Create Virtual Classroom Environment for Online Study Groups Studying in groups has always been a fun where on one hand it helps in dealing with monotony of regular studies and procrastinations on another hand it benefits students with fast learning, fresh perspectives on a problematic topic and acuminate intellect. In this high tech era where half of the population prefer performing most of the task online such as shopping, banking, ticket booking etc students also try to make hay while the sun shines by replacing books with eBooks and real-life classrooms by real time classrooms.
University- formulated Virtual classrooms, student-organized online study groups and learning management systems are few of the numerous technologies that made synchronous distancelearning education convenient and cost efficient. Universities enrich their syllabus and coursework, enhance flexibility and relevancy of their programs and attract the best students and faculties to their campuses. Students augment their learning experience, explore the reading materials by experts, Web-based Q&A interactions deepen the knowledge of enhanced curriculum, immersion environments and regulated live classes ease the understanding of complex concepts. Students can share complaints and critiques of the course with their peers and teachers asynchronously or synchronously. Thus better participation, better communication, better information and assistance which will certainly lead to better education and learning. Students create many Facebook, Yahoo and Google groups; invite members and share the study material. But many online experts claim additional negative impacts of using social networking sites as revision platform. Potential distractions, vulnerability to psychological issues, lack of immediate response and record tracking, limitation of student assessment and feedback in these social networking sites can stray students form focus and might result into bad grades. There are many learning management system and learning platform available on internet which provide an intuitive, ready to deploy interface which require no training, multi-language and multi- course discussion board for more interactive and participative online study groups. Students from different demographics, experts from different dimensions can be added as members. Templates of project or test assignments, study materials of all the subjects and syllabi can be created and reused as per the requirements. MyVLE is a learning platform which is an accumulation of numerous online applications such as web pages, email, message boards and discussion forums, text and video conferencing, shared diaries, online social areas, assessment, management and tracking tools that help teachers, students, parents and others who are involved in education or information process by supporting and enhancing the educational delivery and improvising management. Members or group mates of virtual learning management system can also customize their platform by integrating powerful Google Apps to make it more efficient and beneficial. These learning platforms not only empower the courses of students but also enhance their potential of leaning without any distraction or harm.