Educational virtual platforms are computer systems that enable the creation and management of online learning environments, facilitating communication, collaboration, and assessment between teachers and students. Also known as LMS (Learning Management Systems) or virtual campuses, they offer several advantages for distance or blended learning.
In this article, we present some examples of virtual educational platforms that you can use to improve the teaching experience for you and your students.
Main advantages of virtual educational platforms
Among the main advantages of virtual educational platforms are the following:
- Time and geographical flexibility, since you can access content and activities from anywhere and at any time, as long as you have an Internet connection.
- The personalization of learning, since the pace, level, and interests of each student can be adapted, offering different resources and interaction options.
- Diversification of methodologies and didactic resources, since different types of multimedia content can be integrated, such as texts, videos, audio, images, games, etc., as well as gamification tools, augmented reality, or artificial intelligence.
- Improved motivation and engagement, as active participation, constant feedback, and recognition of students’ achievements can be encouraged, as well as the creation of an online learning community.
- Optimization of academic management, as it can simplify the process of enrollment, monitoring, evaluation, and certification of students, as well as generate reports and statistics on their performance and progress.
Examples of some educational virtual platforms
There are many educational virtual platforms on the market, each with its characteristics and functionalities. Some of the most popular and recognized are:
- Google Classroom: it is a free platform integrated with Google tools, such as Drive, Docs, Meet, or Forms. It allows you to create virtual classes, assign tasks, share materials, make evaluations and communicate with students simply and intuitively.
- Blackboard Open LMS: It is a platform based on Moodle, one of the most widely used learning management systems in the world. It offers regular updates and technical support for its users. It allows for creating customized and interactive courses, managing groups and calendars, applying tests and surveys, integrating other applications, and obtaining detailed reports.
- Chamilo LMS: It is an open-source and non-profit platform that seeks to promote access to education for all. It has a friendly and easy-to-use interface. It allows creating of dynamic and collaborative courses, incorporating multimedia and external content, performing automatic and adaptive evaluations, generating digital certificates, and exporting data to other formats.
- Educaplay: It is a platform that allows the creation of multimedia and interactive educational activities for free. It offers a wide catalog of types of activities, such as text completion, word or letter order, crossword puzzles, interactive maps, etc. It allows activities to be shared on other platforms or social networks, create group challenges with a PIN code and obtain students’ results.
- Moodlecentro: This is a multipurpose educational platform in Spain that is considered all-in-one because it brings together several virtual classrooms from different provinces to optimize and organize the educational platforms in that country. The latter has several applications for synchronized virtual classes between students and teachers, video conferences, online group work, live chat, and many other tools that make Moodle Centros contribute significantly to the standardization and consolidation of this type of website in all areas of teaching and education in Spain.
These are just some of the virtual educational platforms that currently exist in countless regions around the world. The important thing is to choose the one that best suits the needs and objectives of each virtual educational project. Virtual educational platforms are a key tool for promoting pedagogical innovation and improving the quality of teaching and learning in the 21st century.
More information: Moodle Centros Sevilla
