  The article clarifies the concept of "virtual information educational
environment" (VIEE) and examines the researchers' views on its meaning exposed
in the scientific literature. The article determines the didactic potential of
the virtual information educational environment for the geography students
training based on the analysis of the authors' experience of blended learning
by means of the Google Classroom. It also specifies the features (immersion,
interactivity, and dynamism, sense of presence, continuity, and causality). The
authors highlighted the advantages of virtual information educational
environment implementation, such as: increase of the efficiency of the
educational process by intensifying the process of cognition and interpersonal
interactive communication; continuous access to multimedia content both in
Google Classroom and beyond; saving student time due to the absence of
necessity to work out the training material "manually"; availability of virtual
pages of the virtual class; individualization of the educational process;
formation of informational culture of the geography students ; and more
productive learning of the educational material at the expense of IT
educational facilities. Among the disadvantages the article mentions low level
of computerization, insignificant quantity and low quality of software
products, underestimation of the role of VIEE in the professional training of
geography students, and the lack of economic stimuli, etc.
