Virtual Learning Environments

• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Technologies for Learning and Knowledge (TAC) are tools to facilitate learning in virtual environments
• Virtual learning replaces face-to-face scenarios, and technology introduces new ways to understand teaching-learning
• Technologies should meet the needs of the educational process, implying teachers should recognize and critically analyze tech in every dimension, and make timely selections of resources and information.
• Virtual environments advance the formation of students and citizens who meet today's educational, work, & social demands
• Collaborative virtual learning environments are a necessary tool to break free from space-time constraints
• Leveraging technology develops an assertive educational process

Keywords:

• Virtual Environments
• Learning
• Technologies for Learning and Knowledge
• Information and Communication Technologies

Intro

• The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine changed society's relationships, lifestyle, and increased use of tech for work and distance education.
• Distance learning became an indispensable work tool and a challenge for the Mexican government in education

Virtual Environments and Learning

• Technologies for Information and Communication (TIC) and Technologies for learning and knowledge (TAC) are proposed as a tool to facilitate different scenarios that are needed to learn in and with virtual environments
• Virtual environments are more important now in the digital age
• TIC involves new hardware and software and access to information
• Technologies must meet the needs of education, so TAC focuses more on using tech for learning
• TAC aims to guide Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) toward more educational uses for students and teachers for better learning

Recommendations for Teachers

• Teachers should know the technologies and incorporate them into teaching projects
• Virtual learning environments are spaces designed with effective and consistent communication, guided by educational principles
• Teachers need to know the tech in every dimension and integrate it into the curriculum.
• Teachers need modern training so they can take on new tasks

Collaborative Learning Environments

• To create a collaborative environment, break from time/space constraints.
• Use technology to interact with other teachers/students from different places to form real learning communities
• Dillenbourg (2000) says virtual learning is a social space with synchronous/asynchronous interaction, text-based or 3D, where students actively create knowledge through various mediums

Creating Virtual Learning Environments (AVA)

• Ramírez & Barajas recommends using educational platforms for sharing resources in an online work environment with tools for:
  • Content management (different file formats)
  • Communication & collaboration (group work and communication)
  • Monitoring and evaluation (assessments)
  • Administration (user authentication and registration)
  • Extras (note-taking, searching)
• Educators should act as facilitators in virtual learning environments, dedicating time to respond individually to students daily to encourage them

Using Technology to Motivate Students

• Using educational tools to motivate student learning will facilitate idea exchanges among participants and promote innovative educational settings with the philosophy of applying both teamwork and ethics to the learning process

Fundamental characteristics of teachers

• Select and organize course material
• Have specific teaching skills
• Master the subject's procedures and methods
• Promote intellectual curiosity and independent learning
• Use active and cooperative learning
• Be flexible and interested in teaching students
• Identify digital needs and resources
• Know the discipline and institutional objectives
• Be committed to the role of the teacher
• Stay updated
• Know the students they advise

Best practice

• Teachers should be dynamic and flexible guides who promote human participation in transforming reality, to ensure learning competency while creating better understanding

Virtual Learning Strategies

• Virtual environments should be relevant so schools can use them effectively for student learning, also, students become more than passive observers
• These settings enable strategies for a new teaching paradigm
• Shifting education away from the teacher to communication, it provides pedagogical functions where the teacher is a learning facilitator and the students actively construct their own knowledge.

Conclusion

• Generates a new educational paradigm
• Virtual learning environments are crucial for societal progress, for individual exploration and collaborative and independent learning.
• Virtual tools eliminate time and space barriers, individuals can construct new knowledge, which is essential to ensure students are equipped to meet educational, professional, and social demands in today's global situation.