This study aimed to systematically compile the activities and applications to be used by instructors to conduct synchronous virtual classrooms effectively. Using specific keywords in various databases we examined the literature to discover the activities and applications associated with effective synchronous virtual classrooms. A total of 70…

This literature review aimed to examine the status, trends and tendencies in publications about virtual classrooms, instructional design in the virtual classroom and instructional effectiveness in the virtual classroom, as indexed in the ERIC database. For this review, we examined 2680 publications indexed in ERIC between 1994 and 2018. We…

Virtual reality (VR) technology provides new possibilities for educators to design and optimize learning experiences. However, it remains largely unclear how virtual learning environments can be engineered to achieve measurable improvements in the learners' performance. To advance the development and application of VR learning technologies, we…

This paper describes how an Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Classroom in a secondary school in Singapore is used to enhance learning through visualization and deepen understanding of science and increase interest and enjoyment in science. The VR Classroom is a futuristic classroom that taps the affordances of VR and AR to enhance HCI…

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted the field of education, shifting instruction from in-person classrooms to virtual learning environments on a global scale. To understand how language teachers engaged in online pedagogy during the pandemic, the current study examines how one expert English Language Development (ELD) teacher, Ms. Anya…

Scholars from three universities in three different parts of the world--North America, Africa, and Eurasia--across different cultures, disciplines, and contexts, collaborated with the objective of advancing transversal skills and intercultural competences through immersing their students in international virtual teamwork. Students and lecturers…

Higher education programs are continuously expanding globally and now, students who are enrolled in online courses can reside anywhere in the world. Due to this phenomenon, institutions are forced to adapt to serve their remote students. "Cultivating Diverse Online Classrooms Through Effective Instructional Design" provides emerging…

Many open universities and distance education institutions have shifted from a predominantly print-based mode of delivery to an online mode characterised by the use of virtual learning environments and various web technologies. This paper describes the impact of the shift to open and distance e-learning (ODeL), as this trend might be called, on…

Changes in the business environment, responses of companies to these changes and the available information and communication technologies (ICT) pose a number of challenges to present and future product developers, as well as to educational institutions. An appropriate response to these challenges is to create a solid basis for strategies to combat…

This study examines the effect of using an online 3D virtual environment in teaching Mathematics in Primary Education. In particular, it explores the extent to which student engagement--behavioral, affective and cognitive--is fostered by such tools in order to enhance collaborative learning. For the study we used a purpose-created 3D virtual…

Distance education, particularly online education, is becoming a standard experience in formal learning environments, particularly at the postsecondary level. As more faculty and students have expectations that distance education is a part of the learning experience, we need to build a deeper understanding of how to design effective environments…

Game technology has been widely used for educational applications, however, despite the common use of background music in games, its effect on learning has been largely unexplored. This paper discusses how music played in the background of a computer-animated history lesson affected participants' memory for facts. A virtual history lesson was…

Given the increasing competition faced by higher education institutions when it comes to attracting postgraduate students, and the implications of the global financial crisis, technology can play a critical role in not only promoting courses, but also enhancing the student recruitment experience, especially for international students. This article…

Purpose: Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) have become increasingly popular in educational settings and the role of 3D content is becoming more and more important. Still, there are many challenges in this area, such as lack of empirical studies that provide design for educational activities in 3D CVEs and lack of norms of how to support…

Recent assessments indicate that American students do not score well on tests of scientific problem solving, relative to students in other nations. IMMEX is a web-based virtual environment that provides students with opportunities to solve science problems by viewing information resources through a suite of menu options, developing a hypothesis…