Virtual Classrooms

This weeks blog topic was Virtual Classrooms. Virtual classrooms are something that I am very familiar with as I have taken six or more virtual classes since I started at Florida Gulf Coast University. I personally like to take virtual classes because I work full time in addition to attending full time courses in college. Virtual classes allow me the flexibility to be able to schedule both work and school.
Virtual classrooms utilize many different tools in the teaching process including, Powerpoint slides, multiple-choice surveys, websites, live applications such as word and excel, whiteboard and electronic flip charts, and annotation tools with arrows, bullets, and so forth. The number of participants or learners varies depending on prerequisites, level of content, blending with other modalities, and so forth. Although, the technology permits hundreds of people to participate in a single event, the average number of participants in virtual classrooms tend to be about twenty-five people. Handouts, typically in electronic form, are made available to participants prior to the event.
As I said before, I think that virtual classrooms are a great tool for teaching that many people can benefit from. Virtual classrooms are good for distance learners as well as students that dont have a flexible schedule. Say you are a mother raising your children and you decide to go back to college but you dont have tons of time to spend on campus, virtual classrooms would be a great tool for you. My particular situation is that I work full time as well as take a full load of courses and my on campus availability isn't always flexible so I greatly benefit from virtual classes.
Im not so sure that I would use virutal classrooms in my teaching career but only because I am teaching lower grades and my degree will only be for kindergarten through third grade. However, if I was going to be teaching higher grades I would definatly utilize virtual classrooms.

Link to article: http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/oct2003/maiden.htm