Supporting teaching/learning activities using an environment based on virtual tools

The aim of this paper is to describe the designed process of an educational environment. This environment intends to support teaching/learning activities related to Algorithms and Programming domain. The software was modelled based on a framework supported by virtual tools. It also considers a methodology based on our previous experiences with Virtual Classes (VC). The association of such experiences with VC mixed with traditional classes’ methods allows us to enrich and to organise the learning activities. The set of virtual tools must be considered as resources that teachers and students can use to exchange information and to build knowledge about the domain. We also discuss some aspects related to Algorithms and Programming teaching process. We do not intend to show experimental results. We claim that we can build educational environments taking advantages from agents’ technology, and a mixed methodology based on presential and virtual classes. We believe it is not possible to create good and helpful educational software without those premises.