A virtual learning environment involves the use of a number of different technologies to provide students with a place to access their learning materials anytime, anywhere.

The traditional model of a learning environment requires students to attend lectures, recitations, and other activities by traveling from one location to another.  This has a number of disadvantages for many students who may be unable to to attend a regular classroom for instruction.

We are currently still in the very early stages of rolling out virtual learning environments across campus.  We have several components of the environment being used by instructors who are "early adopters" of the technology.  If you are interested in participating in our pilot programs for Virtual Learning Environments, please contact us.  We'd love to have you on board!

A Virtual Learning Environment comprises several different tools in order to create a ubiquitous environment in which learning takes place anywhere, anytime:

Tablet PCs: These can be used as smart clipboards that can capture a student's (or instructor's) handwritten notes for later study or analysis.  For instance, students in a civil engineering survey course could do their survey work using Tablet PCs to capture the data from their survey results and submit the data to their instructor electronically before they have packed up their transits.

WebEx: A WebEx session is very similar to a Wimba Classroom (see below) in that students can interact with instructors in a virtual learning space.  Instructors can record WebEx sessions for archival purposes and to enable asynchronous learning for distance students.

Live Classroom (Wimba): Wimba Classrooms allow students and instructors to meet in a virtual space instead of in a traditional classroom environment.  Instructors can still interact with students using voice tools, application sharing, video, whiteboard sharing, and more.  Students can also interact with each other through the virtual chat tools.  Instructors can use this tool (and similar technologies) to offer virtual office hours while both instructors and students are sitting comfortably at home.  Wimba integrates seamlessly into Blackboard to optimize the ease of use for both instructors and students.

Virtual Desktop Environment (VDE):  A virtual desktop environment allows students and instructors to access the same computer from any other computer in the world.  Essentially students and instructors use Windows Remote Desktop to access a virtual machine hosted in the campus Data Center.  This virtual system has all the functionality of a standard campus desktop build, but with the key advantage of being accessible to anyone at anytime (only campus customers--Missouri S&T students, faculty, and staff are able to access campus systems).  Furthermore, custom software applications can be installed on these systems, meaning students needing a particular software package such as Camtasia would not have to find a computer lab on campus with Camtasia, but could access the virtual desktop instead.