THE USE OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

IN A EFL AND ESL INSTITUTION

VIRTUAL CLASSROOM AS A NEW TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING

LEARNING PROCESS

-A -A virtual classromm is an interaction trougth the computer and internet that teachers can use to improve and sopport students learning.

-Virtual" is used here 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.

OBJECTIVES

-The objectives of a virtual classroom are to improve access to advanced educational experiences by allowing students and instructors to participate in remote learning communities using personal computers.

-To improve the quality and effectiveness of education by using the computer to support a collaborative learning process.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

-Students in virtual education typically acquire knowledge in a uni-directional manner first (e.g. by studying a video, reading a textbook chapter).

-Subsequent discussions of problems, solving exercises, case studies, review questions, etc. help the students to understand better what they learned before.

-Homework assignments are normally submitted electronically, e.g. as an attachment to an e-mail.

-When help is needed, lecturers, tutors, or fellow students, or a help desk are available, just like in a real university.

BENEFITS OF USING VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

-It is accessible via the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

-Students do not need to be in a face to face classroom.

-this kind of technology make students feel comfortable and motivate using the internet to take their classes.

-Students who tend to be shy about participating in a physical classroom are usually much more conversational in an online classroom.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

Another disadvantage of the virtual classroom is that it can only be successful if the communication tools used in the classroom are “in the student’s possession…accessible to the student… (and) operable by the student

Students must have adequate typing skills and communication skills as the majority of learning is text-based and self-paced.

-construction of good objective tests requires skills and practice and so is initially time-consuming.

CONCLUSIONSVirtual classrooms are sometimes very important due to that nowadays people are busy and they do not have enougth time to go to a classroom and been thare for a long time.

But people who use this kind of technology need to be aware that they need to have a very good skill of using the computer and internet also, the different kind of problem that they can face during the proccess.

However it is important to interact with technology due to that we need to use any of the tools that technology give us in anywhere.