Reflections

Virtual Learning and Knowledge Society

          Continuous learning in the 21st century is mandatory. This is the century for knowledge and every week there are new developments in education and research. Once the development of knowledge society has become a reality, we are bound to change and face increasingly complex situations in everyday life on a regular basis. Situations that compel us to learn and develop all kinds of skills. The world that surrounds us poses countless challenges and opportunities due to Internet development.  So, we should keep an open mind while searching for higher goals in education and learning becomes increasingly necessary both as individuals and as members of an interconnected community.

          Everywhere people are connected to the web, opening up our possibilities of creating different virtual learning environments while posing new dilemmas that lead us to reflect on how real learning takes place.  New applications are being developed on everyday basis.  For example, we could use different learning tools such as diigo, mindmup, blogger, google classroom, moodle, and so on.  Of the most interesting ones, blogger might be used to create a page to interact with students and to offer them strategies as well as different tasks to improve their English proficiency level and to inform them of other self-learning activities that might help them improve on their own.

          Then, learning goes beyond the classroom to be available 24/7 to adapt to the students’ schedules and personal needs.  In this way, the teaching practice becomes customized to the students’ needs while students may develop reflective individual’s skills that enable them to make decisions about their own learning process.  Likewise, the student will improve his own computer abilities, as well as his English level.

         Another important fact to mention is that by being immersed in an online environment, students will interact with people from other cultures, even experts.  So, by using web 2.0, teachers will be like a link for the student to connect to the world of knowledge.  Therefore, teachers’ work will upscale to a different level, connecting the students to broader realities.  The student will experience knowledge; by following a self-reflective process while interacting with people from other cultures, as well as from different fields of study.

         Concluding, the more demanding our society becomes in terms of knowledge, the more students need to develop at different levels and by being connected to the Internet.  These applications will enhance teachers’ practices as well as students’ multitasking experiences generating learning possibilities and new spaces to interact.  So, the learner becomes knowledgable, independent, and committed to their own learning.