Virtual Classroom Essay Example for Free

Virtual Classroom Essay In the rapidly changing way that information exchange takes place during our times, the Virtual Classroom Information System, or simply Virtual Classroom, demonstrates very effectively that technology can be explored and utilized to make new ways to do old things, and at the same time be more efficient in doing it. The Virtual Classroom is a web-based information system that basically allows a class to take place over the internet and through a website, breaking the restrictions imposed by distance. It provides a venue where students and teachers can meet, albeit virtually, and do the things that are normally done inside actual classrooms. Although communication is limited through the computer as compared to meeting personally, the Virtual Classroom provides alternative ways that were still effective in providing the users with the information they need. The Virtual Classroom provides functionalities for the following different kinds of users: system administrator, teacher, and student. The system administrator, or sysad for short, is not necessarily the system owner. The system owner is the school who bought a copy of Virtual Classroom and had it installed in a server to be used by that particular school. The system administrator is preferably someone from the school administration. The system administrator has complete control over the system as he/she is the one who has the highest privileges in accessing the system. It is up to the sysad to populate the database with the available classes, and later assign teachers to handle those classes. He/she has the responsibility of managing all other user accounts, be it a teacher or a student account, involved in the system. The system administrator is like a moderator that sees to it that everything is in place and working well. The teacher has lesser privileges compared to the system administrator. He/she is allowed to upload files such as documents, pictures, or animations for the students to download. Also, the teacher can give exams or quizzes through the internet, which are automatically corrected and computed when answered by the students. The teacher is also in charge of the management of the forum of the class which he or she is teaching. At the end of the semester, the teacher can submit the final computed grades through the system. The system developer is preferably someone involved with the system as he or she needs to be well aware of the concerns and requirements asked by the system. The developer should have at least made thorough consultations with the members of the faculty, the students, and most especially the school administration. The Knowledge Building Block The knowledge building block is basically the information available for the system. This is mainly about populating the database with enough data for it to run effectively. With regards to the Virtual Classroom, the knowledge building block contributed by the system administrator consists of the list of students currently enrolled in a particular school, and the list of teachers who are currently available for teaching. This also includes personal information such as student number, name, course, year level and other basic information that the school needs to know. Also, the list of available classes that students can enlist to is populated by the system administrator. The teacher is left with the uploading of the necessary lecture files for the classes assigned to him. Also, exam questions would come from the teacher with the corresponding answer key for the system to automatically check the paper and compute the scores when answered. The Process Building Block This part of the information system is concerned about what the system does with the information, or knowledge, that is made available to it. Basically, a process takes input data and modifies it based on the conditions and logic provided by the system, then finally, outputs the data needed by the users. With the Virtual Classroom, one process is the assignment of the teachers for each class offered by the school. The system should see to it that there will not be conflicts with the schedule. When uploading the files of newer version, the system would automatically replace the old ones and sees to it that the concerned students will be notified either by email or through SMS, if the phone number is supplied by the user. Also, when a student finishes answering an exam, the system automatically checks it and outputs the results for the teacher to see. The Communications Building Block This block involves sending and receiving data between the users of the system. In terms of the Virtual Classroom, the communications block plays a major part in it, because the classroom is basically having a teacher communicate with a group of students so that the students will learn something from it. In this regard, there are several ways that the concerned users can communicate through the system. First, there is a general messaging system. The system allows any user to send a private message to another user, or group of users as long as the sender has prior knowledge of the recipient’s username. Upon receiving the message, the user has options to reply. In addition to this, there is also a message board per class. The management of this board is the responsibility of the teacher because this is where class discussions will take place, and although slow and not as efficient compared to the real classroom experience, information is guaranteed to be transmitted. An important part of this system is the notification system that contacts the needed users through email or through SMS, whichever is available, when something of great importance and ugency demands his or her attention.