This also enables instructors to include course-specific software in the course design, utilizing the file upload capability to submit assignments, regardless of the format. Instead it supports many different paths to designing the content for a course. Instructors can upload any type of multimedia, web, or text file, instead of having a certain tool or format dictated to them. In addition, based on Dr. Harasim' s experience in both designing and maintaining online learning systems, Virtual-U has been developed to resolve the institutional issues that arise as the number of online courses increase. Virtual-U has been designed to support institutions or departments that deliver multiple courses and students who are enrolled in more than one course.
Many students participate in online class discussion more actively than in traditional classrooms.
At the same time instructors have found that teaching online can be rejuvenating and impacts their teaching style. There are a wide variety of client environments which need to be supported, both for students and instructors. In order to ensure that neither students or instructors are excluded from participating in a Virtual-U course, it has been designed as a framework with minimal hardware requirements. Let us now take a brief tour of Virtual-U which opens with the online campus that houses the various utilities including courses, conferences, workspace, information, administration, gallery, library and caf . Virtual-U. It introduces the various areas of navigation, and provides a consistent set of icons across the top of the screen to reach the key areas of the campus at any time.