Enhancing Learning in a Virtual Environment: Qualities of Learning in Different Learning Modes

Virtual learning is increasingly common due to factors, such as technological advances and globalization. Research presented in this paper is based on a virtual ICT for Development-course that was offered three times by a Finnish university. The course participants were from Finland, Germany, South Africa and Kenya. During the three course implementations, three different learning modes – traditional teacher-focused learning, team-work focused learning and a blend of the two – were utilized. Our research goal was to better understand practices that enhance the learning process in a virtual environment. We collected data by three online questionnaires that were sent to the course participants by email after completing the course. In total, we received 61 responses. We discovered that the students’ perceptions of the richness in qualities of learning were different in each course. This paper discusses this difference in line with the different learning modes used. These results encourage us to further research the link between learning modes and qualities of learning to (1) validate the findings with a larger sample, (2) compare them to previous studies in the field, and (3) to potentially propose generalizability of the findings.