An impact of Virtual Learning Environments on communication process between students and instructors

Seek a strong theoretical orientation to inform teaching practice in the use of the VLE technology Bell (1998) notes that `it is still far too common for technological and curricular innovations to be brought into schools without it being a research-minded or research informed endeavor' (p. 3). Technology can provide the means for enhancing students' learning but a sound theoretical basis for teacher and student action is necessary if technology is to be put to such productive use (Salomon&Almog, 1998). On the basis, of this review such a position seems well justified. The recent studies reviewed in this paper typically studied the learning and actions in those classrooms though constructivist and = or conceptual change lenses and looked for learning being socially constructed between individuals through interaction via language. The value of constructivist orientations in the use of VLE and Virtual systems in general in education has previously been noted by several authors (see for example, Brown, 1992; Salomon&Almog, 1998) with Salomon & Almog suggesting `a major justification for the employment of VLE is the acceptance of constructivist conceptions and the growing understanding of learning as a social process' (p. 222). Yet as is suggested by McRobbie&Thomas (2000) and other authors (see, for example, Tobin&Gallagher, 1987; McRobbie&Tobin, 1995, 1997; Roth et al., 1997), not all classroom teachers adopt a constructivist approach to their teaching.

From a social constructivist perspective, learning is viewed as a process involving personal mental construction of knowledge on the basis of the individual subscribing to their conceptual structures because they are viable for them, not because they are absolute. Further, such knowledge construction is a social and cultural process mediated by language (Milne&Taylor, 1995) where social interaction is crucial to the learning outcomes. Even Tao&Gunstone (1999), while adopting a conceptual change perspective that has a strong tradition in science education (see, for example, Gunstone, 1994; Hewson et al., 1998), highlighted the importance of students' `engagements of high equality and mutuality' (p. 53) in their research. It is reasonable to suggest that adopting and promoting pedagogy reflecting either constructivist or conceptual change perspectives can be valuable in using VLE to advance students' learning.

Acknowledge and respond to the importance of using and constructing models in science models and model-based reasoning has been found to be important in the development of science concepts (see, for example, Raghavan&Glaser, 1995; Driver et al., 1996; Gilbert et al., 1998). In the research of White&Frederiksen (1998) a key element of successful student learning was the focus on model creation, review and modification in the light of new evidence. Associated with such use and understanding of models is the development of students' understanding of the processes of science, which Weller (1997) highlighted as lacking in the research he reviewed. Also, related to students' engagement with models is the quality of the VLE software that students are to use. The decencies or strengths of the models embedded in software are seldom elaborated or reviewed in science classes, texts or manuals. It would seem valuable for teachers to select software that facilitates students' development and use of model-based reasoning. Ideally, such software would reflect understandings emanating from the research literature in relation to students' alternative conceptions of phenomena and the often-tacit models that students possess as a result of such alternative conceptions. An example of such software is that developed by Garnett et al. (1998). Their software, reflecting the difficulties students have in understanding chemistry at macroscopic, molecular and symbolic levels (Gabel, 1998), aims to assist students to better understand the particulate nature of chemical reactions. Increase the focus on metacognition in science instruction involving VLE use Metacognition is deliberate, reflective thinking involving the individual planning, monitoring, and evaluating his = her cognitive processes (Brown, 1978; Paris & Winograd, 1990; Bellanca&Fogarty, 1993). People who perform well on complex tasks and who consciously apply their cognitive strategies, are those who possess well-developed metacognitive abilities while unskilled people often fail to use metacognitive strategies (Paris, 1988). The development and enhancement of metacognition has been a long-standing goal of science instruction. The integration, as described in the research of Bell (1998) and White&Frederiksen (1998), of practices aimed at encouraging students' metacognition into the instructional sequences related to students' VLE use was a key element in the success of instruction. Therefore, to maximize the learning that occurs through the use of VLE, practices aimed at enhancing metacognition should be embedded in classroom activities involving VLE.

