Virtual Class Room Experimentation for Teaching Manufacturing and Operation Management Course

There has been a recent development and explosion of interest among academicians across a wide range of disciplines in the use of virtual Class room. Utilization of the virtual class room as a laboratory experimentation for teaching and learning has increased significantly in recent years as development tools for web based applications have become easier to use and computers have become more capable and less expensive. But, does the virtual class-room improve students learning? Herein we describe the results of two experiments conducted on sections of a Manufacturing and Operation Management course [MIME - 3240] at one of the Colleges of Technology in the Sultanate of Oman during fall semester. Two experiments were designed to determine if student learning of Manufacturing and Operation Management course was significantly affected by two treatments: 1) Virtual class room environment for the students of section S2 and 2) Real Class-room environment for students of section S1. The actual final scores of students of section S1 and S2 were compared in order to determine the effectiveness of virtual class room on student learning for the Manufacturing and Operation Management course. In this study Web-based virtual Class room (WVC) is developed to communicate, to share and to disseminate knowledge from the teacher to student. Further, in this study web based tools are also used to create, store, and manage contents of class room instructions and course material .