Reactions of teachers towards using a virtual learning environment

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 1998), many commentators realized the significance of using computers and their networks with the conventional learning environment. This importance relies on the reactions of teachers who confirmed that their interactions with their students were better than before since students can learn their materials or lessons online and virtually. Also, realizing teachers the real meaning of using technologies and networks as well as their development, such as developing the Internet and the World Wide Web increased the perspectives of teachers towards using a virtual learning environment to conduct virtual lessons so that students can learn from easily and rapidly. In addition, teachers describe their tendency towards using the Internet and WWW not only with students at schools, but also with students at universities because teachers claimed that their students (at school or universities) performed better by using the Internet with their learning process. Teachers demonstrated that when connecting students with from different links with the same operating systems which related to their teachers increased their efficiency in the learning process; which means that students reached high performance in their materials or courses since they start using computers and the Internet in the virtual learning process.

It is worth to mention that teachers announced on their positive perspectives towards using a virtual learning environment within the learning process according to many reasons. In other words, teachers describe that using computers and Internet to teach students their materials or course increased their students‟ literacy on using computers. This point is a very important element that teachers concentrate on because those students will work in the labor markets after their graduation so that they can benefit from using computers and Internet in having their jobs since most of the current jobs depend on using computers and Internet. Barzegar et al. (2010) demonstrated that students argued that using virtual learning environments in teaching students their materials or courses enrich and support the curriculum because learning curriculum in a virtual learning environment contains different images, audios, and videos which can be saved in the computer disk so that students can benefit from them anytime more than once as they need. Therefore, this step is a powerful step to support the process of

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learning the curriculum in a better way than before. Moreover, teachers describe that learning by a virtual learning environment increased interacting their students with them because students were more active with using computers and the Internet to learn their materials or courses than learning in the conventional learning environments.

Bailenson et al. (2008) argued that although using virtual environment in the learning process is considered as a new method or way of teaching, teachers describe that this new way (which related to teach lessons online and virtually) is a positive one that can be used to develop the learning process. For example, teachers demonstrate that they were much able on focusing on all of their students rather than focusing on them in the conventional environment because teachers were able to receive information from all of them as well as sending feedback to all of them since teachers can see all of their students directly without any problem. Another reason behind the ability of teachers on concentrating on all of students by using the virtual learning environment is related to get rid of the problems of breaking the rules, such as sleeping or eating during the lesson time. The most distinctive feature in the virtual learning environment that help teachers with their learning process is that teacher in a virtual learning environment can be much closer to the students because of existing all students in the center field of the teacher.

Some teachers provide negative aspects towards using a virtual learning environment in the learning process. Those teachers demonstrate that teaching their students online and virtually erase their role in teaching at all, because they stop playing their traditional role in coming at schools and seeing all students in front of them. Therefore, those teachers describe learning from a virtual environment is insufficient and provide little values for teachers in general. Also, some teachers mention that learning materials and courses to their students prevent them from being the available resource to their students because by using virtual learning environments students have the ability to search on the Internet sites for the same information that they receive from their teachers. Other teachers illustrated that their negative perspectives towards learning students from a virtual environment related to the limited time schedule that they have compared with the schedule of time within the working hours in the school itself. Finally, some teachers who have negative aspects towards using virtual learning environments

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demonstrate that teaching students from online and virtually provide their students with low confidence since they do not engage with other students in reality. Therefore, engaging with other students virtually lack students the self confidence because they will not speak and chat with other students directly.