Thomas (1999) has shown that metacognition can be learned through social interaction. This finding, coupled with the suggestion that `adequate metacognition empowers the learner to undertake the constructivist processes of recognition, evaluation, and revision of personal views' (Baird et al., 1991, p. 164), highlights the value of adopting a social constructivist perspective and also seeking to foster students' metacognitive development as a means to improving students' learning through VLE use. As White&Frederiksen (1998) suggest, we should look at bringing `metacognition into the social processes of the classroom' (p. 79). Recognize that VLE implementation and use will be affected by science teachers' and students' beliefs and epistemologies, and develop a focus on teacher and student change issues in relation to technology.

Technology has the potential to enhance changes in instruction in schools (Berger et al., 1994). However, it is first necessary to couch the introduction of VLE technology in high school science classrooms in terms of changes in instruction, rather than suggesting that science teachers will necessarily change their method of instruction in response to the introduction of VLE. Changes to pedagogy are necessary and changing teachers' pedagogy remains a great challenge in all sectors of education, including science education. Each individual teacher's pedagogy is determined by their referents that are influenced by their beliefs, their goals and the context they teach in (McRobbie&Tobin, 1995; McDonald&Ingvarson, 1995). Van den Akker et al. (1992) suggested that successful integration of VLE into schools would require teachers to deepen their understanding of the potential for VLE use in classrooms, to learn new instructional strategies, and to revise their beliefs regarding how students learn. The necessity for such teacher change is clearly demonstrated in the research of McRobbie&Thomas (2000). Therefore, the questions that have dogged science educators for decades in regard to science teacher change and curriculum change should be prominent in debates about the introduction and use of VLE technology.

The question of how best to bring about meaningful teacher change involving VLE use is perplexing. While authors such as Salomon&Almog (1998) suggest that `top down rationales do not translate unequivocally into particular pedagogical implications and designs' (p. 223) others, such as Fullan (1992), highlight the value of engaging with the change first and then learning through the process, suggesting that `in many cases, changes in behavior precede rather than follow changes in beliefs' (p. 25). How to initiate and implement meaningful VLE use in science classrooms, and by whom, requires further consideration and detailed research.

Irrespective of the answers to the aforementioned questions, any form of implementation might still provide the stimulus and opportunity for science teachers to scrutinize their beliefs and pedagogies as they grapple with how best to use the technology. The extent to which this will occur will, in many instances, depend on the extent to which school and social climates encourage and support teachers in their attempts to experiment and be reflective. Therefore, teachers' professional development, already a vexing issue in education, should be prominent in discussions on the effective use of VLE in high school science classrooms. One way the research community can assist teachers is to continue to seek to develop university and school partnerships that are long-term and involve longitudinal studies using action research. As previously noted (Collins, 1992; Bell, 1998), it is most profitable to view teachers as co investigators rather than as passive players in university and school research ventures. Blueprints for such collaboration can be found in reports on the Project to Enhance Effective Learning (PEEL) (Baird&Mitchell, 1987; Baird & Northfield, 1992) and the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) project (Adey&Shayer, 1994). Both projects resulted in improved student learning and in both projects researchers worked closely with classroom teachers and built discourse with and between them about what constituted effective learning and how such learning might be achieved. While both PEEL and CASE highlighted the need for face-to face interaction between participants as key to their success, Linn&Hsi (2000) have advocated the development of online communities to enable the sharing of information about information technologies and their applications. Whatever means are chosen to initiate, maintain and enhance communication between researchers and teachers regarding the effective use of VLE in science education, there is an overwhelming need to document, critique and report on the outcomes of such communicative enterprises so that `model' professional development programs can be developed via successive improvements on past attempts.

