Advantage

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1 Advantages o 1.1 Advantages for Students o 1.2 Advantages for Teachers o 1.3 Advantages for Schools and Businesses operating Virtual Classrooms 2 Further Information o 2.1 See Also: o 2.2 References o 2.3 Contributors to This Entry Include:

Advantages
Education in the virtual classrooms has been described as being ³just as vivid, meaningful and dynamic as face-to-face interactions in a (physical) classroom ± or even more so ? (Burbles, 2004, p.12). As the virtual classroom is one that aims to give the student an experience equal to or better than the sort they would find in a traditional classroom, there are obviously many advantages of the virtual classroom to the student, as well as the teacher (or instructor) and the associated educational institution. Virtual classrooms ³foster the dimensions of interest, involvement, imagination, and interactivity ?, which makes the virtual classroom an ³immersive ? environment in which to learn, perhaps even more immersive than the traditional classroom because of what is offered by new technologies used in the virtual classroom (Burbles, 2004, p.12).

Advantages for Students
For students of virtual classrooms, advantages primarily concern access, time, and cost factors compared to those incurred from attending the traditional, physical classroom. Virtual classrooms remove the need to travel to a location in which to participate in the course or lessons, thus they are an advantage to students as they can be accessed from the student¶s home and they do not have to pay for transport as they would if they were attending a traditional classroom. Virtual classrooms can be accessed from any computer that has the necessary software, hardware, Internet connection, and Internet browser requirements in order to participate in the virtual classroom. As Hall (2000, p.1) stated in a Forbes article, ³access to education (is) as close as one¶s PC ?. This also means that virtual classrooms are accessible to students with physical disabilities, which is an advantage over the real classroom, as they can access it from home. Further, ³everyone has an equal chance to be heard ? in discussions within the virtual classroom; often people¶s inhibitions are released in an environment where text is used instead of face-to-face communication, thus they are able to fully participate (Lehmann, 2004, p.19)

Virtual classrooms have been affirmed as ³time independent ?, meaning that students can access the course material and activities in the virtual classroom at a time that is most convenient to them (Oakes, 2000, p.1). Although, this advantage is only associated with asynchronous activities and tools such as discussion boards, where students can access and respond to material at their own time and pace, and interact with fellow students at any time. Discussions and other material can be archived in the virtual classroom for instant reviewing, which is another advantage to students (Lehmann, 2004). According to Hall (2000, p.1), training hours in the online, virtual setting are half the training hours of the traditional lecture and laboratory setting. The minimal time needed to participate in a virtual classroom is an advantage to students. Virtual classrooms are also diverse; students from many geographical locations can enrol in the virtual classroom, which gives students the advantage of working with others that bring different ideas and backgrounds to collaborative learning activities and projects, thus presenting possibilities and interests in fields not previously considered.

Advantages for Teachers
For teachers of virtual classrooms, working part-time is a possibility because of the flexible nature of the classroom (Lehmann, 2004, p.29). The teacher is not required to work from an office or classroom to instruct lessons or organise material and lessons; this can be done from anywhere where they have access to a computer with an Internet connection and other necessary software/hardware, which is an advantage. Electronic content can be updated more efficiently than printed material, and at a lower cost, which saves the teacher time and money when preparing and adjusting material to suit their lessons and courses within their virtual classroom. Changes or updates in anything within the virtual classroom are instantly accessible to everyone enrolled in the classroom. This ³ease of update ? is an advantage to the teacher, and also to the student, who will be receiving, and learning with, up-to-date materials (Hall, 2005, para. 8). Another advantage to the teacher or instructor is that they have ³time to respond to student communications ? in the virtual classroom, which gives the teacher a chance to construct the best possible response to the student (Lehmann, 2004, p.38). This is often not possible in a traditional classroom, as issues are raised face-to-face where answers are expected straight away. In the virtual classroom time delays between student¶s questions and teacher¶s answers are expected; this is the nature of the virtual classroom.

Advantages for Schools and Businesses operating Virtual Classrooms
For educational institutions and businesses offering courses, lessons, and/or training through virtual classrooms, several advantages exist over the traditional form of delivering courses and training in a physical classroom. One source says that technology-delivered training costs is less than half that of lecture/laboratory training costs, which is an advantage to educational institutions and businesses who want to create a means of educating people in a cost-effective format (Hall 2000, p.2). Also, because training hours are usually less in a virtual classroom compared with a traditional classroom, they are an advantage to educational institutions as they would be paying teachers less because teachers would be working fewer hours to conduct lessons in the virtual classroom (Hall 2000, p.1)

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