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Virtual Environment in the Classroom
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Introduction
In today's classrooms teachers are constantly coming up with different ideas on how to get their students involved. Among the wide variety of ideas there has been a recent development bridging the gap of what students do for personal entertainment on the web and their learning. Virtual environments are that bridge to the gap.

Definition
Today, virtual environments are one of the most popular forms of multimedia based entertainment. To further student learning, educators and administration are choosing to incorporate them into classrooms. This technology allows educators to provide additional materials from web pages and attached materials. It also allows for different kinds of classroom instruction such as creative interactive workshops, web based scavenger hunts and multiple choice quizzes. Virtual environments have been beneficial not only to students, but also to the educators that choose to use them in their classrooms. These environments allow for teachers to more effectively collaborate and share information with other educators, but also to keep track of and organize grades for their students (Solomon and Schrum, 2010).

Pros and Cons of the Virtual Environment Classroom
There are many positive aspects to the up and coming idea of virtual classrooms. As this idea is becoming more prevalent in modern society it is important to note both the positive and negative aspects. Not only are these aspects important to consider in regular education classes, but the idea of a virtual environment could bring special education classrooms to a much more productive level. A virtual environment offers convenience such as easy access, timely, and one of the biggest factors is that it is able to cut down on cost factors. A huge factor to consider when applying the idea of virtual education to a special education room is that some of the students might have a hard time commuting to school because of physical disabilities. The virtual environment provides them with an atmosphere in which they can stay in the comfort of their own home and still learn just as much if not more from the online class. Another positive aspect of the virtual classroom for students with disabilities is that it is time independent. The students are able to move at their own pace and sign on to learn at their convenience. Lastly, one of the pros that the virtual environment has to offer to students with disabilities is to be able to communicate using technology. Some of the students might be nonverbal or just have a difficult time communicating their thought and with the progressing technology they will be able to find all different ways to communicate and therefore improve their overall education.

 However, among all the advantages that the virtual environment offers there are many negative aspects that could arise when using the technology based learning environment. For students with disabilities it may be hard enough already to get through a day of school and come out with new knowledge. They have many difficulties in their day at school as is, and by adding the need to know how to use technology and other sorts of tools only adds more challenges. Another negative aspect to implementing a virtual environment is the cost of hiring an instructor to teach both the teachers themselves and the students how to use the new technology. In addition, another negative aspect of virtual technology for special education students is that a good majority of the students learn best by being hands on. By touching, feeling, seeing things they are able to move forward in their education and by taking that away from them will only hurt them. Especially with the outburst of students being diagnosed somewhere on the autism spectrum; these students thrive on being stimulated and absolutely need to be in a classroom where the teacher provides them with just that.

 All in all there are many positive and negative aspects to the idea of a virtual environment and it is important to take into consideration all of these. It is not only important to take into consideration the pros and cons of the virtual classroom but more importantly, one must consider the idea of the least restrictive environment for students, especially students with disabilities. If a virtual environment can provide a student with more comfort, makes it easier to focus, and provides different ways of communicating that makes it easier for them to participate then a virtual environment should definitely be considered.

Future Direction of Virtual Environment
Virtual worlds are now becoming larger than ever. Worlds are overlapping to build one big virtual environment on the internet, an example of these emerging technologies include Sloodle. Sloodle is a merge of Second Life (the largest virtual world on the net) and Moodle. Second life is a virtual world primarily focused on social networking. Moodle is mainly focused on management and organization in not only education but in the virtual community as well. This site integrates virtual worlds and course management, Sloodle's virtual world approach hints at new options for learning social skills in an interactive way with others online. Another upcoming 3D virtual learning environment called Edusim is used in classrooms on an interactive whiteboard surface. Using the whiteboard surface allows the manipulation of 3D virtual objects (Aniogic).

 Virtual environments are being taken to a whole new level by having different environments for different subjects. For example, Umgumbo is a 3D virtual learning environment that is set in a solar system setting, so that children can learn about the solar system through simulation of the planets. This site is also still trying to come up with educational virtual gaming as well as students and teachers being able to collaborate and create personal 3D spaces on the site to interact with one another on what they have learned.

