Talk:Virtual education

message: Online tutoring covers the same ground as this article, but its written in a less encyclopedic style and lacks references. I'd suggest replacing it with a redirect to this article. --Bazzargh (talk) 11:08, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not saying delete all of it - but really there is very little on this page that isn't either repeating whats on the virtual education page, or WP:OR; and some of it (like the lead) is just verbiage that needs cut. As it stands we have a number of articles covering very similar ground and at the very least this page needs a reference which differentiates online tutoring from virtual education or the myriad of other pages listed here: Electronic learning#See_also (some of which have already been merged, so that page needs trimmed). I get the feeling that a lot of these pages have been added by companies pushing keywords, and havent been trimmed agressively enough --Bazzargh (talk) 10:48, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with this, and am going ahead with the redirect.  If anyone thinks that there's stuff worth saving from the other article, they can look at the article history and merge it here.  Frankly, I agree that this article is much better, and covers the same ground.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 07:15, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

text: Thanks for your efforts Jbmurray, Mark Quigley and Bazzargh. However, only in an upside down world or one in which non-professionals try to increase the breadth of their contribution through catch-all aggregation would online tutoring be subsumed under virtual education. Is tutoring and education the same thing? Tutoring is an activity that implies some professional human or agent action while education exists in a broader context that might not even include tutoring for a successful attainment of its purpose. Its ok to request improvement to the Online Tutoring page and if I had the time (and might in future) I would improve it. But directing users to Virtual Education when they request information or description of Online Tutoring weakens Wikipedia and does not server seekers well. - Keal Dec 21 2008.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Keal (talk • contribs) 17:15, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merger Proposal 

message: Virtual education is a term that covers more than just distance education, e-learning, or distributed learning1. Virtual education is often used to refer to a much broader range of technology integration within educational settings, (e.g., face-to-face, blended or hybrid or mixed-mode, and online distance education). I think this entry should reflect the broader use of this terminology so as to reflect how learning is changing as mediated through information and communication technologies (ICT). 
1 Some other related terms include Distance Education, Online Education, Distributed Learning, Internet Education, Computer-based Training, Computer-Mediated Communication, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Virtual Education, Cyber-Learning, Asynchronous Learning, and Multi-modal Instruction. 
The point is that “The meaning of these terms are starting to converge. Where there is a difference in usage is explained by place (same place, any place, on-campus, off-campus); time (same time -- synchronous or not at the same time -- asynchronous); interaction (learner to computer; learner to instructor; learner to other learners); use of the computer (presentation, interactive, collaborative, generative); type of technology (text, audio, video, multimedia); and absence or presence of face-to-face interaction”  (http://cbdd.wsu.edu/edev/kenet_tot/unit1/WhatseLearning.htm).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Donkrug (talk • contribs) 18:13, 3 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: DO NOT Merge with [[distance education]]

message: This article covers the same material as e-learning.  But before merging, please check for copyvio. in e-learning, and remove if found.  Thank you.
Bwrs (talk) 08:20, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: e-learning is mostly text based with some images, virtual learning includes entering a simulation of a virtual world, like  and  or in treating ptsd like  and . Darkstar1st (talk) 08:34, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: The distinction you make is a valid sematic definitional categorization. Personally, I'd be apt to follow that usage myself. Nonetheless, in fact, perhaps unfortunately, in actual usage the two terms are often blurred together. Moreover, this article's lede doesn't align itself at all with the particular constrained / narrow usage you would prefer. It is clear that "virtual learning" can vary between "narrow" and "broad" definitions, based on neurolinguistic tethering to either "virtual world" or "non-classroom" respectively. The best approach will be to point up your suggested distinction (again, I personally think that your point is a valid (but not the exclusive) way to use the term "narrowly") but to nonetheless merge these articles, as they overlap very significantly in content. E-learning is presently the "senior" article, but is quite "preliminary" and it would benefit from material here being merged / consolidated / reworked. FeatherPluma (talk) 03:00, 4 April 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  merge with [[e-learning]]