A further issue that is given scant attention in the literature is the effect of change on students. Research from PEEL (Baird&Mitchell, 1987; Baird&Northfield, 1992) found that students possessed entrenched, confined and conservative conceptions of, and attitudes to, what constituted good learning and that such conceptions and attitudes consequently informed their notions of what counted as good teaching. This finding is congruent with those of other research (see, for example, Baird, 1986; Berry&Sahlberg, 1996). Students' conceptions of teaching and learning are key determinants of students' actions and processes in classrooms. It follows that such conceptions will affect students' use of VLE technology. Research into attempts to change students' beliefs about teaching and learning found this could be a difficult task (Hand et al., 1997; Atkin, 1998; Thomas, 1999). This to some extent may explain the complaints from students noted by White&Frederiksen (1998). While it is essential to consider teachers as integral players in the future use of VLE, it is also necessary to account for and respect students learning and epistemological orientations when embarking on technological innovation.

Salomon&Almog (1998) have noted that `ever-newer technological affordances pull instruction in new and promising directions' (p. 222) but many of these lack purpose or rationale. What this recent research shows us is that the science teachers and researchers who succeeded in bringing about quality student learning using VLE have clear rationales for the use of that technology and are able to operationalize those rationales for their students. The teacher and students are important aspects of the innovation context. While such a position may seem obvious, as was previously noted, little research had focused on the actions or beliefs of teachers and students in much of the early research into the use of VLE in science classrooms. The evidence emerging suggests that the potential for VLE use in science education is not overstated but that like any other curriculum innovation the implementation of change requires careful thought. In 1988 Linn suggested that `technological advances can improve science education, and science educators have the opportunity to respond to current shortcomings of science instruction by harnessing technology'. Similar assessments were made in relation to TV and video and the impact that these innovations would have on revolutionizing teaching and learning yet the impact of such technologies on students' school learning has been described by some as unimpressive (Hecht, 1995; Kent&McNergney, 1999). Bigum (1998) has also suggested that `blind faith in technological progress has not served schools well' (p. 22) with such blind faith limiting `the ways teachers have for thinking about the complex issues' associated with new technologies.

If VLE are to serve as valuable tools for advancing and enhancing high school students' science learning then a broader view of their potential use in terms of what has already been proposed as necessary for improving science education is required. The guidelines presented in this paper reflect such proposals. There are no easy answers involving VLE to the current problems besieging science education. The challenge is to make best use of the affordances provided by the technology while being mindful of, and minimizing the effect of, any possible associated disadvantages.

Chapter 2. Communicative practices and communication barriers between students and instructors in VLE

2.1 Research design

Due to globalization, we face many problems together, creating political, military and trade unions. We are uniting for a greater good. So why not to do it in Education? One of the biggest efforts so far is Bologna process. But it is not a union and it does not create a space for a proper exchange of academics/students or information, moreover in some countries it has created quite a lot of problems with adaptation to new system, for instance, in Russia due to the bureaucracy issues. One could mention Erasmus program but it is criticized for being not that useful in relation on how much money the program takes for itself, and it also does not provide any educational resources or systems. So, we need to create such a system and the internet would be the perfect place. Considering that according to contemporary studies information that we received in previous years from the beginning of known history will be doubled every single year and after that even quicker - we need to systematize what we have, make it easier to create, preserve and exchange information and knowledge. Solution of how to create a proper connection between students/staff/academics is needed to be found, because with proper tools for communication it will be more effective to do educational/academic routine. With a help of modern technologies, it is easier to do, but systems are not perfect and differ from each other among universities from different countries, different cities and sometimes even within one university.

Problem: It is not clear whether VLE has a positive impact on education or negative. It is also not clear how does the communication happen and at what level it affects the whole learning process at university level, whether it is effective or not. How well does the Russian students adapted to the current VLEs and does it need further development or it's on a peak?

Research question: How do the Virtual Learning Environments affect communication between students and instructors in Saint-Petersburg State University and the University of Warwick?

To create a ground for a comparison case study method was used. Case study is a particular instance of something used or analyzed in order to illustrate a thesis or principle. In our case, those are University of Warwick (UK) and Saint-Petersburg State University (Russia) cases.

Saint-Petersburg State University

The beginning of the University dates back to 1724 and almost three centuries thereafter, it successfully combines traditions and innovations, research and learning, experience and youth. Today Saint-Petersburg University is one of the leading international centers of science, education and culture. The discoveries and achievements of the University professors and graduates have become part of the history of both international and Russian science and technology. As it is a state university and one of the most prestigious and big ones, it gets sponsorship from a government as well as from different Maecenas for different purposes, including scientific research and enhancing technological abilities.