 A MOO or multi-user object- oriented environment is a text-based virtual environment where users can hold discussions. Educational MOO, or eduMOO, is when teachers and students can collaborate on projects; attend sessions hosted by experts, and build virtual environments. An educational MOO can accommodate many teaching styles by use of internal e-mail, documents, whiteboards, and virtual classrooms that offer a student-centered learning environment (Hazel Jobe, 2000).

Issues with New Technology
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">With the rise of new technology on a daily basis also come issues with that new technology. Whether it is malfunctions with the system or that it is changing the way people think and act for the worse, there are issues with technology. Many people realize how great new technology is because it brings our society to a better level than before, but few care to realize the issues that it brings. Although at first thought new technology everywhere seems like the easiest and fastest way to get things done, there is a lot of time that needs to be put in by manual labor to get these programs up and running. Along with manual labor comes a cost, a cost which most schools struggle to even come close to. The cost of technology is the number one reason that some schools do not have access to technological programs that could enhance their students learning. Another problem with technology in the classroom is that once the systems are up and running, they malfunction and once they malfunction the learning has to come to a halt until the problem is fixed. The problem is once again fixed by manual labor which does indeed cost money. The students should never have to wait around to learn, but instead should be constantly learning new ideas in the classroom. An issue that arises especially for students with disabilities is the ability to grow and change with the technology. Technology is constantly changing and growing and everyday there is a new program that one needs to learn in order to keep up. However, children with special needs find this idea to be extremely difficult and in all honesty should not have to go through this ever changing process. Children with special needs need to be taught as much as possible on a simplistic basis. But if a child is constantly worrying about which button to pick or which video to watch or even trying to remember their login and password, the basics of education are taken away and the focus goes elsewhere. Children grow and change everyday at their individual pace, but it appears that technology is speeding that pace up. If students are online most of the day and are not being mentored by an adult they are much more free to say as they please and discover ideas online that are completely inappropriate for their age.The more a child has access to new technology the more they are going to know, good and bad. This is very scary to think about because the protection of student's innocence is extremely important. Along with the innocence of ours student's that needs to be protected, we also need to make sure that our student's are receiving the correct information. The internet gives off much false information and if our student's are skewed by this information their education is at risk. It is our job as future educators to make sure our student's are taught the correct information and the internet gets in the way of that idea. Lastly, the amount of information on the internet is unbelievable and with that comes a chance that a student will plagiarize. It is only right to give the students the benefit of the doubt, but with all the information piling in and the resources available, one might think it is easier to finish an assignment by using someone elses thoughts and words rather than their own. This temptation is only greater if the child's education is based off of technology, and as teachers we want our students to think for themselves and become independent. All in all, although the idea of having a technologically based school system sounds like a fantastic idea at face, once dissecting the inner workings of the system there are numerous flaws that need to be worked out before it becomes a full proof system.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Conclusion
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> Virtual environments are becoming more involved in the world of education everyday. Not only are virtual worlds one of the largest forms of multimedia entertainment, but they are used as a new way of student learning as well! With the help of virtual environments, students with disabilities can not only communicate through technology, but do so at the comfort of their own home. Although this new technology has many positive aspects, it can also be very costly to bring an instructor into the classroom to teach the teachers and students how to use this new world. New websites such as Second Life and Moodle are becoming extremely popular virtual environments, because they are combining social networking and organization to help individuals communicate as educators. Issues do arise with new technology. As times are changing, students are struggling to keep up with technology, and teachers are struggling to afford it. Overall, virtual environments are shaping the world of education into a smart technology savvy field. Any educators that have the opportunity to work with the technology of virtual environments should do so. Virtual worlds are a great way to get students involved in a new way of learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">References
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Aniogic, Initials. (n.d.). Multi-user virtual environments for education. Retrieved from http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=159

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Hazel Jobe, Initials. (2000). The moo: a virtual reality learning environment. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech010.shtml

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0 how-to for educators (, pp. 117-133). Washington DC, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Virtual learning environment (2010, February 7). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 13, 2011

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Integrating Technology in the Classroom (2011). About.com. Retrieved February 11, 2011