Summary Blog Post

Summary on:

      Inhabited Virtual Learning Worlds and Impacts on Learning Behaviors in Young School Learners

The scholarly paper is an overview of the concept of Virtual Education and what it has become. Even though Virtual Schools and Virtual Education has grown and developed it still has long ways to go due to the fact that most perceive it as just a type of database and teachers perceive it as a tool for normal teaching instead of viewing as a new way of teaching. Most of these views are due to the issues commonly associated to new developments and new technology, and to the fact that virtual education may create student isolation. The article continues to describe the significance and importance of exploiting Virtual Education, and how using avatars for the students breaks the time, distance and physical barriers that may disrupt a normal classroom. 

The article focuses on asserting the issues that must be solved before Virtual Education can function perfectly and is able to provide an enriched learning environment, better than the tradition classroom. The article, also, does not shy away from the crude reality; it would be incredibly hard to make a virtual classroom seem as normal as the traditional classrooms. It clearly states that it would take a long time and great amounts of money to get the prototype IVLW out of the pilot system. 

Questions:

   What are top issues that need to be addresses before virtual education can be fully implemented?

The top three issues that must be addressed are telepresence, learning communities, and learning supports in networked learning.

2.      What is the current way of virtual teaching?

The current paradigm is a Web-based teacher-centered program, so basically just information delivery.

3.      What could be achieved through the avatars?

Using the avatars proposed by the IVSW program, different individuals that are geographically separated, can simultaneously interact in the virtual learning worlds.

4.      Do the benefits of Virtual Education surpass the benefits from Traditional Education?

If the proposed ideas are exploited is possible to not only create a networked learning environment that resembles the real life school learning environment, but also increases traditional education by taking care of its most common issues and introducing the virtual learning accommodations and extending the student’ horizons.

5.      What is IVLW?

IVLW stands for inhabited virtual learning worlds and is an emerging learning environment that promises to revolutionize the virtual learning experience.

Citation for the Scholarly Paper:
Lin, C., Chou, C. C., & Kuo, M. (2007). Inhabited virtual learning worlds and impacts on learning behaviors in young school learners. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 5(4), 99-112. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/201698234?accountid=10901