The University of Warwick

The University of Warwick is a campus university with a truly cosmopolitan student community. It is one of the newest universities in the UK, which was built in 1965 and also, it is a very technologically advanced university. It gets sponsorship for scientific research and other things from many different organizations. The latest Research Excellence Framework (REF) ranked the University of Warwick 7th in the UK for research, having 19 departments in the top ten in the UK in their unit of assessment based on outputs. The REF also ranked 87% of Warwick's research as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent'. Warwick's reputation for research attracts teachers who are among the very best in their fields. They're the teachers who are innovating, who are setting the agenda for others to follow.

Object of the research: Students, academics and staff of 2 universities, their involvement in VLE and VIS

Subject of the research: Communication in a learning process inside the VLE and VIS

Tasks: 1. To learn about the extent of VLE use within the groups of students and professors, to see communication practices in both Universities.

2. To examine the scope and purposes of VLE usage within groups (e.g., time spent on the system, where and when VLE is being used, styles and modalities of usage) and to identify factors (e.g., gender, age, Internet accessibility from home, computer experience) that might affect this use.

3. To examine if there are differences in communication practices at SPSU and Warwick.

4. To reveal and describe barriers of communication in VLE at SPSU and Warwick Univeristy.

5. To identify gender and age differences.

The results of the study will be discussed in the last section of the paper addressing the

above-presented focal themes, namely, equity, gender, and integration models of learning processes taking place within and outside the environment.

Methods of the research: Mixed; qualitative and quantitative methods. Online survey and Semi-Structured Interview.

Case-study method or method of concrete situations - is a kind of scientific research, the object of which is one or more cases. The objectives of the study are focused on their detailed description, study and interpretation for the purpose of understanding and analyzing the processes taking place in society.

The immediate goal of the case-study method is to analyze the situation - a case that arises in the concrete state of affairs and develop a practical solution; The end of the process is the evaluation of the proposed algorithms and the choice of the best in the context of the problem posed.

The ideas of the case-study method are as follows:

1. The method is intended for obtaining knowledge on disciplines, the truth in which is pluralistic, i.e. There is no unambiguous answer to the question posed, but there are several answers that can compete in terms of the truth; The task of teaching at the same time immediately deviates from the classical scheme and is focused on obtaining not only, but many truths and orientation in their problem field.

2. The technology of the method is as follows: according to certain rules, a model of a concrete situation that has occurred in real life is developed, and that complex knowledge is gained.

Case study cannot provide reliable information about the whole class. Nevertheless, it is often useful in the preliminary stages of the study, as this leads to the promotion of certain hypotheses that can be systematically tested for a larger number of cases. Case studies are regularly used in sociological research - sometimes as a preliminary, but more often as a basic research method. In the latter case, the reason for resorting to this method is usually called a lack of research resources or difficulties in gaining access to the subject of research. Within many case studies, in fact, more than one particular case is being investigated, in order to obtain some idea of the degree of variability of the population under study. Subsequently, these cases are subjected to selection in order to present examples that are considered to be opposites based on theory or prior knowledge. Case studies can provide very detailed data that are difficult to obtain through broader surveys; However, this is achieved at the cost of the impossibility of their full generalization. Case studies are carried out on a single object - a case, which is a certain community, a particular social phenomenon, an activity class or an activity area. Case study relies on the allocation of private units for analysis - personal biographies, individual enterprises, populated areas, types of consumption or labor activity. Organizations or other cases selected for analysis can be compared among themselves, make up classifications. The report on different types of case studies contains descriptions and recommendations, the basis of which is not the calculation of the level of confidence in the data, but the representation of the spectrum of events, types of social practice, and ways of social interaction. Given the specific nature of these field practices and the characteristics of the presentation of the results in a report, article or book, there is a certain system for increasing the reliability of data, which consists in the use of repeated and parallel verification of the reliability of field materials, as well as such methods of collecting and analyzing field materials, Researchers of different sexes, race, age, to avoid unilateral interpretations caused by possible prejudices of the participants in the study.

