What is "Virtual University"

The term "virtual university" is used to describe any organization that provides higher education programs through electronic devices such as the computer. Some of the Universities are real institutes, the bricks and mortar type that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while others provide courses only on-line.

Some of these organizations exist only as loosely tied combines of universities, institutes or departments that together provide a number of courses over the Internet, television or other media, that are separate and distinct from programs offered by the single institution outside of the combine. Others are actual organizations with a legal framework, yet named virtual because they appear only on the internet, without a physical location aside from administration units. Still other virtual universities can be organized through specific or multiple physical locations, with some having actual campuses to receive program delivery through technological media that is broadcast from another location, where real professors give televised lectures.

The goal of Virtual Universities is to provide access to that part of the population who would not be able to attend a physical campus, for reasons such as: (1)distance - where students live too far from a physical campus to attend regular classes; (2) need for flexibility – some students need the flexibility to study at home whenever it is convenient for them to do so.

Program delivery in a virtual university is administered through information communication technology such as web pages, e-mail and other networked sources. When the term “virtual” was first coined in the computational sense, it applied to things that were simulated by the computer like virtual memory. Over time, the adjective has been applied to things that really exist and are created or carried on by means of computers.

Students taking so called “virtual" courses are doing “real” work to get their degrees and educators preparing and teaching those courses spend plenty of “real” time in doing so. That is, students meet rigorous academic learning outcomes and evaluations through programs constructed by credible academics according to standard university-level criteria. Many Virtual Universities are accredited in the same way as traditional universities and operate according to the same academic standards. These universities can grant degrees that will be recognized around the world. Online programs can be marketed to any person who has on-line access to provide learning experiences and training in an open access format.

Studying in a virtual university

The convenience of on-line learning attracts mainly working class adult students who need school to meet their schedules and demands of working, family and social lives.

Providing access to Higher Education for all students, especially adult learners, is made easier by the fact that most virtual universities have no entry requirements for their undergraduate courses. ^[3] Entry requirements are needed for the courses that are aimed at postgraduates or those who work in specific jobs.

Studying in a virtual university is different from studying in a brick and mortar university. There are no buildings and no campus to go to because students study on the internet. In most cases, only a personal computer and an Internet connection is needed.

If you are taking courses on-line it means that you will be learning in your own time by reading course material, working on course activities, writing assignments and perhaps working with other students through interactive teleconferences. Online learning can be an isolating experience since the student spends the majority of their time working by themselves. Some learners do not mind learning by themselves but others find this a major stumbling block to successful completion of courses. Course materials can include printed material, books, audio and video cassettes, TV programmes, cd-rom /software, and web sites. Support is offered to learners from the professor or a tutor online through e-mails if they are having problems with the course.

It is often difficult to maintain the scheduling needed to be successful when learning on-line. That is why some virtual universities apply the same type of time management as traditional schools. Many courses operate to a timetable, which the student receives with his/her course materials. These include the planned activities for each week of the course and the dates for the assignments. If the course has an exam, the students will be informed where they have to go to write it.

An example of a university that maintains a tight schedule is the Virtual Global University (VGU) in Germany. VGU offers a graduate program “International Master of Business Informatics” (MBI) – a master program in information technology and management that takes four semesters to complete (full-time students). Each course has a lecture or a virtual class meeting every week. Afterwards, students get a homework assignment; for example, they have to solve an exercise, elaborate on some problem, discuss a case study, or take a test. Lecturers give them immediate feedback, and one week later, the same happens again.

Teaching modes

When on-line courses first began the primary mode of delivery was through a two way audio/video network. Then as well as now, many of the virtual study programs were/are mainly based on text documents, but multimedia technologies have become increasingly popular as well. These web-based delivery modes are used in order to expand access to programs and services that can be offered anytime and anywhere. The spectrum of teaching modes in virtual education includes courses based on hypertext, videos, audios, e-mails, video conferencing. Teaching on the web through courseware such as WebCT and BlackBoard are also used.

Concern of On-Line Learning

There are a great many skills that students who decide to study through Virtual Universities need in order to be successful. Some of these include:

• Mastering software tools,
• Developing new study habits,
• Knowing how to access on line academic resources,
• Confidence to do well. Students who lack self-confidence, often have poor learning skills and may develop considerable anxiety and fear of failure,
• Students need to be highly motivated and be able to learn on their own without much direction,
• Need excellent time management skills to ensure that they get the work completed when it is due,
• Ability to Ask for Help. Services for students often include tutorials between student-tutor, and student-student, help desks, counselling and advising plus technical support. However, just providing these services does not guarantee success.

Quality of On-Line Universities

With the rapid expansion in the past ten years of Virtual Universities questions remain about accreditation, assessment and reputation for quality. Not all Virtual Universities are created equal. Accreditation, by a governing body, is needed to assure students that the online institute has certified online instructors who have the expertise and educational qualifications to design and carry out the curriculum. As well assessment needs to be closely monitored in any institution but especially in virtual universities. Without assessment there would be no measure to determine levels of current knowledge or whether the learning objective was accomplished. Reputation for quality is important because employers will be more likely to hire a student who got their degree online from an accredited university with a good name than one no one has heard of. Vicky Philips, CEO of Geteducated.com, says “The issue is not whether the degree is earned at a distance, but whether or not the student is familiar with the name of the institution granting the degree, the name takes precedence over the method”. Philips clarifies this by saying, “respondents in studies of opinions about online degrees will rate a degree from Stanford the same whether it’s earned online or on-campus, because they recognize the name of the institution granting the degree.”