VIRTUAL EDUCATION - AN INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL CONCEPT

Moving with changing times, we must realize that education also needs to be reformed. We cannot ignore the role technology plays in current education scenario. Virtual education is a term describing on-line education using the internet. Virtual here is used to characterize the fact that the course is not taught in a classroom face to face but through some substitute mode that can be associated with classroom teaching. That means people do not have to go to the real classroom to learn.

Students enrolled in virtual classrooms or synchronous courses still acquire the content via real life instruction. A real teacher in real time delivers virtual classroom instructions. The virtual classroom teacher uses a computer screen as the board delivering instructions by using videos, power point presentations or pod casts in conjunction with audio of the teacher's voice. Students enrolled in virtual classrooms have opportunities for immediate teacher feedback and input while logged into class just as they would in a traditional classroom. Students can also interact with other students via notes, text and emoticons. All communication occurs via electronic media

Virtual education is the future of education.It caters to the country's biggest opportunity - educating and employing the youth. As it is pictorial in nature, students are able to retain more information effectively. Transportation can be expensive and often is the deciding factor on whether or not a potential student attends a certain institution. By attending a virtual institution, all students need is a place with reliable Internet access. This means students are free to work from home, at the library, or any place of their choice. 

Virtual education- IIT,Mumbai

virtual education in Chennai

In remote areas the scope for education is very low. Students who aspire to study suffer due to lack of opportunities or infrastructure. Many a times they do not have the required faculty to impart knowledge to them. Even if they have the infrastructure and the faculty most of the time they do not offer all the types of courses available so many people have to travel  to far off distant location to educate themselves or change their field of interest. There are many institutes which have adopted this method. It saves time and is economical. It is a convenient option.

The future of virtual learning environments has many innovative and exciting possibilities. At the same time adventures in learning call for creative and potent environments where individuals share meaningful knowledge and experiences in constructing new information and ideas. These adventures foster mutual collaboration that allows learners to apply newly acquired learning in the design of insightful, cognitive processing without detachment/ obscurity from real-life situations. A judicious blend of both traditional and virtual learning environment with special attention to students’ needs and satisfaction can create constructive and creative learners, teaching community and learned society. 

Do you think virtual education is acceptable as a concept? Does it have the potential to change the way education is imparted in India? Please provide us with your valuable feedback and enlighten us about your thoughts in relation to the concept of virtual education.