Teaching design of virtual environments for the development of competencies in higher education

Abstract

In today's world, virtual education must become a space that provides opportunities beyond just publishing informative content and concepts designed under an interactive teaching model. This article analyzes the relationship between the teaching design of virtual learning environments (VLE) and the development of competencies at a higher education level, with standards and the ISO 25000 competency-based approach (Tuning Project, Curricular Transformation) for the teaching design of virtual environments and the official documents that frame higher education in Latin America and Europe. This study was based on the postulates of subject matter experts and official documents from various countries. It is a documentary study based upon previous research. This is a qualitative study under a descriptive design of the characteristics and phenomena associated with the VLE's teaching design. The effects on learning and competency development are complex and depend on such factors as culture, previous knowledge, self-learning techniques, contents and learning design among others. VLEs make the effects on learning and competency development complex. In conclusion, it is not only a matter of implementing technologies as part of the VLEs, but also of incorporating learning designs that allow students to construct their learning in dynamic spaces. Such learning process must be based on innovative strategies and techniques evaluated based on diagnoses which recognize whether VLEs comply with national and international standards that guarantee the construction of competencies.