NPSNET: constructing a 3D virtual world
I3D '92 Proceedings of the 1992 symposium on Interactive 3D graphics
MASSIVE: a collaborative virtual environment for teleconferencing
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) - Special issue on virtual reality software and technology
NetEffect: a network architecture for large-scale multi-user virtual worlds
VRST '97 Proceedings of the ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology
Networked virtual environments: design and implementation
Networked virtual environments: design and implementation
An immersive 3D video-conferencing system using shared virtual team user environments
Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Collaborative virtual environments
New Trends in Distance Learning Utilising Next Generation Multimedia Networks
Education and Information Technologies
BrickNet: sharing object behaviors on the Net
VRAIS '95 Proceedings of the Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (VRAIS'95)
Facial feature detection using Haar classifiers
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
The effect of video-augmented chat on collaborative learning with cases
CSCL '05 Proceedings of th 2005 conference on Computer support for collaborative learning: learning 2005: the next 10 years!
The factor structure of the presence questionnaire
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
Enhancing information sharing in group support systems (GSS)
Computers in Human Behavior
A collaborative virtual geographic environment based on P2P and Grid technologies
Information Sciences: an International Journal
Experiences with a synchronous virtual classroom in distance education
Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
An empirical investigation of virtual Interaction in supporting learning
ACM SIGMIS Database
AINAW '08 Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications - Workshops
Upscaling faces for recognition systems using trained filters
IMCE '09 Proceedings of the 1st international workshop on Interactive multimedia for consumer electronics
Telehealth '07 The Third IASTED International Conference on Telehealth
CGI'06 Proceedings of the 24th international conference on Advances in Computer Graphics
P2P grid technology for virtual classrooms and laboratories
Proceedings of the 16th Communications & Networking Symposium
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Classrooms and laboratories of tomorrow are most likely enhanced with virtual presence in cyberspace allowing students and instructors to participate in the learning sessions using advanced Virtual Leaning Environments (VLE). These settings let difficult courses of science and engineering to be available for larger student audiences. Despite vast technological advances in recent years, there are significant challenges suggesting further research and developments to ensure virtual classrooms be as good as or even better than what we have now in our physical lecture halls. This paper provides a state-of-the-art survey on a number of existing VLE solutions pinpointing their strengths and limitations. We distinguish between asynchronous distance learning and the synchronous settings whose model allows live participation of the learners as well as collaboration possibilities between them. Furthermore, we examine whether the selected VLEs maintain any virtual presence of the participants and scalability of the platform. Other comparison criteria include user interface, gesture & facial recognition, availability, affordability, compatibility and social awareness. As the virtual world moves closer to represent the real world, how these environments might facilitate different types of interactions inherent in a real classroom will largely dictate their future usefulness.