

Secondlife, an online virtual world, is a type of gamification system that is used for online educational purposes. To engage virtual students even further, a process known as gamification can be used to teach a student learning material in a form of a game to bring more enjoyment in a student’s learning experience. The utilization of web video conferencing allows students to communicate virtually with their teachers and simulate a classroom environment, with many using services such as Zoom and Cisco WebEx.

One use of technology that was found to be resourceful in the collaboration of students and teachers in virtual learning was the use of video conferencing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States began to encourage social distancing in the education system. The internet plays a role in virtual classrooms with resources such as virtual test taking functions, systems that aide coursework that include electronic reading materials, video conferencing for lectures and chatrooms. The internet itself can be credited on what enabled modern distance learning to be developed. Virtual classrooms are made possible through the use of educational technology with the help of the internet.

In addition to the scheduled class time, there are usually additional assignments to complete. Therefore these lessons are socially constructed. This is done either through text, video, or audio chat. The instructor and students all interact online at the same time. On the other hand, synchronous online courses happen in real-time. Usually, the only interactions that take place are through discussion boards, blogs, and wikis. There is no scheduled time when the class meets. Typically for this type of learning, the students are given the assignments and information and are expected to complete the assignments by the due date. The courses that are independent and self-paced are called asynchronous courses. Class sizes range widely from a small group of 6 pupils or students to hundreds in a virtual school. Instructional models vary, ranging from distance learning types which provide study materials for independent self-paced study, to live, interactive classes where students communicate with a teacher in a class group lesson. Experts say that because the number of students studying at the college level is growing, there will also be an increase in the number of students enrolled in distance learning. The total number of students studying on a campus exclusively dropped by 931,317 people between the years 20. 29.7% of all higher education students are taking at least one distance course. In 2015, more than 6 million students were taking at least one course online, this number grew by 3.9% from the previous year. There are currently more than 4,700 colleges and universities that provide online courses to their students. Virtual education is becoming increasingly used worldwide. Percentage of Students Taking Distance Courses (2012-2015)
