https://www.scribd.

com/doc/59220739/SRS-documentation-of-Virtual-
Classroom-System-SRS-documentation-of-Personal-Identity-Management-SRS-
documentation-of-EMentoring-for-women-system
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Priyadarshini college of engg & tech
ABSTRACT:

The paper presents the results of the "Virtual Classroom" project sponsored by
the University of Westminster,Educational Initiative Centre (EIC) for delivering
lectures online. The ultimateaim was to provide a portable hardwareand easy to
use software toolset as well aseasy to follow guidelines on how to propelthe
lectures from the conventional dullchalk and talk environment to the realm of all
interactive computer assisted Web based electronic classroom. The additionalgoal
was to minimize the number of staff required to give the lectures and allowthem
to use their valuable time for other academic duties. The proposed
systemhardware/software setup is a fullyautomatic solution controllable from
asingle PC. It allowed full studentinteraction and use of multimedia in
thelecture.Developing a virtual classroomsystem to promote a greater count
of students to spend interest into the field of education. It integrates the benefits
of a physical classroom with the convenienceof a virtual learning environment
minusthe commuting hazards and expenses. Itwill provide immense flexibility
andsophistication in the existing learning platform structures with the
perfectcombination of synchronous andasynchronous interaction. It provides
ameans of collaborative learning for thestudents.
1.

IN
TRODUCT
I
O
N
:

In 2006, the Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) startedrunningtrials with a so

called virtual classroom.Avirtual classroom is a combined set of tools for
conducting classroom likesessions live over the Internet.Since 2006,more than 20
pilot projects have beencarried out, involving more than 25 tutorsand over 200
students. We intended to usethe virtual classroom as a replacement for face-to-face
(f2f) tutoring sessions, whichare normally organized in our studycentres located across
the country.All pilots were organised in a project that was positioned directly
under the OUNLcentral board, and in whichmost faculties participated.
Weinvestigated several virtual classroominstruments in order to come to a
firstselection of promising candidates.All pilots were evaluatedextensively. Our
findings indicate that thevirtual classroom is a valuable addition toour educational
offerings. In this paper we

Priyadarshini college of engg & tech

will describe what a virtual classroom is,why we choose to implement it and
howwe came to our selection of an instrument.In the Virtual Classroom we
areattempting to approximate the shared andsupportive environment of a real-
worldclass. The aim of the Virtual Classroom project is to create an environment
thatwill help stimulate purposefulcommunication between English
languagelearners across the world.In the real-world, language teachingis
becoming increasingly concerned withgiving students the ability to use their
newlanguage spontaneously to express their thoughts, needs and desires. In
theclassroom context, the process is greatlyenhanced when the provision of
newlanguage skills occurs in a supportiveenvironment where these new skills
areallowed to develop though use andexperimentation.At starting point we felt
that it wasnecessary for all the participants in theVirtual Classroom to use the
same coursematerials, since this would provide themwith some common ground
regardless of their geographic distance from each other.The trial phases of the
Virtual Classroomwere restricted therefore to learnersattending language
classes.The classroom material issupplemented by extra activities availablefrom
the virtual classroom pages of our web site via the internet.

2.
DESCR
IP
T
I
O
N
:

The description of virtual classroomis as follows.

2.1 What is a virtual classroom?
A virtual classroom is aninstrument for conducting live classroomlike sessions
over the internet. In this,students and tutors can communicate usingvoice, video,
chat and whiteboard tools.They also have facilities like applicationsharing, polling,
breakout sessions andquizzes. It allows the tutor and students to participate in
real time lessons anddiscussions. Students can ask questions,drawn on the
whiteboard, and participatein breakout sessions. Almost everythingthat can be
done in a real classroom, can
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Priyadarshini college of engg & tech

also be done in a virtual classroom.Moreover, the whole classroom sessioncan be
recorded and made available for review afterwards
.
In this figure we present a screenshot of the virtual classroom
instrumentElluminate live(student view indicatingsome interaction functions)
2.2 Why we are using virtualclassroom?
The f2f meetings offer the students asense of connectedness. They get to knoweach
other and their tutor and getimmediate feedback on questions and problems. So,
as a result the studentswere very positive about their experiences.So, the main
pedagogical (teaching)model of the Open University of the Netherlands aims at
supporting self-directed learning. Ana also they thoughtthe virtual classroom an
efficientalternative for the f2f-meetings, as they didnot have to travel to the
study-centres andas the sessions were more frequent.Contact with tutors are
limited and in mostcases it takes place through e-mail or indiscussion groups.But
students and tutors all still feltthat the virtual classroom should be asupplement
to f2f meetings and not a totalreplacement. They missed the
directcommunication, the meeting over coffeeand the general chitchat which
makeslearning fun. In the beginning tutors feltvery insecure when using the
virtualclassroom and they certainly felt exhaustedafterwards. But after some
sessions theygot used to the specific requirements oncommunicating and keeping
track of interactions in the virtual classroom.
2.3
S
electing a virtual classroom
:

In order to select a virtualclassroom we developed a list of specifications based on the

needs of tutors,students and educational experts: wescored potential candidates
on educationaluse, user friendliness, features andadministration.For procedures,
the features of theintegration educational use we looked atthe way different
teaching activities weresupported, such as discussion, workshops,group work,
assessments etc.

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Priyadarshini college of engg & tech
User friendliness was assessed byexamining the installation into our
VirtualLearning Environment (VLE) and theavailability of training materials
for students and teachers.For features we looked at theavailability of voice over
Internet(VoIP), presentation tools, whiteboard tools,application sharing, public
and privatechat, feedback tools, document sharing, polling and quizzes.We looked
at how the system should be installed/administered way students andtutors were
authorized. the way studentsand tutors were authorized for use and thelicence
fees. We initially looked into awhole range of virtual classrooms andassessed them
using the list of requirements. Finally we decided tochoose for virtual classroom,
mainly based on quality of audio, extensivefeature set, support for multiple
platforms,automatic reconnection features and low bandwidth requirements for
use and thelicence fees.
2.4 When to use a virtual classroom?
Virtual classroom is a powerfultool to use as a replacement for traditionalteaching
sessions such as workshops andstructured discussion. We even had
someexperience with structured role play andthis also worked very well.
Supportinggroup work and free discussion is a bitmore difficult, as it requires
morestudent/tutor experience and feeling-at-ease in using the virtual classroom.
Weexpect that all involved will become morecomfortable in using the tools and as
aresult it will become much easier use themin a less directive and restricted way.

The virtual classroom is technicallywell suited for lectures, but teachers haveto be
aware of the fact that boring lectures become even more boring when you listento
them on the computer.Group size should not be to big,certainly not in the beginning
when tutorsand students are not used to the tool. Weworked with groups of 8 to 15
studentsand that seems a manageable size. Avirtual class session should also be
fairlyshort. One and a half hour is an absolutemaximum. otherwise attendance is
tooexhausting for both the tutor and thestudents.
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/172322440/Virtual-Class-Room-Final