The Impact of Virtual Learning Environments on the Digitalization of Higher Education in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25271/sjuoz.2022.10.3.875Keywords:
Higher Education, Digital Transformation, Virtual Learning Environments, Online Learning and Teaching, Online Laboratories, Virtual and Augmented RealityAbstract
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are open space that allows teachers and students to share resources and interact among learners. Implementing VLE such as Virtual/Augmented Reality and Online Laboratories in higher education systems are become positively valued in educational environments by providing huge applications and experimentations to science and engineering students for increasing their skills by conducting authentic investigations of the physical world through overlaying visual components over physical things and conducting real experiments via the Internet 24/7. Those innovations have enhanced students' enthusiasm and assisted them in developing more vita investigative abilities. Therefore, VLEs applications are becoming necessary to include in the higher education system in Kurdistan Region-Iraq now to allow educators and students and know more about the potential benefits of VLEs in higher education.
For that, this paper shows the status of the Higher Education System and universities in Kurdistan Region-Iraq and how the widely modern technologies (e.g. Online Laboratories and VR/AR Technology) can impact educational approaches to enhance and modernize the quality of Higher Education in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq, digitalization Education system, and elements that can be impacted.
References
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Brinson, J. R. (2015). Learning outcome achievement in non-traditional (virtual and remote) versus traditional (hands-on) laboratories: A review of the empirical research. Computers & Education, 87, 218-237.
Cai, S., Liu, E., Yang, Y., & Liang, J.-C. (2019). Tablet-based AR technology: Impacts on students’ conceptions and approaches to learning mathematics according to their self-efficacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(1), 248–263.
Dabbagh, N. (2003). Scaffolding: An important teacher competency in online learning. TECHTRENDS TECH TRENDS, 47, 39–44.
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Fowler, C. (2015). Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy? British Journal of Educational Technology , 46, 412-422.
Frerich, S., Kruse, D., Petermann, M., & Kilzer, A. (2014). Virtual Labs and Remote Labs: Practical experience for everyone. 2014 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 312-314). Istanbul: IEEE.
García-Loro, F., Macho, A., Castro, M., Alves, G. R., Marques, M. A., Lima, N., . . . Fernández, R. M. (2021). Remote laboratory VISIR: recent advances, initiatives, federation, limitations and future. 2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1754-1757). Vienna: IEEE.
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Hashim, M. A., Tlemsani, I., & Matthews, R. (2021). Higher education strategy in digital transformation. Education and Information Technologies, 10739(1), 1-25.
Heradioa, R., Torreb, L., Galanb, D., Cabrerizoa, F. J., Herrera-Viedmac, E., & Dormidob, S. (2016). Virtual and remote labs in education: A bibliometric analysis. Computers & Education, 98, 14-38.
Jensen, L., & Konradsen, F. (2018). A review of the use of virtual reality head-mounted displays in education and training. Education and Information Technologies, 23, 1515–1529.
Jong, T. d., Sotiriou, S., & Gillet, D. (2014). Innovations in STEM education: the Go-Lab federation of online labs. Smart Learning Environments, 1(3), 1-16.
KRI, B. (2020, 9 23). The Snapshot: Higher Education. Retrieved 10 10, 2021, from https://brandkri.com/higher-education/
Krokos, E., Plaisant, C., & Varshney, A. (2019). Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall. Virtual Reality, 23, 1–15.
Maheshwari, I., & Maheshwari, P. (2020). Effectiveness of Immersive VR in STEM Education. 2020 Seventh International Conference on Information Technology Trends (ITT) (pp. 7-12). Abu Dhabi: IEEE.
Mikropoulos, T. A., & Natsis, A. (2011). Educational virtual environments: A ten-year review of empirical research (1999–2009). Computers & Education, 56(3), 769-780.
Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A TAXONOMY OF MIXED REALITY VISUAL DISPLAYS. IEICE Transactions on Information Systems, 1321-1329.
