Constraints and requirements in designing an e-learning environment

Nowadays, education extends beyond the field of formal education delivered in universities and colleges, and is increasingly based on new technological developments. Long Life Learning (LLL) is a fundamental tool in today´s world in order to remain competitive in the market. The ease of access to the Internet and computer technologies has turned into a new field for developing applications which can be distributed worldwide in an almost instantaneous manner, but must be appropriately designed in order to achieve their goals. Quality e-Iearning courseware requires several aspects to be covered in order to achieve its purposes. These include a thorough knowledge of the content as well as methods of delivery and learning theory. These requirements were taken into account in the development of a virtual-lab environment, named VEMA, developed by one of the authors and used in the Bachelor and Master´s classes.