**2. Theoretical foundations**

Several theories support education in virtual space and especially technical and professional education, which is presented in the following theory of communication theory and rich media theory.

#### **2.1 The theory of connectivism**

According to Siemens [10], the theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are three broad theories of learning that are often used in creating educational environments. However, these theories were developed at a time when learning was not yet influenced by technology. Over the past 20 years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. The basic principles of most learning theories are that learning occurs within individuals. These theories do not pay attention to people's learning that happens outside. According to Siemens [11], all existing theories have assigned knowledge processing to the person

who is supposed to learn. This pattern will work as long as the knowledge flow is predetermined. However, the current conditions of many societies and education systems have faced new demands and challenges.

In the age of digital and internet, there have been fundamental changes. The new spaces in which knowledge and information flow are very different from what previous generations experienced, in that the way of acquiring knowledge has undergone a fundamental transformation [12]. One of the efforts that have been made to answer the challenges of explaining knowledge and information in the new era is the presentation of the communication theory of learning by George Siemens [13].

Communication theory claims that, unlike the dominant learning theories, it can respond to the challenges and demands facing educational systems. One of the advantages of communication theory is to pay attention to the evaluation of information or knowledge before receiving or learning it. Therefore, the driving force of communicationism is the understanding of the fact that decisions in the new world are based on rapidly changing foundations [12]. This theory is inspired by theories such as Love and Wenger's situational learning; Bruner's and Vygotsky's social learning theory and others; the neuroscientific theories of Church Lands, Papert, Menseks, McCland, Romerhut, Clark, Spivey, and others; McLuhan's media theory; Complexity theory, system-based thinking, and meta-complexity; and network theory, which establish a new paradigm in the field of learning and education [14].

According to the theory of connectionism, learning in the digital age occurs as a process of forming networks, and learning is the process of connecting, growing, and guiding these networks. In other words, it is "network learning;" learning takes place in a large system that is very complex [15]. Siemens presents this big system under the title of ecosystem, and it is the duty of educators to create and strengthen the ecosystem that allows the learner to effectively improve their learning and perform better [11]. Therefore, the task of the education system is to create a local environment that allows the emergence of maximum innovation and causes the most recombinations. In fact, communicationism prefers the term design of learning ecosystems instead of designing educational systems (which is the subject of cognitive theories) and designing learning environments (which is proposed in constructivism theory) and believes that this concept is quantitatively and qualitatively more comprehensive and broader than other concepts [16].

Communication theory in education has brought results. Elliott and Martin [17] introduce some applications derived from the theory of communication, using social networks, personal learning environment, and free courses. Also, Techakosit and Wannapiroon [18] found in a research that communication-oriented environment in laboratory science consists of four elements. The components of the learning environment, the learning process, the characteristics of the environment, and scientific literacy are formed, and they concluded that this environment leads to an increase in scientific literacy. In addition, Hung [19] has also used the ideas of communication theory in a study to design new learning models in Vietnam and proposed ecosystem learning models to expand the online course with the aim of practical use for the process of reforming education in Vietnam.

Also, Kultawanich et al. [20] presented a proposed model of communication theory for use in the virtual classroom; this proposed model has five components of the virtual classroom, ability-based tools, the role of the teacher, learning resources, and evaluation of learning. They came to the conclusion that the use of this model in the virtual classroom increases the scientific literacy and self-efficacy of undergraduate students. The research results of Trnova and Trna [21] also showed that the use of communication tools in teaching makes students learn with interest, and their

knowledge and skills grow better than in an environment without communication methods. In addition, communication-oriented techniques and methods provide many positive results for students and research teachers. Admiraal et al. [22] used peer assessment and self-evaluation methods to evaluate the general Internet education course based on the theory of communication and concluded that the correlation between these two methods is high and suggested that the methods of peer assessment and self-evaluation, in order to evaluate for learning, should be used instead of evaluation.

The use of communication-oriented methods and research in education, or, in other words, the integration of technology in the curriculum, shows that the content and goals of the curriculum need to be reviewed and revised. The challenge of education policymakers is to prepare learners for the competencies needed in the information society [23]. Therefore, they care about the use of technology. And at the same time, they need evidence of the impact of technology on student performance based on existing curriculum needs. Technology support for content, goals, methods, and assessment requires coordination to bridge the gap between implemented and acquired curriculum [24].