Monzo , C., Cobo, G., Morán, J. A., Santamaría, E., & García-Solórzano, D. (2021). Remote Laboratory for Online Engineering Education: The RLAB-UOC-FPGA Case Study. Electronics, 10(9), 1-15.
Niu, M., Lo, C. H., & Yu, Z. (2021). Embedding Virtual Reality Technology in Teaching 3D Design for Secondary Education. frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2(1), 11.
Noel, L. A., & Liub, T. L. (2017). Using Design Thinking to Create a New Education Paradigm for Elementary Level Children for Higher Student Engagement and Success. Design and Technology Education, 22(1), 501-512.
Orduña, P., García-Zubia, J., López-de-Ipiña, D., Bailey, P. H., Hardison, J. L., DeLong, K., & Harward, V. J. (2012). Sharing Laboratories across Different Remote Laboratory Systems. 2012 IEEE 12th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (pp. 493-494). Rome: IEEE.
Osadchyi, V. V., Valko, N. V., & Kuzmich, L. V. (2021). Using augmented reality technologies for STEM education organization. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1840(1), 012027.
Osipova, N., Kravtsov, H., Hniedkova, O., Lishchuk, T., & Davidenko, K. (2019). Technologies of Virtual and Augmented Reality for High Education and Secondary School. 15th International Conference on ICT in Education, Research and Industrial Applications. Integration, Harmonization and Knowledge Transfer, (pp. 121-131). Kherson. Retrieved from http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2393/paper_258.pdf
Papanastasiou, G., Drigas, A., Skianis, C., & Lytras, M. (2019). Virtual and augmented reality effects on K-12, higher and tertiary education students’ twenty-first century skills. Virtual Reality, 23, 425–436.
Prezhdarova, V., & Pastarmadzhieva, D. (2020). Ensuring the security of youth in the online world: the potential of the digital art and steam education. Trakia Journal of Sciences., 18(3), 183-188.
Puzhevich, V. (2020, 1 17). The Use Of Virtual Learning Environment In Education. Retrieved 10 14, 2021, from scand: https://scand.com/company/blog/the-use-of-virtual-learning-environment-in-education/
REGION, K. (2013). Knowledge is Power: Education. Retrieved 10 10, 2021, from Invest in Group: https://investingroup.org/review/246/knowledge-is-power-education-kurdistan/
Roots, M. (2021, September 27). Digital Transformation in Higher Education. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/digital-transformation-in-higher-education/121070/
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., & Guerreiro, P. (2014). Reshaping higher education systems in the MENA region: The contribution of remote and virtual labs. 11th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV) (pp. 240-245). Porto: IEEE.
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., Abdulazeez, D. H., Guerreiro, P., & Gustavsson, I. (2015). Why VISIR? Proliferative activities and collaborative work of VISIR system. 7th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN15) (pp. 3824-3835). Barcelona: IATED.
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., Datkiewicz, B., Guerreiro, P., & Gustavsson, I. (2015). VISIR system@ BTH, DEUSTO, ISEP, AND UNED institutes: Assisting and supporting hands-on laboratories to serve higher education students. 8th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) (pp. 2535-2547). Seville: IATED.
Santally, M. I. (2019). A Digital Education Transformation Roadmap to Achieve a Distributed Learning Ecosystem: Case-Study of the University of Mauritius.
Slatora, B. M., Juella, P., McCleanb, P. E., Saini-Eidukatc , B., Schwertc, D. P., Whited, A. R., & Hille, C. (1999). Virtual environments for education. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 22(3), 161-174.
Smith, S. (2021, March 30). Virtual Reality For Education in 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from AR/VR EDTECH: https://arvredtech.com/blogs/news/virtual-reality-for-education-in-2021-how-to-utilize-the-benefits-of-vr-in-education
Sulaiman, H., Ibrahim, N., Abdul Latif, R., & Yusof, A. M. (2020). Students and Teachers’ Perception on future use of Virtual Reality (VR) in learning Physics: A Preliminary Analysis. 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e) (pp. 1-6). Kota Kinabalu: IEEE.
Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martín, S., Gil, C., Pesquera, A., Losada, P., . . . Alves, G. R. (2011). VISIR deployment in undergraduate engineering practices. 2011 First Global Online Laboratory Consortium Remote Laboratories Workshop (pp. 1-7). South Dakota: IEEE.
Thompson, S. (2020, December 11). VR Applications: 21 Industries already using Virtual Reality . Retrieved November 15, 2021, from VirtualSpeech: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/vr-applications
Trentsios, P., Wolf, M., & Frerich, S. (2020). Remote Lab meets Virtual Reality – Enabling immersive access to high tech laboratories from afar. Procedia Manufacturing, 43, 25-31.
University, A. (2019, December 16). Virtual Reality in Education: Benefits, Tools, and Resources. Retrieved 11 14, 2021, from https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/benefits-of-virtual-reality-in-education
Wartenberg, F., May, M., & Péruch, P. (1998). Spatial orientation in virtual environments: Background considerations and experiments. In Spatial Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Representing and Processing Spatial Knowledge (Vol. 1404, pp. 469-489). Berlin: Springer.
Wuttke, H.-D., Henke, K., & Steinmetz, N. (2005). Remote labs versus virtual labs for teaching digital system design. International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies-CompSysTech 2005 (pp. 11-16). Varna: Technical University.
Zhang, H., Yu, L., Ji, M., Cui, Y., Liu, D., Li, Y., . . . Wang, Y. (2020). Investigating high school students’ perceptions and presences under VR learning environment. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(5), 635-655.
Atrushi, D. S., & Woodfield, S. (2018). The quality of higher education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 45(4), 644-659.
Barari, N., RezaeiZadeh, M., Khorasani, A., & Alami, F. (2020). Designing and validating educational standards for E-teaching in virtual learning environments (VLEs), based on revised Bloom’s taxonomy. Interactive Learning Environments, 1-13.
Benavides, L. M., Arias, J. A., Serna, A. M., Bedoya, J. W., & Burgos, D. (2020). Digital Transformation in Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Literature Review. Sensors, 20(11), 1-22.
Bogusevschi, D., Muntean, C. H., & Muntean, G.-M. (2020). Teaching and Learning Physics Using 3D Virtual Learning Environment: A Case Study of Combined Virtual Reality and Virtual Laboratory in Secondary School . Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 39(1), 5-18.
Brinson, J. R. (2015). Learning outcome achievement in non-traditional (virtual and remote) versus traditional (hands-on) laboratories: A review of the empirical research. Computers & Education, 87, 218-237.
Cai, S., Liu, E., Yang, Y., & Liang, J.-C. (2019). Tablet-based AR technology: Impacts on students’ conceptions and approaches to learning mathematics according to their self-efficacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(1), 248–263.
Dabbagh, N. (2003). Scaffolding: An important teacher competency in online learning. TECHTRENDS TECH TRENDS, 47, 39–44.
Dudovskiy, J. (2021). Descriptive Research. Retrieved 12 20, 2021, from Business Research Methodology: https://research-methodology.net/descriptive-research/
First, V. (2021). Enable an immersive future: Join the global network of innovators to push the boundaries of VR/AR. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.vrfirst.com/
Fowler, C. (2015). Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy? British Journal of Educational Technology , 46, 412-422.
Frerich, S., Kruse, D., Petermann, M., & Kilzer, A. (2014). Virtual Labs and Remote Labs: Practical experience for everyone. 2014 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 312-314). Istanbul: IEEE.
García-Loro, F., Macho, A., Castro, M., Alves, G. R., Marques, M. A., Lima, N., . . . Fernández, R. M. (2021). Remote laboratory VISIR: recent advances, initiatives, federation, limitations and future. 2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1754-1757). Vienna: IEEE.
