Virtual learning environment (VLE)

Overview

A virtual learning environment (VLE) is a platform or collection of integrated digital tools used to manage online learning. This virtual space enables educators and students to transmit, receive, and share knowledge at a distance and collaborate with one another at any time as well as in real time. VLEs provide three types of interaction: teacher-student, student-student, and student-content. VLEs developed from distance learning as technology advanced. These and other learning strategies have often been developed to democratize education, especially higher education. VLEs were essential in many nations and communities during the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic between early 2020 and mid-2023.

Distance education has a long history. Early efforts involved correspondence courses, which were lessons sent by physical mail to students, who completed the work and returned the papers to the instructor through the postal system. In this way, students in remote areas or whose locales did not offer instruction in certain fields could take courses and earn certificates or degrees. For example, one of the first known correspondence courses in the United States was offered by Caleb Phillipps, who advertised instruction in shorthand by mail in 1728. Correspondence schools called the Society to Encourage Studies at Home opened in the United States in 1873. The London University in England permitted foreign students to obtain degrees by correspondence starting in 1858. In 1892, the University of Chicago in Illinois became the first traditional higher-education institution in the United States to offer correspondence courses.

Technology’s Trajectory

Distance education changed with the times in the twentieth century as information and communication technologies (ICTs) emerged. With widespread adoption of radios in homes, institutions including Pennsylvania State College and the State University of Iowa broadcast courses on radio in the 1920s. In the 1950s, the University of Houston was among the first institutions of higher education to broadcast college classes on television. Coastline Community College, operating in the 1970s, was the first virtual college. It had no physical campus but offered a complete college education through only telecourses.

The 1980s and 1990s saw early use of computer-based multimedia systems, electronic networks, and interactive television for distance education. This was possible because personal computers (PCs) were becoming increasingly common in homes and schools, the internet was developing rapidly, and mobile and wireless devices were becoming popular by the turn of the century.

Modern virtual learning owes its start to hypertext. The idea of links connecting various bits of information dates to 1945, when American engineer Vannevar Bush first described a concept he called “memex.” Theodor Nelson named the concept “hypertext” two decades later. This ability for the reader to branch off from information rather than follow it linearly expanded the capabilities of computing in learning. Nelson also coined the term “hypermedia,” which permits various forms of media information to be connected. Intermedia, a hypertext/hypermedia system introduced in 1985, gave educators and students the ability to create, connect, and organize multimedia information. Its toolsets helped instructors make lesson plans, manage development of lessons, and deliver and test content. This depth of information allowed students to more readily grasp concepts. Such tools eventually developed into course management systems (CMSs) and learning content management systems (LCMSs). The technology made VLEs possible.

Introducing the Internet

In 1960, the University of Illinois created an Intranet. This system of linked terminals allowed its students to access course materials and recorded lectures. Its successor, the internet, began to be a factor in distance education in the 1980s. The first foray was made by the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute’s School of Management and Strategic Studies, which began offering an online program in 1981. Within a few years, students could complete accredited graduate degrees at Nova Southeastern University online.

Distance learning continued to grow through the remainder of the twentieth century as universities adopted the technologies needed to offer such opportunities. They offered both asynchronous and synchronous instruction and developed programs to deliver course content. Private companies also began to develop products for online instruction. Some approaches included the Computer Assisted Personalized Approach (CAPA) developed by Michigan State University in 1992; Virtual Summer School (VSS), an experimental program Open University offered some students in 1994; and the Interactive Learning Network, an e-learning system adopted by several educational institutions in 1997.

A major step forward occurred with the 1997 founding of Blackboard Inc., a standardized course management and delivery platform. This LCMS enabled more educational institutions to offer remote learning without having to start from scratch. Blackboard was adopted by various institutions including the Army War College. Several years later, CourseNotes.com debuted with many of the same features. The content management system Web Course Tools (WebCT) grew quickly and drew international attention; in 2003 it was being used by more than 1,300 institutions in 55 countries. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) arrived in the 2010s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard using the edX platform. Other MOOC platforms include Coursera, FutureLearn, and Udacity.

COVID-19 and Major MOOC Growth

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Almost overnight, schools, businesses, and government offices shut down. Many schools and universities were unprepared for online instruction and virtually abandoned the remainder of the spring semester, but by the start of the next school year in the fall, most had some form of virtual learning in place.

One-third of all persons who ever registered on a MOOC platform did so in 2020. These included university students as well as other people who suddenly had free time and were looking for ways to fill it. Some of the major MOOC providers saw tremendous growth. Coursera had eight million new users in 2019 but gained thirty-one million new users in 2020. EdX doubled its new users from five million to ten million in the same period. Future Learn, which had 1.3 million new users in 2019, drew 5 million the following year. The most popular course in 2020 was Yale University’s “The Science of Well-Being,” which drew more than 2.5 million enrollments.