Various types of case studies are presented in the literature. For example, L. Stenhaus singles out an evaluation (aimed at evaluating effectiveness), an educational and ethnographic case-study. R. Yin offers his classification, in which he names such types as analytical (explanatory) and descriptive case-stage. The descriptive strategy is to find answers to the question "how", and the task is to describe in detail a social phenomenon or institution. In turn, an explanatory strategy is called upon to find an answer to the question "why" and to search for the causes and factors that influence the situation. In this case, the case-study not only allows us to clarify the facts and order a lot of details, but contributes to the formulation of the theory.

Today, the case study methodology is a toolkit developed and widely used in the social sciences. In the domestic science it is used relatively recently, but has already become a source of new ideas and interesting discoveries. A promising direction in the development of this field strategy was the study of organizations. The experience of using similar methods in the study of industrial enterprises and peasant farmstead is fairly well known.

2.1.2 Type of case study: Embedded case study

When the case is typical, respectively, can provide information on the modal situation in this or that sphere of public life

The corresponding types of case studies are based on the concept of repeatability, consisting in the selection of cases demonstrating either similar results of the study (constant repeatability) or differing results associated with the expected causes (theoretical repeatability). Such repeatability of results, as in experimental studies, makes the conclusions of this study more reliable.

Since analytical generalization is provided in this case, it is necessary to use purposeful sampling when selecting cases. Potentially, the case chosen for this study demonstrates a constant repeatability, and demonstrates theoretical repeatability. This will allow to consider the phenomenon in various contexts and comprehensively describe it. In determining the number of cases of this type to be studied, the minimum sample approach should be used.

The choice between a multi-holistic and multi-component case-stage is determined by the type of the phenomenon being studied and the features of the research questions. In this study, a multi-holistic case-study was chosen that is most acceptable at the individual level and in fact is in many respects similar to the "well-founded theory" strategy.

Reason of choice

For this research, case study of two universities were conducted: The University of Warwick and Saint-Petersburg State University

Saint-Petersburg State University

Is a classic research university, it is one of the oldest universities in a country and among the two federal universities of Russia (the other one is a Moscow State University). The university is currently in a process of adaptation to new technologies which are already in use of universities abroad. One of the steps to informatization was to apply new IT services to the university to make some aspects of student's life easier. Starting with electronic schedule and personal page of a student with just information about passport, level of education and a name, we are moving forward, introducing Sakai and Blackboard, virtual learning environments and management systems to create a better learning and communication field. But currently, my hypothesis, based on a short-survey and personal findings is that those systems are not working in their full potential and some of the basic features, such as communication with students and professors, inquiries and some others are underused, and this might be due to many reasons which this study is also aiming to find.

The University of Warwick

Is a modern research university and one of the youngest universities in the United Kingdom. Since the very beginning Warwick was using technologies to help improve communication, the VLE and VIS are part of the university and deeply interconnect in most of the spheres of the university life. It is very technologically advanced university. There are online groups, forums, platforms for managing possibly every aspect of the university life, such as: electronic journals and databases, learning materials, schedules for all events inside and outside of the campus, registration for such events, enrollment, on-line consultation related to the educational process and medical issues, finance sections (related to the tuition fees, accommodation, food and etc.) and many other things which are regulated and funded mostly by university staff including student's union personal.

2.2 Virtual Learning Environments

2.2.1 BlackBoard

According to the information, gathered from the official website of the SPSU university,

Blackboard with the help of modern information technologies provides remote interaction of teachers and students, allows teachers to organize students' independent work, and students - to quickly and efficiently get knowledge and check whether they are well and correctly learned. All Blackboard users have access to it from anywhere in the world via the Internet without installing additional programs on their computers. The Blackboard system does not replace the traditional educational process, but significantly enriches it with additional features.

