The Making of the University Life Café

Author(s):  
Shalin Hai-Jew

The building of an interactive, user-driven website for college students to promote mental health and wellness (and to combat suicide) has revealed important strategies in the construction of such a sociotechnical virtual learning environment. This project used a number of strategies to create allure to the site and to provide learning opportunities—through educational modules, virtual community mores of care for others, user interactivity, the support for student voices, and the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the security measures. Virtual learning environments that involve life-critical issues require an understanding of the domain field, potential site users, and thought-out strategies.

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
A. Bissoonauth Bedford ◽  
◽  
Ray Stace ◽  

This paper reports on an online discussion forum that was created on the University of Wollongong’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to aid and support the learning of French grammar at beginner/false beginner level. The aim was to provide a blended learning situation which combines face to face teaching with online learning using multimedia resources. The key objective of the online forum is to encourage undergraduate students take an active role in their language learning through interaction with peers. Methodology draws on educational practice influenced by a constructivist approach, particularly on the importance of building one’s knowledge and linguistic skills through interaction and cooperation with others. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of data show examples of peer exchanges acting as activators in the meta-learning that was occurring outside class hours including reflection and independent language learning awareness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3/2021 (93) ◽  
pp. 122-137
Author(s):  
Tomasz Eisenbardt ◽  

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to assess the level of interest in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) during and before the pandemic, as well as to identify and compare solutions implemented at selected Polish universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research methodology: The preliminary study was based on bibliometric analysis. The frequency of the VLE notion in the scientific literature was verified. Then a case study was applied. Six universities in Poland were analyzed, which had to make radical organizational changes in a short time, allowing them to conduct classes with students almost exclusively remotely. Findings: The conducted analysis led to the identification of significant similarities in the procedures undertaken and organizational changes of the universities described. Some variation has been observed in terms of the software used that builds the university’s VLE. Research limitations: Only cases of universities in Poland have been described. The choice of the university was intentional. Value: The value of the paper is to draw attention to: on the one hand, the versatility of the VLE, and on the other, certain common features that university VLEs should have in order to ensure the work of the university (and other institutions dealing with education) in a crisis situation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mogaji

The role of technology in enhancing teaching and learning cannot be over-emphasised. Often, tutors use innovative tools from the virtual learning environment (VLE) provided by the university. In this piece, I reflect on the prospects of VLE, as tutors and students have begun to find other tools more engaging and interactive.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
A. V. Fomenko ◽  
◽  
D. O. Tarasov ◽  

One of the hallmarks of the learning process is its manageability, which provides for the possibility of planning and designing the educational process. The article deals with practical issues related to the administration of the University Virtual Learning Environment in terms of organization and differentiation of access rights of different categories of users. The authors discuss the principles of administering a virtual learning environment in terms of distinguishing levels of access to individual elements of the system for different roles of different categories of users. In LMS Moodle, the list of hierarchical contexts is as follows: System (no parent context); Website – homepage (parent context – system); Course category (parent context – system); Course (parental context – course category or system); Course element (parent context – course); Block (parent context – system or course); User (parent context – system). In the Lviv Polytechnic University, only Super Administrator, Global Group Management, Methodist, and Library have global roles. Role assignments are performed to determine the role in context. The site (homepage) and course are examples of two different contexts. While the role assignment process is the same for different contexts, the path to the assignment page may be different. The article gives examples of how to organize a system of administration with a description of the processes of creating different types of roles and the logic of implementation of each role and the need for certain approaches. There are five types of roles in the article, namely: managerial, supervisory, training, informational, temporary, providing justification and practical advice on setting up each role for each type. The article describes a common responsibility matrix for each user role. The roles of management roles are different aspects of course administration at the level of course categories of different types of nesting. This type includes administrators. The role of the controlling role is, by name, to investigate the various aspects of educational and training activities within the VNS system. The objectives of the learning roles are to ensure and carry out the learning process itself. These roles include, first of all, the system role by default – the student, the main participant in the process of acquiring knowledge, passing checkpoints and other components of the educational process. The tasks of information roles are to create information messages for both students and teachers at different levels of the information system. Temporary role tasks are to involve third parties in the system. Of course, the guest is first and foremost, but in our case guest entry is forbidden, so the roles of Conference Participant and Olympiad Participant were created to provide access to individual system resources. The article describes a common responsibility matrix for each user role.


Author(s):  
Tehmina Aslam ◽  
Syed Mubashar Ali Shah Rizvi ◽  
Jawad Ahmad

Due to COVID-19, the government of Pakistan had to take measures to bring about changes in almost all infrastructures, including that of education and decided to switch to a virtual learning environment and urged all educational institutes to adopt virtual learning strategies to facilitate student learning process. In an attempting to contain the virus instructed educational institutes to explore virtual space to continue learning process. The University of Lahore was one of the few universities in Pakistan that took the lead and decided to serve the learning purpose.  However, due to cultural differences and dependency on traditional learning, most universities found it difficult to follow suit. The University of Lahore has crossed a milestone and emerged as a model for other universities across country. The virtual learning strategies that have been adopted by the University are no less than international standards and the administration have been working tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of this digital education system. Based on the student survey and faculty interviews, this study recommends regular virtual trainings by educational institutes and to overcome the issues of internet connectivity and electricity in the country as a whole to better deal with the challenges that lie ahead.


2012 ◽  
pp. 985-1004
Author(s):  
Julian Buchanan ◽  
Steve Wilson ◽  
Nirmala Gopal

This chapter explores the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to bring together students in criminology and social work from three universities across the globe (the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa; the University of Washington in the United States of America; and Glyndwr University in Wales, United Kingdom), to examine the issue of racism and hate crime. The chapter provides a detailed case study of an online learning environment constructed to facilitate a four week international student conference. The chapter draws strongly upon the student experience and voice, extracted from the anonymous completion of online questionnaires at the end of the conference. The student narrative is supplemented by the experiences of the three authors who facilitated and managed the online learning process. The chapter explores the educational opportunities and limitations in respect of: online learning generally; the cross cultural shared experience; and in terms of engaging students in investigating global social issues.


Author(s):  
Julian Buchanan ◽  
Steve Wilson ◽  
Nirmala Gopal

This chapter explores the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to bring together students in criminology and social work from three universities across the globe (the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa; the University of Washington in the United States of America; and Glyndwr University in Wales, United Kingdom), to examine the issue of racism and hate crime. The chapter provides a detailed case study of an online learning environment constructed to facilitate a four week international student conference. The chapter draws strongly upon the student experience and voice, extracted from the anonymous completion of online questionnaires at the end of the conference. The student narrative is supplemented by the experiences of the three authors who facilitated and managed the online learning process. The chapter explores the educational opportunities and limitations in respect of: online learning generally; the cross cultural shared experience; and in terms of engaging students in investigating global social issues.


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