly (Barajas, 2003).

Literature Review:

Research Methods:

Limitations of the Research

This research is limited to finding out the inefficiencies and disadvantages of the actual classroom learning methods as well as the comparison of the Virtual Learning Environment with the actual classroom learning. However, it does not look at the different teaching methods that the teachers might use, nor does it suggest any effects that different teaching methods would have on learning and teaching.

Conclusion:

References

Barajas, M. (2003). Virtual learning environments in higher education: a European view. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona.

Gillespie, H. (2007). Learning and teaching with virtual learning environments. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Moore, M. G., & Anderson, W. G. (2003). Handbook of distance education. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Ragusa, A. T. (2010). Interaction in communication technologies and virtual learning environments: human factors. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Weiss, J. (2006). International handbook of virtual learning environments. Dordrecht: Springer.