Virtual learning environment

A virtual learning environment (VLE), or learning platform, is an electronic educational technology (also called e-learning) education system based on the Web that models conventional in-person education by providing equivalent virtual access to classes, class content, tests, homework, grades, assessments, and other external resources such as academic or museum website links. It is also a social space where students and teacher can interact through threaded discussions or chat. It typically uses Web 2.0 tools for 2-way interaction, and includes a content management system.

VLEs are the basic components of contemporary distance learning, but can also be integrated with a physical learning environment which may be referred to as blended learning. Virtual learning can take place synchronously or asynchronously. In synchronous systems, participants meet in “real time”, and teachers conduct live classes in virtual classrooms. Students can communicate through a microphone, chat rights, or by writing on the board. In asynchronous learning, which is sometimes called “self-paced” learning, students are expected to complete lessons and assignments independently through the system. Asynchronous courses have deadlines just as synchronous courses do, but each student is learning at his own pace.

A VLE can include students and teachers “meeting” online through a synchronous web-based application. The teacher is able to present lessons through video, presentations, or chatting. The students are able to talk with other students and the teacher, as well as collaborate with each other, answer questions, or pose questions. They can use the tools available through the application to virtually raise their hand, send messages, or answer questions on the screen given by the teacher or student presenter.

Major components
The following are the basic or the main components required for a virtual learning environment or online education curriculum to take place

A VLE may include some or all of the following elements:
 * The course syllabus
 * Administrative information about the course: prerequisites, credits, registration, payments, physical sessions, and contact information for the instructor.
 * A notice board for current information about the ongoing course
 * The basic content of some or all of the course; the complete course for distance learning applications, or some part of it, when used as a portion of a conventional course. This normally includes material such as copies of lecture in the form of text, audio, or video presentations, and the supporting visual presentations
 * Additional resources, either integrated or as links to outside resources. This typically consists of supplementary reading, or innovative equivalents for it.
 * Self-assessment quizzes or analogous devices, normally scored automatically
 * Formal assessment functions, such as examinations, essay submission, or presentation of projects. this now frequently includes components to support peer assessment
 * Support for communications, including e-mail, threaded discussions, chat rooms, Twitter and other media, sometimes with the instructor or an assistant acting as moderator. Additional elements include wikis, blogs, RSS and 3D virtual learning spaces.
 * Management of access rights for instructors, their assistants, course support staff, and students
 * Documentation and statistics as required for institutional administration and quality control
 * Authoring tools for creating the necessary documents by the instructor, and, usually, submissions by the students
 * Provision for the necessary hyperlinks to create a unified presentation to the students.

A VLE is normally not designed for a specific course or subject, but is capable of supporting multiple courses over the full range of the academic program, giving a consistent interface within the institution and—to some degree—with other institutions using the system. The virtual learning environment supports an exchange of information between a user and the learning institute he or she is currently enrolled in through digital mediums like e-mail, chat rooms, web 2.0 sites or a forum thereby helping convey information to any part of the world with just a single click.

Similar terms
Computerized learning systems have been referred to as electronic educational technology, e-learning, learning platform or learning management system. The major difference is that a VLE and LMS is an application, whereas the Learning Platform share characteristics with an Operating System (or CoursePark Platform) where different educational web based applications can be run on the platform.

The terms virtual learning environment (VLE) and learning platform are generically used to describe a range of integrated web based applications that provide teachers, learners, parents and others involved in education with information, tools and resources to support and enhance educational delivery and management. These terms are broadly synonymous with 'managed learning environments' (MLEs) and 'managed virtual learning environments' (MVLEs).

The applications that form part of these online services can include web pages, email, message boards and discussion forums, text and video conferencing, shared diaries, online social areas, as well as assessment, management and tracking tools.

The term learning platform refers to a range of tools and services often described using terms such as educational extranet, VLE, LMS, ILMS and LCMS providing learning and content management. The term learning platform also includes the personal learning environment (PLE) or personal online learning space (POLS), including tools and systems that allow the development and management of eportfolios. The specific functionality associated with any implementation of a learning platform will vary depending upon the needs of the users and can be achieved by bringing together a range of features from different software solutions either commercially available, open source, self built or available as free to use web services. These tools are delivered together via a cohesive user environment with a single entry point, through integration achieved by technical standards.


 * a Learning Management System (LMS). Related concepts include" Content Management System (CMS), which properly refers to the organization of the educational or other content, not the overall environment; Learning Content Management System (LCMS), which is more often used for corporate training systems than for systems in education institutions; Managed Learning Environment (MLE), which normally refers to the overall infrastructure in an institution of which the VLE is a component, Learning Support System (LSS); Online Learning Centre (OLC); or Learning Platform (LP), education via computer-mediated communication (CMC); or online education. The term "Virtual Learning Environment" is more commonly used in Europe and Asia, while the synonymous term "Learning Management System" is the more common usage in North America.

The term LMS can also mean "Library Management System" (which is now more commonly referred to as Integrated Library System, or ILS).

Purpose
VLE Learning platforms commonly allow:
 * Content management – creation, storage, access to and use of learning resources
 * Curriculum mapping and planning – lesson planning, assessment and personalisation of the learning experience
 * Learner engagement and administration – managed access to learner information and resources and tracking of progress and achievement
 * Communication and collaboration - emails, notices, chat, wikis, blogs

In principle a learning platform is a safe and secure environment that is reliable, available online and accessible to a wide user base. A user should be able to move between learning platforms throughout their life with no loss of access to their personal data. The concept of a learning platform accommodates a continuously evolving description of functionality changing to meet the needs of the user. Becta publishes Functional Requirements and Technical Specifications that give a more precise description of how a learning platform may be constructed.

Justification
Institutions of higher and further education use VLEs in order to:
 * Economize on the time of teaching staff, and the cost of instruction.
 * Facilitate the presentation of online learning by instructors without web authoring experience.
 * Provide instruction to students in a flexible manner to students with varying time and location constraints.
 * Provide instruction in a manner familiar to the current web-oriented generation of students.
 * Facilitate the networking of instruction between different campuses or even colleges.
 * Provide for the reuse of common material among different courses.
 * Provide automatic integration of the results of student learning into campus information systems.

Standards
Most VLEs support the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) as a standard, but there are no commonly used standards that define how the learner's performance within a course can be transferred from one VLE to another.

There are also standards for sharing content such as those defined by the IMS Global Consortium. Local bodies such as in the schools sector in the UK the DCSF via Becta have additionally defined a learning platform "conformance framework" to encourage interoperability.

Virtual Learning Environments are not limited only to students and learners in university level studies. There are many virtual learning environments for students in grades K-12. These systems are also particularly suited for the needs of independent educational programs, charter schools and home-based education.

Assessment
Educators need benchmark tools to assess a virtual learning environment as a viable means of education.

Walker developed a survey instrument known as the Distance Education Learning Environment Survey (DELES), which is accessible to students anywhere. DELES examines instructor support, student interaction and collaboration, personal relevance, authentic learning, active learning, and student autonomy.

Harnish and Reeves provide a systematic criteria approach based on training, implementation, system usage, communication, and support.

Systems available
There are many open source and proprietary VLEs available for use. On-demand elearning services are also a popular choice because they can be deployed in minutes and do not require instructors and institutions to run their own servers.

Many VLEs are placed on a web server. In a typical VLE there are one or more programs or languages that provides the user (Teacher-Student) interface, and which interacts with a database. For example, a VLE might use PHP as its web language/program, with MySQL as a database.