Frustration in Virtual Learning Environments

2011 ◽  
pp. 409-422
Author(s):  
Mar Gutiérrez-Colon Plana
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
English Language ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
New Methodologies

Many language teachers, students, and institutions of virtual learning environments are well acquainted with the feelings of loneliness and frustration that many students experience due to the fact that many virtual language courses base their methodology on simply uploading the material into the virtual classroom. Teachers should be aware of the learning process itself; that is, they shouldn’t talk only about new learning technologies for second language acquisition but also of new methodologies. In this chapter, we present some methodological actions that should be avoided in the virtual language classroom and try to suggest ways to improve teachers’ online practices. In order to collect data from some students enrolled in English language subjects in their degree course (English Philology and Mechanical Engineering at University Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain), a questionnaire was created. This chapter is part of the project PID08-PROFID, which receives financial support from the Institut de Ciències de l’Educació (URV).

Authoring Adaptive 3D Virtual Learning Environments

2016 ◽  
pp. 714-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ewais ◽  
Olga De Troyer
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Adaptive Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Authoring Tool ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Adaptive Learning Environment ◽  
3D Virtual Learning Environments

The use of 3D and Virtual Reality is gaining interest in the context of academic discussions on E-learning technologies. However, the use of 3D for learning environments also has drawbacks. One way to overcome these drawbacks is by having an adaptive learning environment, i.e., an environment that dynamically adapts to the learner and the activities that he performs in the environment. In this paper, the authors discuss adaptive 3D virtual leaning environments and explain how a course author can specify such an environment (i.e., authoring). The approach and tool that the authors present allow authors to create adaptive 3D virtual learning environments without the need to be an expert in 3D or using programming or scripting languages. The authors also conducted an evaluation to validate the approach and the usability and acceptability of the authoring tool. Based on the results, recommendations for authoring adaptive 3D virtual learning environments have been formulated.

An Investigation of the Relationship of Motivation, Attitudes and Environment

2018 ◽  
pp. 1126-1139
Author(s):  
Helen, Yeh Wai Man
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Self Confidence

This chapter will study a Philippine and a Chinese leaner's approaches to learn and achieve English language proficiency over 15 years in Hong Kong using biographical approaches. It focuses on the experience of individual motivation and social learning environments, and examines the interactions between the learner's motivation, self-confidence, and competition in the global economy. The effect of the interaction on shaping English learning and the learning experiences in three aspects including formal, self-directed and natural learning environments will also be discussed through Gardner's model of socio-educational model in second language acquisition and Weiner's attribution theory in social psychology. The chapter will suggest some practical implications for students and language teachers, discusses the ways to enhance second language learning in a cosmopolitan city, and presents some possible ways to increase learners' motivation and competitiveness in the global economy.

Surveillance in the Virtual Classroom

2010 ◽  
pp. 160-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Luck
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Managerial Level

In this chapter the author highlights some of the risks associated with universities establishing surveillance tools within virtual learning environments. Potential problems that may arise from such a move are considered at the student and managerial levels. At the student level the author argues that the adoption of the surveillance tool may result in students, especially the most gifted, feeling pressured to adopt practises that are not best suited to achieving their learning outcomes. At the managerial level the author argues that the surveillance tool provides a means by which subject design could be further influenced by market forces.

3D Virtual Learning Environments

2016 ◽  
pp. 54-86
Author(s):  
Tiago Cinto ◽  
Harlei Miguel de Arruda Leite ◽  
Sarah Negreiros Carvalho ◽  
Cecilia Sosa Arias Peixoto ◽  
Dalton Soares Arantes
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Authoring System ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
3D Virtual Learning Environments

Heated debates involving reforms in the educational system are becoming more and more frequent in recent years, mostly due to the increasingly evident shortcomings in the educational system and its difficulties to evolve at the same pace as technological development. Since nowadays people spend much of their time interacting directly or indirectly with technological devices, one can think of using this involvement with educational purposes. Through this interaction people have easy and inexpensive access to a vast amount of information. In this sense, one can think of methodologies to improve education by focusing on the foundations of knowledge rather than the emphasis on the memorization of contents. Therefore, the aim of this work is to propose and validate an interactive content authoring system as well as a virtual classroom where lessons are taught by avatars in an attempt to make learning experience richer and more motivating to students.

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Relationship of Motivation, Attitudes and Environment

2014 ◽  
pp. 1212-1225
Author(s):  
Helen, Yeh Wai Man
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Self Confidence

This chapter will study a Philippine and a Chinese leaner's approaches to learn and achieve English language proficiency over 15 years in Hong Kong using biographical approaches. It focuses on the experience of individual motivation and social learning environments, and examines the interactions between the learner's motivation, self-confidence, and competition in the global economy. The effect of the interaction on shaping English learning and the learning experiences in three aspects including formal, self-directed and natural learning environments will also be discussed through Gardner's model of socio-educational model in second language acquisition and Weiner's attribution theory in social psychology. The chapter will suggest some practical implications for students and language teachers, discusses the ways to enhance second language learning in a cosmopolitan city, and presents some possible ways to increase learners' motivation and competitiveness in the global economy.

