The Key Characteristics and Benefits of a Virtual Learning Environment

A virtual learning environment (VLE) is a collaborative platform that enables better learning delivery. Useful for all types of schools and organizations, it helps educators perform their jobs more efficiently and at the same time allows students and trainees to do their schoolwork from anywhere. A VLE features all sorts of resources, including training, activities, interactions, and assessments. For a complete solution, you may interface with or integrate your other school systems with a VLE.

Expectations for a Virtual Learning Environment

Today’s VLE has been transformed by rapid technological advances and is often characterized by:

Web and mobile applications that allow learners to access their courses from anywhere and at any time.
Highly collaborative features, including virtual classrooms, email applications, chat forums, wikis, blogs and leaderboards.
Innovative lesson delivery, including gamified instruction and flipped classrooms. Gamifying classes is novel and fun, while a flipped classroom reverses the traditional homework-first, discussion-later format.
Use of synchronous and asynchronous learning in classes. For example, a teacher meets students in the first 15 minutes of the class to discuss concepts, then leaves the students to complete the work when they can. Resource sharing. Course content is designed to be accessed from anywhere and shared among users.

Typical Features of a Virtual Learning Environment

A VLE can include many different things, with the more common features being:

An extensive array of course resources and tools: Educators can create content like lesson plans, and students can perform and submit assigned tasks using various options. Class interaction is done via classrooms and forums. Tools such as mailboxes for communication, and office and multimedia suites for creating coursework are at the disposal of users.
A personalized user experience: Content is customized depending on how the learner is progressing through a course. This allows interest in courses to be maintained.
Extensive data tracking: The ability to keep track of learner data allows educators to assess the effectiveness of their courses and the learning ability of their students. Learners can track their grades and take proactive measures if their performance is below par.
Offline learning capabilities: If online learning is not possible, e.g., poor internet connection, educators can use a module that allows offline creation of electronic records that can be synchronized back into the VLE once an internet connection becomes available.
Automated alerts and notifications: Educators are alerted to student submissions and non-submissions, allowing them to call the attention of erring students when needed. Learners can use this feature to alert themselves of impending deadlines.
Central storage of learning materials:Helps users stay organized through an easily accessible location for all class materials.
Reporting and analytics based on eLearning objectives: Customizable reports and visual dashboards showing learner data allow educators to know at a glance where their students are encountering difficulties. They can then make adjustments to their lesson plans accordingly.
Remote-work-friendly transition: Makes transitioning to a remote-only mode easy.
Compliance-ready records: Records are kept and stored for easy retrieval in accordance with government regulations.

Assessment tools: Educators can gauge how learners are reacting to their materials, helping them improve their course content and provide learners with feedback.

Flexible scheduling and testing: Educators can create tests of all kinds and allow students to select their own schedules. Learners can opt to take tests once they’re ready.
Tight integration with management information and other systems: Tightly integrated systems make for better management of learning outcomes. Educators, in particular, will find it easier to assess class performance in combination with data from other systems.

Pros and Cons of a Virtual Learning Environment

The advantages of using a VLE are many. A good VLE can:

Track learner performance easily: Electronic records allow easy tracking of students who have submitted their course materials on schedule or ahead of time. Quizzes and other forms of assessments allow teachers to track student course progress.
Deliver content consistently: The same material is accessible to all learners. Course content can be updated easily when required.
Save cost and time: Course content can be created once, then disseminated to the intended audience, without the need to print. The same content can also be maintained from a single location. Learners can also log on to the VLE from anywhere using any supported device.
Encourage communication and collaboration among users: Educators and learners alike can use any of the available communication tools, including forums and message boards, to foster collaboration and a sense of community among users.
Promote flexible learning: With course content accessible from anywhere, learners can complete courses on their own time. They can also revisit and review unclear topics or retake entire courses if they so desire.
Provide a way to explore and experiment: Educators are left to innovate on how to better deliver their content to students. In turn, learners can work with the content in new ways. Whichever technique works gets adopted, and what doesn’t is dismissed.

On the other hand, a VLE could have disadvantages because it:

Isn’t suited for all types of classes: There are limits to what one can learn virtually. For example, pilots need to be trained in the practical art of flying, not in classrooms alone.
Requires a substantial cost investment: Setting up a VLE on your own can be costly. An attractive option is to use a cloud-hosted VLE instead.

Benefits of Using a Cloud-Hosted vs Self-Hosted Learning Management System (LMS)

While the term learning management system (LMS) is often used interchangeably with VLE, there is a major difference between the two. An LMS is geared towards a behaviorist approach to education and often used in business. A VLE, on the other hand, is constructivist in nature and often used in schools.

You can host an LMS on the cloud or self-host it using your own server. With a cloud-hosted LMS, a third-party service provider manages and maintains your LMS. A self-hosted LMS requires you to buy hardware that needs to be maintained by your IT staff.

A cloud-hosted LMS enjoys several advantages over a self-hosted LMS, including:

Easy setup and maintenance: Everything from setup to maintenance is the responsibility of your provider. As long as you select an experienced provider, you don’t have to worry about your LMS going down unnecessarily. With a self-hosted LMS, your IT team is responsible for these activities.
Cost-effectiveness and more scalability: You only have to pay a set fee per month. If you add more users and require more bandwidth, you only need to pay higher fees. A self-hosted LMS might require sudden maintenance or updates that can drive up your costs or incur downtime.
Flexible upload capabilities: All kinds of content can be accommodated, including videos. There are no limits to file sizes either. You need to get a video hosting service if you opt to self-host.

Better security: With an experienced host, you can be assured of a more secure LMS. In contrast, a self-hosted LMS might require you to train on how to secure your LMS and ramp up your IT staff’s security skills.

Parallels RAS Helps Manage IT Infrastructures with Different Deployment Models

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is a remote working solution that supports multiple deployment models, including on-premises, public cloud, hybrid and hyperconverged approaches. It is ideal for use if you want to deploy your LMS using any of these approaches.

In an on-premises or private cloud deployment model, Parallels RAS can be rolled out on either physical servers or virtual machines. This approach is ideal for organizations that prefer direct control over their datacenters.

If you prefer deploying your LMS on a public cloud, you can deploy Parallels RAS on either Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS).

You can also use Parallels RAS in a hybrid infrastructure that uses a combination of datacenters on-premises and on the public cloud. It’s also possible to use a hyperconverged infrastructure where storage is implemented virtually.

No matter what cloud deployment model you use, Parallels RAS centralizes the management of the IT infrastructure, making it easier to secure and maintain, whilst providing staff and students with access to their applications and desktops from any location.

Download the trial, and see how Parallels RAS can help your educational institution implement its own LMS.