The choice of the Blackboard system for St. Petersburg State University is determined by the quantity and quality of the means for organizing the work of teachers and students, the correspondence of the educational process used by the technology system to SPbSU, the availability of technical and consulting support for the software manufacturer, including relevant pedagogical technologies, interacting with each other.

The main functions of BlackBoard are as follows:

Repository of training materials

One of the key components of Blackboard Learn is the Training Materials Repository, which allows the institution to store educational information centrally in a single file storage. This approach eliminates the need to re-download materials in various training courses and allows you to effectively use the computing resources of the institution.

External data sources

Blackboard company actively cooperates with world publishers, and also suppliers of various educational content. As a result of this collaboration, the teacher who creates the training course in Blackboard Learn becomes able to quickly build in the learning environment the required materials of Barnes & Noble, Pearson, McGrawHill, YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr, etc.

Knowledge control

To analyze the learning outcomes in Blackboard Learn, various mechanisms for controlling the knowledge of trainees are built in. For test tasks, the catalogs of course questions can be used, allowing you to quickly create individual tasks for different students, taking into account the required topics and the complexity of the questions. Blackboard Learn also implements individual and group text assignments, which can be checked by the instructor himself or by students according to the criteria set by the teacher.

Anti-plagiarism

The process of checking the work of students can be quite labor-intensive, especially when it comes to voluminous texts. Built-in Blackboard Learn means of verifying work on the subject of plagiarism can significantly save the time of the teacher and focus his attention only on the work done by the students themselves. The work is checked on all public web resources, on the local database of the institution's documents, and on the combined database of institutions using Blackboard Learn. Employees of the institution can also use the Anti-Plagiarism tool to check their own documents.

Competencies

In Blackboard Learn implemented a single catalog of competencies, allowing the institution to explicitly formulate the objectives of training in all areas of training and with any level of detail. Thus, the process of designing training courses can be based on very specific requirements, and any elements of the course can be compared with some set of competencies. Such connections allow analyzing the quality of the provided training material at the level of the course or the whole institution, as well as building reports on the development of the required sets of competences.

Individual learning trajectories

Blackboard Learn has the flexibility to customize the learning process, taking into account the individual characteristics of the trainees. The contents of the training course can be automatically adjusted to the specific learner, depending on the rate at which he studies the course materials, in what sequence and what results he achieves during the performance of the control tasks.

Collaboration

The real experience of using the systems of electronic support of training shows that one of the key problems of the organization of the educational process is the lack of motivation on the part of trainees, which, as a rule, is caused by the isolation of trainees from each other. Blackboard Learn solves this problem through the built-in learning environment of the Forums, Blogs, Journals, Wiki and other means of interaction, which are closely intertwined with the course materials and provide for the teacher's assessment. This makes the trainees more thoughtful to analyze the material, ask questions and actively help other participants in the course.

Surveys

For a comprehensive analysis of the educational services provided by the institution, it is sometimes not enough statistics on academic performance or statistics on the number of training materials prepared. For a full analysis, feedback tools are also needed, which allow you to receive information from all participants in the educational process on the criteria that are of interest to management. In Blackboard Learn, this task is solved through system-wide surveys that can be formed for different target groups in the required time ranges. This approach allows obtaining objective data on management issues of interest, as well as analyzing the dynamics of changes in key indicators for the required period of time.

2.2.2 BlackBoard in SPSU

According to the information, gathered from the official website of the university,

The Blackboard is “educational support system” with the help of modern information technologies provides remote interaction of teachers and students, allows teachers to organize students' independent work, and students - to get knowledge faster and more efficiently and check whether they are well and correctly learned. All Blackboard users have access to it from anywhere in the world via the Internet without installing additional programs on their computers. The Blackboard system does not replace the traditional educational process, but significantly enriches it with additional features.

The choice of the Blackboard system for St. Petersburg State University is determined by the quantity and quality of the means for organizing the work of teachers and students, the correspondence of the educational process used by the technology system to SPbSU, the availability of technical and consulting support for the software manufacturer, including relevant pedagogical technologies Interacting with each other.

