Answer Geek

Answer geeks (and we use that term with great respect): Where would we be without them? They help guide us through the challenges of online learning, the Internet, courseware development, and those other intersections of learning and technology.

QUESTION

I’ve been asked to create a virtual university. Can you give me some ideas?

ANSWER

A virtual campus is a learning environment that has all of the essential qualities of an educational institution without physical buildings and face-to-face contact. In the “real” world, a campus is not only a group of buildings where students go to gain knowledge, but also a place where students can form networks with peers to enhance their learning. On a virtual campus, technology is used to simulate the same functions.

The starting point of all virtual campuses is the main menu, where it’s important to create straightforward navigation functions. We design our virtual interfaces to resemble campus grounds. This virtual campus was developed for a company that has clients primarily in the federal government. The buildings are famous federal buildings. As an intro to the campus, we created a game asking people to name all of the buildings.

Each of the buildings on the campus has its own unique function. Together, the buildings cover all of the fundamental functions of an online campus.

Orientation building. The orientation area is where new students sign in to the campus and find introductory information.

Conference center. This building provides an opportunity for students and faculty to share information in chat rooms and forums. Here learners can meet virtually to discuss coursework, complete assignments, or question instructors. The conference center adds to the virtual environment the live peer interaction that would be available at a traditional campus.

Admissions building. All of the course information is kept in this building. It includes a course catalog and additional information on instructors. Here learners can select the courses they want to participate in from the catalog. This function should also allow students to register for online and instructor-led courses.

Classrooms building. This is the place where learners participate in a course, which can include interactive content as well as online exercises and assessments. Optional self-assessments may be developed to help learners determine their training needs. In addition to offering asynchronous self-study courses, this building may also include group or instructor-led synchronous activities.

Library. Here learners can find additional resources related to course subjects and their industry. This building can also provide easy and direct access to course materials, such as handouts or slides, links to related Websites, and other supplemental course information.

Administration building. This building houses information about course instructors, such as biographies, photographs, and email addresses. In addition, instructors may register here and preview courses. This where all of the reporting and administrative functions of the virtual campus are located, for example curriculum completion information and test scores by student, new user registration, course roster administration, and so forth. (See a sample report screen and administration screen.)

A virtual campus can be an effective tool for centralized organizational knowledge management. It’s important to spend time up front developing detailed specifications for your virtual campus to ensure successful implementation. Most important is analyzing your audience and necessary technology. It’s not difficult to set up a virtual campus if all of the requirements have been addressed up front.

Published: February 2003