When I joined Ashford University, I was asked to create a master's program in managing information systems. The program is focused on students who are mid-career IT folks looking to take the next step in their career, whether that's the manager of IT, a director of IT, the vice-president of IT, a senior vice-president, CIO—those kinds of things.

I realized we needed a hands-on component to the program in order to give students the education and the skillset they'd need to be a senior executive in IT. I thought a virtual lab environment was the best way to achieve that, but we didn't have virtual labs here at Ashford.

Simulations are great for showing what things look like in the dream environment. But as any technology person knows, especially those of us who've worked in IT for any amount of time, tech is never perfect.

Actual labs, in a virtual environment, where you're still working with equipment—that's the best because it gives you real-world experience. And it's much more realistic than any simulation could ever be. In a virtual lab environment, students just log in to the lab and work in a safe environment. It has the proper software, the proper configuration, and the instructions they need to perform the exercises.

Read the full article on virtual labs by Wendy McMahon at EdSurge