An Investigation into Virtual Learning Environment in Higher Education

This report delves into the significance of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in higher education, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It begins with an introduction to VLEs, highlighting their role in enhancing the learning experience. A comprehensive literature review explores the importance of VLEs during the pandemic, the benefits of the technologies used, and the challenges faced by students and educators. The methodology section outlines the data collection methods, including questionnaires and sampling techniques. The data analysis section presents the results of a survey of 50 students, providing insights into their experiences with VLEs, including their age groups, gender, the frequency of online classes and Moodle usage, and their perspectives on the ease of attending VLEs. The report concludes by synthesizing the findings and offering a comprehensive understanding of the impact of VLEs on education during the pandemic.

VIRTUAL LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
1

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
METHODS......................................................................................................................................5
Data Analysis...................................................................................................................................5
References......................................................................................................................................17
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INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Virtual learning environment is an innovative online tool used by universities to provide
a platform to the students and teachers. It helps in enhancement of the learning experience by
professors and their students. VLE provides technology to enhance the experience of class with
more effective communication and interaction. It is the system through which various educators
create interaction, communication, make the learning environment active through digitally. It
helps in creating, planning and execution of courses between professors and students. It is
usually used by institute of higher education (Dung, 2020). For VLE computers, laptops and
smartphones are used so it is also known as e-learning and online learning management system.
It helps in providing real time communication through e-mails, texts and video conferencing and
also helps in tracking the student's assessment.
Research Aim: “To examine the importance of virtual learning in enhancing learning
capabilities of students during pandemic COVID 19”.
Research Objectives
 To investigate the importance of Virtual Learning Environment in the industry of
education during COVID 19.
 To identify the benefits of technology used in Virtual Learning Environment by students
and educators.
 To examine the challenges faced by the students and professors during the pandemic.
Research Questions
 What are the importance of Virtual Learning Environment during COVID 19?
 What are the technologies used by students and educators for Virtual Learning
Environment?
 What are the challenges faced by the students and professors during the time of
pandemic?
3

LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is analysis and evaluation of a specific topic to find out the clear picture
of a particular subject. It is a survey on particular matter and enhances knowledge related to the
topic on which research is being conducted. This is a secondary source of data collection which
is highly reliable and can be used by researchers in order to frame effective and prominent results
out of the proposed research. Secondary sources of information include books, journals, articles
etc.
Importance of Virtual Learning Environment in the industry of education during COVID
19.
According to the Gavilanes-Sagnay and et. al., (2018), Virtual learning environment is an
online platform used to facilitate education to the students by their educators. It is the unique
method to provide study digitally to the students without creating any disturbances in their
studies. VLE has created its immense importance in this pandemic situation because student's
education was highly affected by the situation but it has given a software to the students to
continue their study. Various schools and universities used this platform to reach out to the
students and replace process of education from face to face classrooms to the video conferencing
classes. It has very important feature of accessibility in the educational industry by reaching out
all students at a single time without stopping the process of education. In the life of students
VLE has played very important role because it helped them to avoid travelling in this pandemic
and helped to continue their study with the same way as they used to do in their physical classes.
In VLE every small details of the students and the classes are described like the assessments,
timings of classes, professors for the subjects, attendance system etc. which made easy for the
education industry to adopt VLE method in the pandemic. It has created its importance by
working as mediator between the education institutions and the students in this tough situation of
pandemic by maintaining the proper interaction and communication. VLE has created its
importance in educational industry by providing flexibility to educators as well as students. The
another importance educational industry availed through VLE is that it helped the effective and
efficiency level of the working of the teachers and students.
Benefits of technology used in Virtual Learning Environment by students and educators.
According to the Jimenez and et. al., (2018), In the tough time of global pandemic
technology played a very important role in providing various benefits to the teachers and
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students because it helped in continuing the study without any barriers. This pandemic made
education industry to temporarily suspend the in person classes and made them to adopt
technology of virtual learning environment. It replaced the old way of classes to new smart board
and laptops classrooms. The first benefit of technology is engagement of students with the
attractive materials of learning and lessons. Teachers can use variety of videos and use learning
activities to make it appealing to students which enhance the engagement of students towards
their studies even in the pandemic situation. The second benefit through technology is educator
uploads the material and student can go through those material according to their own pace and
needs. This will free up the time of educators because they do not need to pay attention to one on
one students. The third benefit with the technology of virtual learning environment is it helps in
opening many collaborations between students like video and audio conferencing, software for
chat so students and teachers can easily communicate their ideas and can have instant interaction.
The another benefit with technology is that it reduces the repetitive tasks that are performed by
the teachers and students because it has track of what has done and what has to be done. The
automated tools help in doing tasks easily and saves a lot of time of the teachers and monitors all
the activities of each day.
Challenges faced by the students and professors during the pandemic.
According to the Kapembe and Quenum (2018), As this pandemic made the countries to
shut down their schools and universities. Shut down of these institutions was the thing that no
one was prepared for because this was the no one had experienced earlier so it mainly affected
teachers and students. E-learning and teaching online gave shock to the productivity of the
teacher and it disturbed the social life of students. All the assessment of teachers and students
started moving online with the uncertainty but because of some interruptions these assessments
started cancelling and these are consequences which affect in long term. When times of
uncertainty occur it creates anxiety and stress among the people and in this teachers are also
included because of this they feel pressure to deliver the required learning to the students on
time. At the same time students feel the need of emotional support from their teachers or
educators. There are teachers who faced the biggest challenge as they do not have proper
knowledge of using digital technology. The common challenge faced by both the educators and
teachers are internet or connectivity issues. The other issue for teachers was to stop distracting
the minds of students towards other social media networks. In an institution students are from
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different backgrounds some have strong financial condition whereas some do not have that
sound financial condition because of that they did not have the resources to access the online
classes.
METHODS
Methods are very important in a research as it helps the investigator in the process of
gathering and evaluating data accurately about the proposed topic (Seifan, Robertson and
Berenjian, 2020). Some of the methods that are used is explained below:
Data collection: In data collection there are two methods that is primary and secondary that
is used by researcher for receiving valid outcomes (Ledger, Ersozlu and Fischetti, 2019).
Questionnaires are used for gathering primary information whereas books, journals, articles etc.
sources are used for gathering secondary information for the literature review.
Sampling: There are two types of sampling, the first one is probability sampling and the
second one is non-probability sampling (Nadapdap, Gultom and Pardede, 2019). In this we will
use probability sampling selecting 50 students.
Data Analysis
Questionnaire
1) In which age group you belong ?
1. 18-25
2. 25-30
3. 30-45
4. More than 45
2) Would you like to tell me about your gender?
1. Male
2. Female
3. Prefer not to stay
3) How many days per week do you have online classes?
1. One day
2. Two days
3. Three days
4. Four days
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4) How often do you use moodle during the week?
1. 1-2 days
2. 3-4 days
3. 4-5 days
4. Every day
5) How would you rate the attending on the VLE?
1. Very easy
2. Easy
3. Hard
4. Very hard
6) Can you access the materials in moodle easily?
1. Yes
2. No
7) Do your lecturers provide you with extra materials during your online classes?
1. Yes
2. No
8) Does VLE give you more time for independent studying?
1. Yes
2. No
9) Do you think that VLE is a better form of education than the traditional in-classroom?
1. Yes
2. No
10) Which one would you prefer attending?
1. VLE
2. In classroom
Question 1: Age group
1) In which age group you belong ? Frequency
1. 18-25 25
2. 25-30 15
7