Now St. Petersburg State University, along with the world's largest universities, has an adequate tool for the development of a modern multifunctional information and educational environment, including electronic information and educational resources, a set of information and telecommunications technologies, appropriate software and hardware, and providing students with complete educational programs, regardless of their location.

At the moment (2012) there is a registration of users of the Blackboard system of St. Petersburg State University. The information technology service of SPbSU ensures the creation of logins and passwords for all students in St. Petersburg State University, for the teaching staff, pedagogical staff and administrative and management personnel of the university. The first users of the system were teachers and students in the fields of management and jurisprudence.

2.2.3 Sakai

Often the most powerful learning experiences involve collaboration between students and instructors. Whether instruction takes place face-to-face, online or in a blended environment, the Sakai Project supports teaching and learning that is grounded in collaboration, co-creating and open sharing of knowledge. It calls itself “A Uniquely Flexible Learning Environment”, and also says, that each Sakai deployment is unique, as every adopter institution creates its own look, feel and configuration within a standardized, well-structured learning environment. For instructors, the Sakai project offers tremendous flexibility to incorporate a wide variety of learning tools and technology-enabled instructional approaches. Most faculty members and students experience a minimal learning curve getting started with standard features: syllabi, course content, lessons, assignments, tests, and so forth. Sakai's built-in collaboration suite also encourages team-based learning, flipped classrooms, and other modes of instruction that engage students actively and deeply in the learning process.

How Sakai supports teaching and learning:

It should be noted that the virtual learning system Sakai has a little bit different focus as it is designed to create quality distance courses. The advantages of this program are that it allows:

1) work in open source code, i.e. Can be adjusted in accordance with the requirements of a specific educational project; Develop additional modules and freely integrate with other systems;

2) organize training in an active form in the process of joint solving of learning tasks, the exchange of knowledge (exchange of files of any formats, mailing, forum, chat, etc.);

3) use any assessment system (point, verbal) and monitor the student's knowledge;

4) to make changes to the educational material without a large-scale reprogramming, as it corresponds to the developed general educational standards;

5) use interactive elements of the course, such as:

· wiki, which allows the creation of a document by several users simultaneously using a simple programming language in the browser window, in other words, with the help of the student, they can work together, adding, expanding and modifying the content;

· questionnaires, which are used as elements of a system for evaluating and stimulating learning in virtual educational environments;

· a glossary that allows you to create a vocabulary of concepts used in this course, as well as a dictionary of the main terms of each lecture (practical lesson);

· a survey that is used mainly to conduct voting among students. This type of interactive element can be useful as a quick survey to stimulate thinking or to find a solution in the process of researching the problem;

· tests that allow the teacher to create a set of questions, including multiple, alternative and cross-selection, with a short answer (verbal or numerical). All questions are stored in the database and can be subsequently used again in the same course (or in others);

· sending e-mail copies of messages from forums, feedback from teachers and students. Moreover, there is the possibility of sending e-mail messages to an arbitrary group of course participants.

Varying the combination of the various elements of the course, the teacher organizes the study of the material in such a way that the forms of instruction are consistent with the goals and objectives of specific classes.

It should be taken into account that in order to obtain effective use of virtual educational environments, teachers need to assess the prospects of the learning process. Along with this, teachers should have the competence to work with computer technologies in order to create and post material on the Internet. Consequently, teachers need to undergo special training. Ensuring the program-professional readiness of the teacher to work with the virtual educational environment assumes the increasing role of the teacher in the educational process. The activity of the course leader is multifaceted, it includes the development of the contents of the training course (texts, assignments to them, control) and course management (attendance and achievement, processing of results). Incorrect use of e-learning can develop students detachment from real life. It is necessary that e-education is rationally integrated into traditional education. It should be noted that virtual educational environments are still not fully understood and are not fully used in the higher education system, especially in Russia, and require further research.

