Welcome to the cyber world. Meet the cyber generation.
24 hours are too less to accomplish what we want.
The sky touching ambitions, the need to reach the top and the constant passion to stay ahead in the competitive world has coined the term “Virtual”.
“Virtual “- The term has been defined in philosophy as “that which is not real” but may display the full qualities of the real.
It’s impossible to argue with the fact that our world is forever-changing. A primary example of this change can be seen with the World-Wide-Web. There are endless possibilities when it comes to cyberspace. One of the more remarkable pertains to education.
We now belong to the “virtual world”.
In recent years there has been a phenomenal interest in the growth of what some are calling `digital’, `online’, or `virtual’ universities. Indeed, today, it is commonplace to read that information and communication technologies are radically reconfiguring the landscape of higher education, changing the very `nature’ of the university.
You will already know the vision: a decrease in importance of the campus, as students `login’ from a distance to access `courseware’, new media technologies, replacing traditional lectures, courses being delivered and assessed over the Internet, promising to make higher education available anywhere and at anytime.
Depicted as a solution to the increasingly demanding problems of higher education, all of this has fired the imagination of academics, policy makers, university managers, and educational specialists alike, the assumption often appears to be that institutions can move straightforwardly toward this vision.
This constant vision has given rise to the invention of virtual universities.
The notion of a “virtual university” is a potent vision of the future of higher education.
Virtual university – a “university without walls” –“Defeating all geographical boundaries and conquering the fast-paced time” is seen as an institution that has torn itself free from the geographical confines of the campus, using the new communications technologies to connect learners, potential learners, teachers, researchers, alumni, employers, research funders and administrators in flexible ever-changing network organization. This vision has captured the imaginations of academics, university managers, educational policy-makers, corporate personnel and training managers and private entrepreneurs across the world.
Virtual university is positioned to straddle between traditional campus based universities and the growing number of distance-learning projects. Distance learning using current methodology offers many advantages to students in remote areas and students attending part-time courses. However it lacks the sense of community and social interaction which can be achieved by sharing the same environmental spaces and experiences.
In the long term we foresee Virtual Worlds technology becoming a tool for enabling completely new and innovative teaching methods.
The primary goal of the Virtual University is to offer maximum flexibility, independence and individual service to the learner and at the same time to provide tutorial support and social contact thus avoiding the typical situation of distance learning.
The technical and organizational challenge is the development of homogeneous systems which smoothly integrates all functions and provides a personalized view of the complex information space “university” to the user.
Different synchronous and asynchronous communication features are integral parts of the system. These features do not only support communication of students with the university: an issue of utmost importance is the support of communication between the students themselves (peer-learning), and the support of collaborative work. Instead of the various social and topic-oriented groupings that typically form on campuses, a diversity of groupings now form via the internet.
The personal computer or laptop now becomes a learning station, communication center and information terminal at the same time.
Sure enough, this concept of virtual university is in full-swing at this point, and more and more individuals are taking full advantage of it. After all, why shouldn’t they? Attending college from anywhere sounds pretty ideal and getting that valuable degree which you always wanted but could not due to any reason, is now just a click away with virtual universities.
