Abstract: | One of the most important contributions of information and communication
technologies (ICT) in the field of education is the support of distance education .Virtual
learning (VL) is a modality of distance education that makes intensive use of ICT
through Internet. Thus, students have maximum flexibility, adapting their studies to
their own rhythm, and surroundings at any specific time (Simonson, 2000). This
educational model, that at the moment has little reach, will be a model of reference in
nearest future, as confirmed by Unesco (Unesco, 2006) and by other sources
(Kaczmarczyk, 2001). Nowadays Unesco recognizes more than 100 important
universities around the world that offer this model of education (Unesco, 2006).
However, regarding the promises of VL the adoption of such learning modality by
learning institutions has not been as fast as expected.
In the our Virtual University (VU, 2006) we have conducted a study that points out
some interesting results that could explain why VL based on ICT has not taken off as
expected. We proposed a survey in order to know which of the main elements of our
virtual laboratories were the most valuable for them and we obtained no awaited results.
By a great difference, the students valued more important the academy staff and
pedagogical resources than the ICT resources. In short, the teacher is more important
than the best technology, even for a virtual lab where technical aspects should be
extremely relevant.
This result could explain the failure of many organizations that tried to create VLE
assuming they could replace the traditional teacher by technological resources. |