Virtual Learning Environments- A New Trend?
Elearning! Magazine recently came out with a report on Virtual Learning Environments: Trends and Insights. The report outlined that virtual learning environments are one of the fastest growing solutions for learning.
According to the report “In a June 2010 study conducted by Elearning! Media Group, 64 percent of all corporate respondents have implemented virtual learning within their organizations, and 18 percent more plan to add them. The same study reports virtual worlds for learning will grow 250 percent over the next year to 21 percent of enterprises. At the same time, social learning and collaboration is exploding, with 77 percent of enterprise using or planning to use these tools for learning.” Let me summarize that for you in case you weren’t paying attention…64 percent of respondents have implemented virtual learning within their organizations!
Elearning magazine highlights four virtual learning solutions: 1) Virtual worlds, 2) Virtual learning environment, 3) Virtual classroom and 4) Web meetings. While all four types do offer a sense of immersion these next generation environments should be chosen carefully to fit within an organization’s specific needs. For instance a huge benefit of virtual world training is that trainees can make mistakes without fear of being embarrassed in front of an entire classroom full of students. The report further breaks down these advantages of VLEs (otherwise known as Virtual Learning Environments):
-Slash training costs
-Extend reach
-Do more with less
-Create a stimulating learning environment
-Provide “always-on” access to content
I would say that all above advantages can also be transposed into a virtual world training environment as well.
