This post is gonna help me share my academic experience as a student. I had enrolled my MBA under the United Business Institutes(UBI), classes held in Malaysia, Stamford College, Petaling Jaya. It was in February 2008 when my all-time interest in doing an MBA started taking form. The college where I worked in (stamford College, Malaysia) offered me the opportunity to study under a grant with their partner university(UBI). I thought that it was wise of me to take it up and with my husband giving me all the support I got started.
The modules offered were coursework based, which required attendance of face-to-face traditional lectures during weekends. Apart from this we also had to attend a virtual classroom on two days in the week, each session being two hours long. So now the virtual classroom could connect us to the lecture from wherever we were, just with the help of a computer connected to the computer. The Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) as is most commonly known as has been adopted by many colleges and universities as a model for delivering education. It varies widely from the traditional lectures, In VLEs the requirements and specifications of the course are delivered online, through Learning Management Systems(LMS). A few of the most famous LMS are Moodle, BlackBoard, WebCT, Lotus Learning Space etc. One of the main features of the virtual classroom that I attended, facilitated by e-Campus was the synchronous chat session, with our module lecturer and other course-mates who could participate from anywhere in the world, and like in all chat softwares, this one too is two-way interactive. The students get the freedom to ask questions, and the facilitator, who is our lecturer, will guide the students through by clarifying the doubts and disciplines the 2 hr long session. The entire session can be archived, in case there is any student who was unable to attend the session he or she may get to access the session details. Important discussions on the coursework are archived, which was helpful to us in the construction of the assignment.
There were other features of the VLE, that we used. We could also enable video chat, but with nearly thirty plus student logging in at the same time, bandwidth problems always hindered the use of video chat and voice chat. Some students tend to ask too many questions, while some are just observers. But you never knew, some students just logged in - sneaked away some where, and came back at the end of the session to say 'bye'. However, those truly interested in learning would be involved in the interaction.
The modules being delivered by the two models- traditional lecture and VLE methods of course delivery have given us the opportunity to experience the advantages of both. There have been disadvantages in both ways too, just that we have learnt to live with the disadvantages of the traditional lectures. Since the time VLE had been introduced, many Higher Education Institutions have adopted it, and have made changes to their methods of delivering lectures. Lecture materials, in the form of power point slides, lecture videos, word documents of supplementary materials may be accessed on the VLE by students who have the privileges to do so. However there is one area that has crippled the growth, which is the resistance of people in accepting the technology. Western Universities have been pioneers. Asians were not far beyond. The model is mostly used for distance learning, that could have been one reason as to why Asians have not accepted the model in totality. With the invention of smart phones, notepads and mobile internet providers, VLE model of education can take students a long way with wide range of course options and availability of study material 24X7 basis. Students can be catered education on the go, thereby this model will surely benefit students, who are travelling most of the time, or who are working and have less time to study and to those others who are open minded towards this model of education.
e-learning has changed the way education is catered. The technology is not limited to HEIs, the secondary and primary sectors of education also have started using it. My daughter who is in her Primary One is given online-exercises for long term holidays, where her attendance and assessment are all done virtually. The e-learning method has gone a step ahead in enhancing the pedagogical framework. Yet there is still a long way to go, as it is not expected to totally replace the traditional methods of teaching, owing to reasons like the different types of courses, availability of technological infrastructure that can facilitate the platforms across universities, resistance of students in accepting virtual lecturers etc.
Time and technology will decide the speed of penetration of this technology into every university in this World. Nevertheless, the virtual classroom experience I had through e-Campus was truly an opportunity to learn.
The modules offered were coursework based, which required attendance of face-to-face traditional lectures during weekends. Apart from this we also had to attend a virtual classroom on two days in the week, each session being two hours long. So now the virtual classroom could connect us to the lecture from wherever we were, just with the help of a computer connected to the computer. The Virtual Learning Environment(VLE) as is most commonly known as has been adopted by many colleges and universities as a model for delivering education. It varies widely from the traditional lectures, In VLEs the requirements and specifications of the course are delivered online, through Learning Management Systems(LMS). A few of the most famous LMS are Moodle, BlackBoard, WebCT, Lotus Learning Space etc. One of the main features of the virtual classroom that I attended, facilitated by e-Campus was the synchronous chat session, with our module lecturer and other course-mates who could participate from anywhere in the world, and like in all chat softwares, this one too is two-way interactive. The students get the freedom to ask questions, and the facilitator, who is our lecturer, will guide the students through by clarifying the doubts and disciplines the 2 hr long session. The entire session can be archived, in case there is any student who was unable to attend the session he or she may get to access the session details. Important discussions on the coursework are archived, which was helpful to us in the construction of the assignment.
There were other features of the VLE, that we used. We could also enable video chat, but with nearly thirty plus student logging in at the same time, bandwidth problems always hindered the use of video chat and voice chat. Some students tend to ask too many questions, while some are just observers. But you never knew, some students just logged in - sneaked away some where, and came back at the end of the session to say 'bye'. However, those truly interested in learning would be involved in the interaction.
The modules being delivered by the two models- traditional lecture and VLE methods of course delivery have given us the opportunity to experience the advantages of both. There have been disadvantages in both ways too, just that we have learnt to live with the disadvantages of the traditional lectures. Since the time VLE had been introduced, many Higher Education Institutions have adopted it, and have made changes to their methods of delivering lectures. Lecture materials, in the form of power point slides, lecture videos, word documents of supplementary materials may be accessed on the VLE by students who have the privileges to do so. However there is one area that has crippled the growth, which is the resistance of people in accepting the technology. Western Universities have been pioneers. Asians were not far beyond. The model is mostly used for distance learning, that could have been one reason as to why Asians have not accepted the model in totality. With the invention of smart phones, notepads and mobile internet providers, VLE model of education can take students a long way with wide range of course options and availability of study material 24X7 basis. Students can be catered education on the go, thereby this model will surely benefit students, who are travelling most of the time, or who are working and have less time to study and to those others who are open minded towards this model of education.
e-learning has changed the way education is catered. The technology is not limited to HEIs, the secondary and primary sectors of education also have started using it. My daughter who is in her Primary One is given online-exercises for long term holidays, where her attendance and assessment are all done virtually. The e-learning method has gone a step ahead in enhancing the pedagogical framework. Yet there is still a long way to go, as it is not expected to totally replace the traditional methods of teaching, owing to reasons like the different types of courses, availability of technological infrastructure that can facilitate the platforms across universities, resistance of students in accepting virtual lecturers etc.
Time and technology will decide the speed of penetration of this technology into every university in this World. Nevertheless, the virtual classroom experience I had through e-Campus was truly an opportunity to learn.