2.2.4 Sakai in SPSU

The Sakai Distance Learning Platform is one of the three most popular free

Distributed open source distance learning platforms (the other of the three is the platform

Blackboard and Moodle). The development and development of the Sakai platform is a major international project initiated by Several largest universities in the world, which in my opinion initially made Sakai more complex, developed, sometimes more complex platform, oriented both to support Teaching, and to perform the functions of the "electronic campus", "electronic dean's office" of a large University with a lot of specialties, students and subjects. In particular, currently the Sakai platform Approved and used as an official distance learning platform for Educational process at St. Petersburg State University, where the author and lectures. (A.S. Bikkulov 2008)

2.2.5 Sakai and Vkontakte

If the use of e-learning environments to support the learning process is no longer something new and unusual, the use of social networking opportunities is perhaps a relatively rare experiment. At the same time, the experience of combining and simultaneously using these two environments in the process of teaching the subject gave quite interesting results.

The Sakai Distance Learning Platform is one of the three most popular free distributed open source learning platforms (the other of the three are the Blackboard and Moodle platforms). The development and development of the Sakai platform is a major international project initiated by several of the world's largest universities, which in my opinion initially made Sakai a more integrated, developed, sometimes more complex platform, oriented both to support teaching and to perform the functions of the "e-campus" "Electronic dean's office" of a large university with a variety of specialties, students and subjects. In particular, now the Sakai platform is approved and used as an official distance learning platform to support the educational process at St. Petersburg State University, where the author also lectures.

The social network "VKontakte" (also often referred to as "Contact") is a rapidly growing Internet resource, numbering today about 13 million regular registered users and ranking first in terms of attendance among themselves in the Russian segment of the Internet, overtaking Previously leading resource "Odnoklassniki.ru", "My Circle", etc. Such a rise in popularity is likely due to the broader and more convenient resources of the resource for communication - in addition to the standard functions of social networks, you can upload albums of your photos, favorite audio recordings, videos on your page, you can create interest groups, automatically receive information about updates Pages of their friends, those groups in which the user participates, etc. All these functional conveniences make the resource sufficiently alive and constantly updated. Young people (which make up the lion's share of the resource's visitors) practically "live" on it, visiting it several times a day.

Naturally, initially the Sakai platform was used to support the learning process. Within the scope of the subjects read, students used the platform's features such as putting on the resource in electronic form the lecture notes (teaching aids), additional materials for the subject and links to useful resources on the Internet, putting the curriculum and exam questions, posting changes to the timetable, Dates and places of consultations, etc. Also, not very active, but the function of posting practical resources on the resource and notifying them about them was used, followed by the provision on the resource of information on assessments for these practical assignments. (sakaiproject.org)

We must admit that the nature of the visit of students to this resource was periodically episodic - at the beginning of the semester, students attended the resource out of curiosity, some downloaded all the main published materials. Then the visit was conditioned either by notification of the laid practical tasks, reviewing the assessments, the need to download previously unpublished material, or the need to look at information about planned consultations and examinations. Sakai provides an opportunity to create forums with discussion of any topics and questions, however, because of the general very sporadic visit of the resource, students rarely used this opportunity and preferred to ask either verbally at meetings or by e-mail.

The picture changed somewhat when the students asked to create a group on the VKontakte resource to discuss questions on the subject. Taking into account that the specificity of the read subject required a lot of additional material and the execution of a creative and difficult practical task that could cause many questions in the course of implementation, the proposal was accepted and, as an experiment, implemented without any special hope for effectiveness. Rather, the goal was to create an additional communication channel. In the case under consideration, this was the subject "Information Management", describing the analysis of the use, modernization and implementation of corporate information systems in the organization. The course is taught at the 4th course of the day department of the specialty "Applied Informatics in Arts and Humanities" in St. Petersburg State University. The practical task on the subject presupposed the analysis and development of recommendations on improving the use of information technology on the example of a real company / organization, if the student had such an opportunity, for example, the company's friends or relatives work for him or the student himself earns money. In case of impossibility of using "live" material, students were offered to analyze case-stage material as an alternative to the students - an adapted description of the ambiguous situation in some conditional company (the case study was also prepared based on the experience of consulting a real company). (sakai.spbu.ru)