The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Being confined in a limited space over a period without exercising your thinking faculty can leave you dull and rusty over time. This has become a great concern for educators and heads of educational institutions hence, their dependence on the virtual learning possibilities which enables institutions reach out to their learners remotely during this school shutdown period. I, for instance, am welcome to the vast possibilities a virtual learning environment can provide for me as an educator.

The VLE refers to "a system that offers educators digitally-based solutions aimed at creating an interactive, active learning environment." Better still, "it helps educators create, store and disseminate content, plan courses and lessons and foster communication" between the learner and the educator. Simply put, it's like learning using the web whether via audio, video or visual content. You only need a mobile phone, laptop or tablet and a good source of internet connection to access online content courses and also interact with your learner or vice versa.

With the world gradually becoming a global village, if not already, and even more dependent on technology, the opportunity to reach out to a wide range of audience is large. Apart from the one-on-one interactions in the classroom, some institutions have included long distance learning programs, e-learning platforms and a variety of virtual learning environments which also brings more money to the "entrepreneur" most especially, private institutions.

Don't be surprised if, in some years to come, the government passes a law that requires institutions to inculcate technology at all cost in running their organizations. How about you prepare yourself sooner so you don't get taken by surprise. There would be no time for you, the business owner, to nag.

For the teacher and learner, there are a lot of app developers that have come up with platforms to meet your need. The likes of Google Classroom, Moodle, Zoom Cloud, Udemy, Teachable, ... just to name a few. I have tried a few of these platforms and they seem a great deal of good to me. There is the good and bad side of it. Which means the world becomes more dependent on technology than the human. It tends to displace a lot of people who haven't embraced technology in their homes and work places. 

I, like you, would want to stay in business, so I would take some few courses via virtual learning and upgrade myself to fit in this new tech era. You should too! To those already implementing it in their line of work, kudos! To those yet to begin, let's explore!