Virtual Learning Environments in Primary Schools–Using Learning Theory to Develop an Interactive Virtual Medium

Abstract

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) bring traditional educational strategies into the 21st century by using technology as a deployment method. Online environments can be utilized alone or in conjunction with face-to-face instruction to develop a robust educational paradigm that is tailored to the students' needs. This paper intends to describe how learning theories recently applied in traditional classrooms can be transferred to an interactive virtual medium to achieve this paradigm. In addition, this paper also demonstrates how the practical model of Piaget's Constructivist Theory of Learning and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, and their related strategies, could be applied to achieve a set of specific and effective e-learning objectives. This paper will also discuss identify how these strategies can be used to develop a VLE appropriate for primary schools.