  This paper argues that the true potential of virtual classrooms in education
is not fully exploited yet. The features available in most environments that
have been incorporated as virtual classrooms are classified into two groups.
The first group includes common features, related only to the emulation of a
traditional classroom. In this group, the practical differences between
traditional and virtual classroom are discussed. In addition, best practices
that could aid the professors to make students feel like participating in a
typical classroom are presented. The second group comprises of advanced
features and practices, which extend the traditional classroom. In this group,
examples of successful practices which could not be performed in a traditional
classroom are introduced. Finally, a qualitative study with interviews of 21
experts from 15 countries is presented, showing that even these experts are not
fully exploiting the advanced features that contemporary virtual classroom
environments are offering.
