More than 15 years ago, the University of Veracruz, opted for the development and use of its own educational platform based on international technological standards in order to meet the needs of the institution, which is called Eminus.
Eminus integrates a solid environment of support to the teaching-learning process in its different modalities. Eminus has evolved from its creation as Eminus 1 in 2004 to its latest version as Eminus 4 in 2020.
This paper presents the update of the Eminus 4 platform and the new virtual English 1 course. It mainly aims at describing the new work mechanics of this course, as well as the pros and cons found in comparison with the previous version of Eminus 3 and some observations made by both teachers and students regarding its instructional design.
First, the background of the platform is presented, as well as its characteristics and its new support tools. Subsequently, the recently launched virtual English 1 course is described including its contents, activities and self-evaluations, and finally some areas of opportunity for improvement are suggested.
Keywords: educative platforms, online learning, English.