3. 30-45 7
4. More than 45 3
Interpretation: From the above mentioned data it is identified that 25 people out of 50 belong to
the age group of 18-25 years. 15 people belong to the group of 25-30 years’ group. 7 people
belong to the age group of 30-45 years and the rest 3 people belong to the group of age more
than 45 years.
Question 2: Gender
2) Would you like to tell me about your gender? Frequency
1. Male 17
2. Female 20
3. Prefer not to stay 13
8
1. 18-25 2. 25-30 3. 30-45 4. More than 45
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
15
7
3
Frequency

Interpretation: Out of 50 people there are 17 people who are male, 20 people are female and the
remaining 13 people preferred not to say.
Question 3: Days per week do you have online classes
3) How many days per week do you have online classes ? Frequency
1. One day 2
2. Two days 8
3. Three days 12
4. Four days 28
9
1. Male 2. Female 3. Prefer not to stay
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
17
20
13
Frequency

Interpretation: From the data it is interpreted that 28 people have 4 days classes in a week, 12
people have 3 days in a week, 8 people have 2 days in a week and the rest 2 people have only 1
day in a week.
Question 4: Do you use moodle during the week
4) How often do you use moodle during the week ? Frequency
1. 1-2 days 20
2. 3-4 days 10
3. 4-5 days 18
4. Every day 2
10
1. One day 2. Two days 3. Three days 4. Four days
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2
8
12
28
Frequency

Interpretation: From the mentioned data 20 people use moodle 1-2 days in a week, 18 people use
it for 4-5 days, 10 people use it 3-4 days during a week and the rest 2 people use it everyday.
Question 5: Rate the attending on the VLE
5) How would you rate the attending on the VLE ? Frequency
1. Very easy 20
2. Easy 16
3. Hard 8
4. Very hard 6
11
1. 1-2 days 2. 3-4 days 3. 4-5 days 4. Every day
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
20
10
18
2
Frequency

Interpretation:From the above data 20 people find it very easy in attending on the VLE, 16
people think it easy whereas 8 people found it hard and 6 people found rate on the attending of
VLE is very hard.
Question 6: Access the materials in moodle easily
6) Can you access the materials in moodle easily ? Frequency
1. Yes 35
2. No 15
12
1. Very easy 2. Easy 3. Hard 4. Very hard
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
20
16
8
6
Frequency