A Virtual Environment for Distance Education and Training

Roumen Nikolov (1) , Iliana Nikolova (1)

1 Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics [Sofia]

The world-wide networks and the information superhighways allowing rapid transmission of digital multimedia information to any user in any time, offer a ground for a new educational reform that would prepare the citizens to live in the Information Society. This reform would break the monopoly of the print and paper based educational system and would rely on learning environments incorporating asynchronous space and time, interactivity, and virtual reconstruction (McClintock, 1992). The most important characteristics of the learning environment is the virtual reconstruction of the school space by building virtual places: auditoriums, workshop rooms, cafes, libraries, etc., where students from different locations can meet, interact, and work together, as if they were face-to-face. The paper aims at developing a model for a Virtual Environment for Distance Education and Training (VEDET) that offers a comprehensive metaphor to be used both for humancomputer interface and instructional design purposes. It also gives a paradigm for restructuring traditional education and training by complementing them with a virtual component. Thus the VEDET would not replace the traditional school, university or training department of a organisation but rather extend their facilities and tools and make their activities more flexible and technologically enriched.

Mots clés: e-learning; distance education; virtual environments

Domaines: Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain; Education

Roumen Nikolov, Iliana Nikolova. A Virtual Environment for Distance Education and Training. IFIP WG3.6 Conference, 1996, Austria. pp.1. ⟨hal-00592609⟩