Creating Virtual Learning Experiences Based on Engaging Interactions and Collaborative Work in Graduate Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-85
Author(s):  
Martha P. Mendez ◽  
Nofal Nagles Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Business Skills

The purpose of this chapter is to present a cognitive analysis of virtual leaning experiences based on engaging interactions and collaborative work to enhance business skills in graduate programs. The experiences include virtual learning scenarios, autonomous learning, virtual learning technologies, and collaborative work that enable the learners to enhance business skills required for the modern world. Ten virtual learning environments are sampled to analyze cognitive processes for the learners to enhance four main business skills: leadership, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and problem solving. Based on the analysis, the authors discuss the opportunities for improvement and recommend the implementation of activities in which learners investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex problem or challenge through collaborative work. This initiative provides more possibilities for learner interactivity and cognitive processes development and fosters the implementation of engaging virtual learning environments for learners skills to solve real-life situations.

An Experienced Austrian Educator's View on the 3-D Skills Implemented to Design and Integrate an Alien Mystery in OpenSim

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 56-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella K. Hadjistassou ◽  
Judith Molka-Danielsen
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
School Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Training Stage ◽  
Task Oriented

With their playful game-oriented nature, virtual learning environments can form constructive ecosocial settings for enacting game-driven collaborative tasks that have real pedagogical, learning, and teaching implications. Even though multiple studies have been undertaken in virtual learning environments, there is a dearth of studies on the constellation of complex interrelated skills and knowledge that second or foreign language educators integrate in actual situated contexts to design and offer task-oriented game-driven learning activities. Building on Compton's (2009) framework, this study investigates the complex set of technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills that an expert Austrian educator, Franziska integrated to design a multifaceted game-oriented plot in the virtual village of Chatterdale in OpenSim in order to engage thirteen-year-old Austrian and Norwegian high school students in oral interactions during three slightly different task-oriented quests to solve an alien mystery. Data analysis of an interview, reflective comments on a wiki, and follow-up emails indicate that the design and integration of an epistemic game in praxis forms a collaborative endeavor involving the integration of a set of complex and multifaceted sets of skills and knowledge. The study investigates the skills that emerged during two stages, the planning, preparation, and student training stage and integration stage. The findings of this study can be used to broaden the pedagogical discussion on the skills and knowledge that second or foreign language teachers need to acquire and apply to design successful playful task-driven learning quests in virtual learning environments.

An Investigation of the Relationship of Motivation, Attitudes and Environment

2013 ◽  
pp. 194-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen, Yeh Wai Man
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Self Confidence

This chapter will study a Philippine and a Chinese leaner’s approaches to learn and achieve English language proficiency over 15 years in Hong Kong using biographical approaches. It focuses on the experience of individual motivation and social learning environments, and examines the interactions between the learner’s motivation, self-confidence, and competition in the global economy. The effect of the interaction on shaping English learning and the learning experiences in three aspects including formal, self-directed and natural learning environments will also be discussed through Gardner’s model of socio-educational model in second language acquisition and Weiner’s attribution theory in social psychology. The chapter will suggest some practical implications for students and language teachers, discusses the ways to enhance second language learning in a cosmopolitan city, and presents some possible ways to increase learners’ motivation and competitiveness in the global economy.

Surveillance in the Virtual Classroom

2012 ◽  
pp. 1676-1685
Author(s):  
Morgan Luck
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Managerial Level

In this chapter the author highlights some of the risks associated with universities establishing surveillance tools within virtual learning environments. Potential problems that may arise from such a move are considered at the student and managerial levels. At the student level the author argues that the adoption of the surveillance tool may result in students, especially the most gifted, feeling pressured to adopt practises that are not best suited to achieving their learning outcomes. At the managerial level the author argues that the surveillance tool provides a means by which subject design could be further influenced by market forces.

scholarly journals Teachers’ interaction in combined physical and virtual learning environments:

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katri Hansell ◽  
Michaela Pörn ◽  
Sandra Bäck
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
School Context ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Learning And Teaching

The development of the Internet and digital tools for interaction has enabled computer-mediated communication as part of the communicative approach to language learning and teaching. This creates affordances for learners of any target language from any location to communicate with each other, for example, through tandem language learning – that is, reciprocal two-way learning in dyads of two students with different first languages. Previous studies on tandem learning have mainly focused on the interaction between tandem partners in informal learning situations. In this study, we explore the teacher’s role in virtual classroom tandem applied to curriculum-based language teaching. The aim is to describe teachers’ engagement in interactional situations in the classroom, including the interplay between the physical classroom and virtual learning environments (VLEs). The data comprise video and screen recordings of teacher activities and interactions. The results reveal that virtual classroom tandem is a strongly student-centred approach where the teacher interaction during tandem lessons is notably narrower compared with tandem language learning based entirely on face-to-face meetings in a formal school context and in classroom instruction generally.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document