Hamarash, I. I. (2013, January). Reforming Higher Education in the Kurdistan Region. Retrieved November 12, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268743819_Reforming_Higher_Education_in_the_Kurdistan_Region
Hashim, M. A., Tlemsani, I., & Matthews, R. (2021). Higher education strategy in digital transformation. Education and Information Technologies, 10739(1), 1-25.
Heradioa, R., Torreb, L., Galanb, D., Cabrerizoa, F. J., Herrera-Viedmac, E., & Dormidob, S. (2016). Virtual and remote labs in education: A bibliometric analysis. Computers & Education, 98, 14-38.
Jensen, L., & Konradsen, F. (2018). A review of the use of virtual reality head-mounted displays in education and training. Education and Information Technologies, 23, 1515–1529.
Jong, T. d., Sotiriou, S., & Gillet, D. (2014). Innovations in STEM education: the Go-Lab federation of online labs. Smart Learning Environments, 1(3), 1-16.
KRI, B. (2020, 9 23). The Snapshot: Higher Education. Retrieved 10 10, 2021, from https://brandkri.com/higher-education/
Krokos, E., Plaisant, C., & Varshney, A. (2019). Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall. Virtual Reality, 23, 1–15.
Maheshwari, I., & Maheshwari, P. (2020). Effectiveness of Immersive VR in STEM Education. 2020 Seventh International Conference on Information Technology Trends (ITT) (pp. 7-12). Abu Dhabi: IEEE.
Mikropoulos, T. A., & Natsis, A. (2011). Educational virtual environments: A ten-year review of empirical research (1999–2009). Computers & Education, 56(3), 769-780.
Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A TAXONOMY OF MIXED REALITY VISUAL DISPLAYS. IEICE Transactions on Information Systems, 1321-1329.
Monzo , C., Cobo, G., Morán, J. A., Santamaría, E., & García-Solórzano, D. (2021). Remote Laboratory for Online Engineering Education: The RLAB-UOC-FPGA Case Study. Electronics, 10(9), 1-15.
Niu, M., Lo, C. H., & Yu, Z. (2021). Embedding Virtual Reality Technology in Teaching 3D Design for Secondary Education. frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2(1), 11.
Noel, L. A., & Liub, T. L. (2017). Using Design Thinking to Create a New Education Paradigm for Elementary Level Children for Higher Student Engagement and Success. Design and Technology Education, 22(1), 501-512.
Orduña, P., García-Zubia, J., López-de-Ipiña, D., Bailey, P. H., Hardison, J. L., DeLong, K., & Harward, V. J. (2012). Sharing Laboratories across Different Remote Laboratory Systems. 2012 IEEE 12th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (pp. 493-494). Rome: IEEE.
Osadchyi, V. V., Valko, N. V., & Kuzmich, L. V. (2021). Using augmented reality technologies for STEM education organization. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1840(1), 012027.
Osipova, N., Kravtsov, H., Hniedkova, O., Lishchuk, T., & Davidenko, K. (2019). Technologies of Virtual and Augmented Reality for High Education and Secondary School. 15th International Conference on ICT in Education, Research and Industrial Applications. Integration, Harmonization and Knowledge Transfer, (pp. 121-131). Kherson. Retrieved from http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2393/paper_258.pdf
Papanastasiou, G., Drigas, A., Skianis, C., & Lytras, M. (2019). Virtual and augmented reality effects on K-12, higher and tertiary education students’ twenty-first century skills. Virtual Reality, 23, 425–436.
Prezhdarova, V., & Pastarmadzhieva, D. (2020). Ensuring the security of youth in the online world: the potential of the digital art and steam education. Trakia Journal of Sciences., 18(3), 183-188.
