Some advantages of virtual teaching or learning

Of all the advantages VLEs for teaching/learning offer, I think the most important one, is the facility of access and usability to acquire new knowledge for people with disabilities. They find it easier to do a course without the need of moving from home.

Another great advantage of this kind of learning is that it offers the possibility of reflection about how we are learning/teaching, and gives the opportunity to do it better next time looking back at the stored information. You cannot stored this in your traditional classroom lessons unless you were able to record them with a video camera!

It also gives students the opportunity to learn at their own pace increasing, at the same time, their learning autonomy which will be very important for them as learners and as professionals.

It is much more learner-centred because teachers can correct learners individually, as if they were your own private instructors.

It usually works as a linker between cultures, too. You can meet peers or teachers from other different countries in your course, giving you the chance to interact or collaborate together with them.

Another of its outstanding characteristics is that it is very flexible talking in terms of space and time. You can enter to share your knowledge, do your homework, submit your tests, send your assignments, etc. at the hour that best suits you and write as much as you need and then correct your writing or your learners one before sending it to be read by the other students and instructor, for instance.

It is a good time-saver. You don't need to travel from home to attend to nor to teach your lessons, neither arrive late to them due to traffic jams!

In terms of order, space and revision, it is very useful, of course. Learners and teachers used to waste a lot of time storing their notes taking, summaries, commentaries, etc. They also need a place to have all of these together with books and other materials on hand. But when you are taking or teaching a course online everything is in order and in its right place stored for you to check once and again and come back over it as many times as you need. And...it does not take any space at home, if it is not a blended course!

I have taken more than 8 courses online as a student, appart from being teaching with ANGEL Learning and Elluminate Alive!, at the moment, though I have used other ones previously like Wimba or Lyceus. I find both asynchronous and synchronous  tools very useful and not difficult to manage neither for a teacher nor for students. I am very fond of these kind of courses, as you can see!.

We must remember that feedback, given in time, is a very important characteristic in this kind of tuition and very useful if you want to learn from peers, too.

Oh, learning or teaching online is another way to keep your knowledge updated about new technologies for information and communication !