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Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Enhanced Use of Virtual Reality in Education

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 Avinash Bharwani, Vice President - New Business, JetkingTechnological evolution has profoundly changed learning management systems through time and has generated advancements in the field of learning. Today, India is one of the world's largest destinations for education. With several best colleges and universities, India is renowned for its excellence and high standards. More interestingly the technology is advancing rapidly to transform the way students in the country are grasping educational content. Moreover, the access of internet-based android phones and personal computers has enhanced quality learning to pupils across geographies in India. India might not have readily adopted education technology but it's heartening to see how a traditional sector like education is using technology as an enabler so far. Currently, some technologies are being effectively utilised to further enhance this sector, while grabbing the attention of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporates and governments.

With vast information easily accessible from multiple sources in the cloud, students will take more and more control of their own learning, changing the role of learning professionals, departments and software. New generation’s Learning management systems (LMS) are getting smoother and extra streamlined to enable with unified learning, collaboration, synchronous (virtual) as well as informal learning. This system also has some great features such as getting connected to community groups, discussion forums, helping in conducting surveys and announcements enable learners to share knowledge and information on a real-time basis.The Learning management systems are helping the instructor to deliver material to the students, administer tests and other assignments, track student progress, and manage record-keeping. This learning systems are mainly focused on online learning delivery and support a range of uses, acting as a stage for fully online courses, as well as several hybrid systems, such as blended and flipped classrooms. Such systems can be accompanied by various learning technologies such as a training management system to manage instructor led training or learning record store to store and track learning data.

Learning platforms, software’s, applications and digital devices are together creating countless new ways to modify education
system. Precisely, mobile and reliable applications are being created to teach students, help them practice their learnings online, take assignments, submit them online and also manage their schedules. But if we compare the traditional classroom seating scenario, students are unable to get the focused attention they need due to time constraints. In contrast, the one-to-one interactive method of learning in digital platform enables students to learn through videos and chat with an expert. The 'Learning Management System' will endure the two-way communication model between students and professionals. More significantly, it will let pupils track their prep progress, identify scope of improvement and offer ways to make the most of them. Big data also play an essential role in LMS. Big data helps experts to capture student feedback within the framework of the content provided on real times basis.

New generation's Learning management systems(LMS)are getting smoother and extra streamlined to enable with unified learning,collaboration, synchronous(virtual) as well as informal learning


On the other hand, virtual reality and augmented reality are already buzzwords in the technology system. Both of these methods are advent in e-learning space and have massively impacted the efficiency with which it is provided to learners and the way it evaluates their performance. Virtual reality permits students using e-learning platforms on smart phones to directly interact with study material. This keeps their engagement levels high and motivates them to learn more in an efficient manner. Similarly, augmented reality enables teachers and instructors in performing tasks, they previously haven't or cannot, in an anodyne environment. Together, the both are engaging students in ways like never before and are poised to become a lot more widespread in their usage and impact in the future.

These programs illustrated significant developments in a number of key students like:
1. Reducing anxiety and discomfiture, which otherwise impede experimentation in activities like role playing.
2. Permitting students to revisit and repeat lessons multiple times to reinforce key understanding.
3. Promising better social interaction between students as they were reacting and sharing a virtual world, rather than through email and other methods.
4. Putting students in control of their avatar, not the teacher, which doomed that they could explore and interact autonomously. Unlike Microsoft word, where everybody sees the similar content in the equivalent way at the same time, a virtual world allows students to create their own understanding.
5. A lack of non-verbal signs, including body language, gestures and facial expressions, has been cited in studies as negatively impacting communication process of students. Some of them feel restricted because they can’t use their hands for gestures. However, in increasingly sophisticated virtual worlds, avatars move and respond in more realistic ways. Improved graphics cards in computers also allow students to infer more meaning through these conversations.
6. Things which are not possible in reality are possible in virtual reality. Virtual reality has the ability to introduce practical knowledge to the classroom without actually leaving it, thus making educational experience invaluable. Rather than listening to lectures, students can put words underneath a headset and get a real experience but in a virtual wrapper. Virtual immersive generates a three dimensional image which appears to surround the user environment and students experience with any sphere of professional and life application yet at the learning stage.