VLE Basics

VLE platforms are not designed for specific classes but are meant to be flexible and adaptable to most educators’ needs. VLEs, which may replace or supplement physical classrooms, typically include features that facilitate communication, flexibility, interactivity, and organization. Live and recorded audio and video conferencing features allow educators and students to create and access content such as lectures and presentations. Blogs, chat, email, wikis, and other communications features also are useful for collaboration. Systems to manage content include ways to access, create, and store information. Educators typically require tools for assessing performance and planning lessons. In addition to these necessities, a VLE may include notice boards, grade tracking and self-assessment tools for students, links to supplementary content, exams, peer assessment portals, 3D virtual learning spaces, and online whiteboards for live virtual lectures.

Using VLEs offers much more than simply technology. While email systems and other forms of technology support education and interaction, they do not integrate functions regarded as essential to modern learning environments, such as discussion forums and synchronous chat tools. Some types of electronic learning have varying degrees of interactivity. For example, the Content + Support model involves web-based course materials and tutorial support, similar to traditional teaching in which information is delivered to the student. The Wrap-around model is more interactive, with activities and online discussions of course materials. The Integrated model is highly interactive, with group activities, student-contributed materials, discussions, and group projects and assignments. In the latter model, students’ needs strongly influence the content of the course. Models requiring greater interactivity benefit most from VLEs, while those more like traditional teaching can rely on technology without necessarily needing an integrated system.

Virtual courses may be synchronous, taking place while students and teachers interact simultaneously; asynchronous, when parties have great flexibility in when they access course work, assignments, and interactive features such as email and discussion boards; or hybrid, involving both in-person and online interactions. Hybrid virtual learning may be synchronous, asynchronous, and in-person at various times.

Further Insights

As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, students with the necessary technology could access course materials from almost anywhere at almost any time. Many universities established quarantine and isolation dorms on campus. Ill, exposed, or immunocompromised students could continue to attend classes virtually from a dorm or home with minimal risk. Professors with compromised immune systems or an illness could conduct lectures remotely and perform the other tasks necessary for courses including demonstrations via videoconferencing, giving notes on virtual whiteboards, grading papers, and administering online quizzes and exams.

VLEs do have drawbacks. Students in traditional classrooms can get immediate face-to-face feedback from instructors, but this may be delayed in online instruction or may not be as personal and therefore may be less effective. Possible solutions include video chats with instructors or the use of peer-feedback systems. Digital education can lead to social isolation, which can increase mental health problems such as anxiety, negative thoughts, and stress. Blended learning environments, closer monitoring of students, and increased interactions online between students could help reduce social isolation. Students who are not self-motivated may fail to complete assignments on time because they are not getting in-classroom reminders; peer-to-peer activities and communications may help students stay on track.

In the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns, many critics pointed to poor assessment test scores and reports of mental health problems in children as evidence that remote learning negatively affected young people. However, researchers had not determined whether these effects were due to VLEs or to related factors such as the stress of the pandemic, social isolation caused by lockdowns, reduced access to mental health resources including therapists and school counselors, or family concerns such as the impact the pandemic had on parents’ work. Experts noted that test scores of children from economically disadvantaged households and communities and children of color were most negatively affected. These students were more likely to have been left without computers and reliable home internet access during pandemic-related school closings. The quality of devices available to students also had an impact on internet connectivity and therefore affected access to instruction. Furthermore, some students relied on smartphones, which meant they used smaller screens and keyboards, which could affect their ability to complete assignments. These were among the concerns that experts said should be considered when remote or hybrid education methods were used.

Viewpoints

An obvious benefit of VLEs is accessibility. Students can access instruction from almost anywhere and, if lessons are asynchronous, at almost any time. They may be able to take courses not offered at their local schools or find them at greatly reduced prices. They can replay lectures, review notes, and use technology such as speech recognition technology to automatically generate captions. Such benefits can aid individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. Universities can reach a greater number of students, which can aid them in achieving their missions and improving their financial standing. Virtual learning may enable institutions to offer niche courses or classes that are not in high demand by expanding it beyond their geographic region. VLEs also ensure education time is not lost due to poor weather such as icy road conditions or extreme temperatures. Another benefit is that students do not all learn the same way: some learn by listening, others by seeing, and so on. VLEs allow educators to present information in multiple ways to offer students various ways of understanding the lessons.

A criticism of early VLEs was the tendency to focus on technology instead of its effect on education. This has largely fallen to the wayside as educators and institutions have become more comfortable with technology and its uses. Many instructors have found that a few hours of quality training in using the technology and some practice is sufficient to become proficient, but desired ongoing information technology support and instruction on how to design online lessons. Computer literacy among students is another concern that must be addressed for VLEs to be globally successful.

Students identified some drawbacks of VLEs. Many cited long hours looking at digital screens and not moving much as negative experiences. They also disliked having few face-to-face interactions with others. Some found concentrating difficult. About three out of four said they had few interactions with their peers in the VLE. Students cited fear of losing assignments to computer glitches or poor internet connections as a major concern. Instructors lamented the difficulty of connecting with fellow students when participants in the VLE did not turn on their at-home cameras.

Meanwhile, other students thrived in virtual learning environments, where they were not subject to distractions of in-person classrooms, such as difficult classmates and anxiety and embarrassment related to social situations. For example, some students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) found they could focus much better at home. Many students were motivated to work independently on assignments. Some educators have advocated for examining the experiences of these students and applying some elements to in-person education.

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