Islam Monjurul, Mazlan Nurul Hijja, Al Murshidi Ghadah, Hoque Mohammed Shamsul, Karthiga S V, Reza Mohoshin
School of Language, Literacies & Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
College of Computing, Informatics, and Media, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Smart Learn Environ. 2023;10(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s40561-023-00225-1. Epub 2023 Jan 12.
Virtual Classroom (VC) learning approaches have recently drawn considerable attention because they have the potential to encourage student engagement to ensure active and collaborative learning. Although research on online learning has gained visibility in recent times, VC learning has not received notable attention, especially in Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study examines students' perception and experience of VC in a university in UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of its necessity and helpfulness. This research also examines the situational pressure of VC and aims to explain the reasons for its desirability and inevitability. As a current learning space beyond the conventional face-to-face classroom learning, VC learning is available in various forms and quality depending on creating opportunities for the learners' participation. However, there are issues with VC practice too. Our analysis of survey data ( = 334) leads to portraying autonomous learning freedom in different learning environments in VC. We argue that students may resort to VC not because of its proven effectiveness but because of the necessity to continue addressing their learning needs. This study contributes to the general understanding of the online and traditional in-person classroom learning and virtual learning resources in the teaching of English as a globally desired language.
虚拟课堂（VC）学习方法最近引起了相当大的关注，因为它们有潜力促进学生参与，以确保积极和协作学习。尽管近年来在线学习的研究已受到关注，但虚拟课堂学习并未得到显著关注，尤其是在阿联酋等海湾国家。该研究考察了在新冠疫情期间阿联酋一所大学的学生对虚拟课堂的必要性和有用性的看法及体验。本研究还考察了虚拟课堂的情境压力，旨在解释其受欢迎和不可避免的原因。作为超越传统面对面课堂学习的当前学习空间，虚拟课堂学习根据为学习者参与创造机会的不同而有各种形式和质量。然而，虚拟课堂实践也存在问题。我们对调查数据（n = 334）的分析得出了在虚拟课堂不同学习环境中的自主学习自由度情况。我们认为，学生选择虚拟课堂可能不是因为其已被证明的有效性，而是因为有必要继续满足他们的学习需求。这项研究有助于人们对作为全球通用语言的英语教学中的在线学习、传统面对面课堂学习以及虚拟学习资源形成总体认识。