Puzhevich, V. (2020, 1 17). The Use Of Virtual Learning Environment In Education. Retrieved 10 14, 2021, from scand: https://scand.com/company/blog/the-use-of-virtual-learning-environment-in-education/
REGION, K. (2013). Knowledge is Power: Education. Retrieved 10 10, 2021, from Invest in Group: https://investingroup.org/review/246/knowledge-is-power-education-kurdistan/
Roots, M. (2021, September 27). Digital Transformation in Higher Education. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/digital-transformation-in-higher-education/121070/
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., & Guerreiro, P. (2014). Reshaping higher education systems in the MENA region: The contribution of remote and virtual labs. 11th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV) (pp. 240-245). Porto: IEEE.
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., Abdulazeez, D. H., Guerreiro, P., & Gustavsson, I. (2015). Why VISIR? Proliferative activities and collaborative work of VISIR system. 7th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN15) (pp. 3824-3835). Barcelona: IATED.
Salah, R. M., Alves, G. R., Datkiewicz, B., Guerreiro, P., & Gustavsson, I. (2015). VISIR system@ BTH, DEUSTO, ISEP, AND UNED institutes: Assisting and supporting hands-on laboratories to serve higher education students. 8th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) (pp. 2535-2547). Seville: IATED.
Santally, M. I. (2019). A Digital Education Transformation Roadmap to Achieve a Distributed Learning Ecosystem: Case-Study of the University of Mauritius.
Slatora, B. M., Juella, P., McCleanb, P. E., Saini-Eidukatc , B., Schwertc, D. P., Whited, A. R., & Hille, C. (1999). Virtual environments for education. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 22(3), 161-174.
Smith, S. (2021, March 30). Virtual Reality For Education in 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from AR/VR EDTECH: https://arvredtech.com/blogs/news/virtual-reality-for-education-in-2021-how-to-utilize-the-benefits-of-vr-in-education
Sulaiman, H., Ibrahim, N., Abdul Latif, R., & Yusof, A. M. (2020). Students and Teachers’ Perception on future use of Virtual Reality (VR) in learning Physics: A Preliminary Analysis. 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e) (pp. 1-6). Kota Kinabalu: IEEE.
Tawfik, M., Sancristobal, E., Martín, S., Gil, C., Pesquera, A., Losada, P., . . . Alves, G. R. (2011). VISIR deployment in undergraduate engineering practices. 2011 First Global Online Laboratory Consortium Remote Laboratories Workshop (pp. 1-7). South Dakota: IEEE.
Thompson, S. (2020, December 11). VR Applications: 21 Industries already using Virtual Reality . Retrieved November 15, 2021, from VirtualSpeech: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/vr-applications
Trentsios, P., Wolf, M., & Frerich, S. (2020). Remote Lab meets Virtual Reality – Enabling immersive access to high tech laboratories from afar. Procedia Manufacturing, 43, 25-31.
University, A. (2019, December 16). Virtual Reality in Education: Benefits, Tools, and Resources. Retrieved 11 14, 2021, from https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/benefits-of-virtual-reality-in-education
Wartenberg, F., May, M., & Péruch, P. (1998). Spatial orientation in virtual environments: Background considerations and experiments. In Spatial Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Representing and Processing Spatial Knowledge (Vol. 1404, pp. 469-489). Berlin: Springer.
Wuttke, H.-D., Henke, K., & Steinmetz, N. (2005). Remote labs versus virtual labs for teaching digital system design. International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies-CompSysTech 2005 (pp. 11-16). Varna: Technical University.
Zhang, H., Yu, L., Ji, M., Cui, Y., Liu, D., Li, Y., . . . Wang, Y. (2020). Investigating high school students’ perceptions and presences under VR learning environment. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(5), 635-655.
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2022-07-18
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Salah, R. M. (2022). The Impact of Virtual Learning Environments on the Digitalization of Higher Education in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq. Science Journal of University of Zakho, 10(3), 98–104. https://doi.org/10.25271/sjuoz.2022.10.3.875
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