Challenges Faced By Educational Institutions

Simulation-based learning environments should provide a supportive, motivational, and learner-centered educational climate that is conducive to learning.

This journal will be useful because it shows that students can have interpersonal relationships with their teachers and their peers in a virtual classroom.

In the last two decades, the United States has seen drastic reforms to in education. Teachers now face rigorous performance rate testing and underfunded schools (Klien). In Colorado, teacher pay has “declined by 7% over the past decade” (Whaley). For years, teaching primary or secondary education was considered a respectable and stable job. However, Colorado is now facing problems regarding the teacher workforce. Colorado is experiencing a labor shortage in educational school teacher positions in due the declining perception of teaching impacting the quality of the education in Colorado. The severity of this shortage will continue to increase in the next 5 years and will affect the other Colorado Industries.

The reformers of general educations chief initiatives were to instill in students with values and skills beyond that of simply how much would they earn within their chosen profession. College leaders looked into how to weave general educational courses into the fabric of their university, along with tackling institutional and departmental fragmentation as to how to apply it. Institutional administrators and faculty grapple with implementation and thematic issues related to general education. “Colleges are finding that students are coming to their campuses with little to any knowledge of what general education is or why and how it might benefit them” (Twombly, 1992).

There was once a time when white males were only allowed to attend colleges and universities. After the civil war, women and those of different ethnicities were thrown into the college scene. However, even today there continues to be the ongoing debate on how it is best to enroll, educate, and graduate these students that were once denied higher education. Because of this debate, American universities still need to provide accommodations to these groups of students. Those previously denied the right to attend universities now face issues because of the confidence gap, the economic gap, and the stress gap. These issues can be fixed if changes are made in the universities teaching system.

The first distinction between learning in an online classroom versus that of a traditional brick and mortar classroom is that of time. Students log into their virtual classroom at times of their choosing to learn and complete assignments. The virtual campus that we use has click functions that are set up like a regular classroom. These functions mimic interactions between course facilitators and students in traditional settings.

Engum, Jeffries, and Fisher (2003) made a study on using virtual lab and real lab that revealed that students developed adequate skills, which suggested that combination of both can enhance a student’s skills and satisfaction levels.

For the last couple of decades the United States faced some serious problems within its higher education. Despite the fact that many US universities are considered to be one of the best in the world, there are many unknown problems that come with it. Unfortunately, today’s US higher education can’t guarantee its students the bright bridge into the future. American education became very disparate in terms of its quality, causing the decline in its value. For example, regardless the fact that American’s society faces shortage of qualified workers,after graduation millions of students can’t find a job, while others dropped out and were left with nothing (The Economist, 116). This illustrates that American universities become less efficient with every year, that creates a competition between the US college students and better educated immigrants who occupy many vocations. Notwithstanding the low productivity, universities in the USA are very expensive. According to Ben Branstetters in the past ten years the tuition fees have risen by 80%, making schooling a luxury for the nation. Every year the universities become

Weaknesses. The virtual reality classroom is created for all the classmates to interact. However, the weakness for this mode of communication is the lack of face-to-face personal interaction. Online-based courses facilitate the

The Interactive Virtual Training project is a teacher training program that is still in the initial stages of development but exemplifies the intersection of virtual reality and training models (Shernoff et al., 2015b). The pedagogical advantages and benefits of integrating virtual reality into teacher training programs are that it is a cost-effective alternative, has low stakes, is engaging, aids skill acquisition, enables more practice time, provides individualized feedback, and compliments professional development. Virtual reality circumvents many of the limitations presented in the existing training models for

Simulations can be defined as sites that allow users to pretend to be a character in digital space. . (Groff, J., & Haas, J., 2008) In sites, such as Second Life, a user can explore and complete tasks that he or she would not normally be able to in real life. Simulations can be extremely beneficial within a classroom, since it is not always realistic to have students complete a project or go on a field trip to gain the experience the teacher would like them to have. Molecular Workbench is an interactive, visual simulation used to aide in teaching simple and complex science concepts, such as dynamic molecular structures. (Klopfer, E., & Osterweil, S., 2009) The program also has a tool to allow teachers to track progress and grade assessments. Another simulation used for commonly for science is StarLogo: The Next Generation. This program is used heavily in math and science. The simulation allows students to create their own simulation and also alter it. For example, the program could be used to create a simulation of the dynamics between fish and plankton. (Klopfer, E., & Osterweil, S.,

The education systems of today are deeply flawed. Schools attempt to conform the way students think oppressing creativity and ingenuity. Schools today are falling away from the true focus of education. Schools are replacing effective teaching with needless and tedious assignments, only to overwork students. Since when is staying up until one in the morning doing pointless assignments more valuable than having free time to explore passions and learning life lessons through experience? Schools today are not preparing students to be lifelong learners and successful participants in the real world at an adequate level.

Most online students use course management systems such as Blackboard to master the material. Some learn by streaming audio or video lectures. But, universities are offering courses that are taking online studies to the next level. According to a recent article by the New York Times, an increasing number of online courses are holding sessions in Second Life, a virtual world that mimics real life.

Not long ago, VWs were considered a next-generation learning technology. Today, however, virtual reality (VR) is here. Bates and Poole (2003) discussed VR as simulated experiences. They wrote that “technology is at the point where it can replicate many of the core educational activities that we have assumed in the past could only be done well through direct personal contact between a teacher and student” (p. 73).

Concepts such as “Second Life” offers people a way to experience life through the internet, anything that you can imagine doing in real life has been incorporated into this world. Second Life also incorporates art into its simulation; one can visit a virtual gallery that links to information about pieces of specific art. Even very avant-garde sculptures and abstract art can be displayed in these virtual worlds as actual installations that one can walk around in, and experience virtually. People can become easily hooked to such virtual lives because it’s easy to feel comfortable. There is no risk factor involved when you are sitting behind a computer, you may feel freer to be yourself.