SUMMARY
Popularity of virtual communities which exist and constantly develop in Internet caused a creation of educational virtual communities. Their possibilities are successfully used in the systems of education of foreign countries, including the educational process of secondary school. The phenomenon of virtual educational communities is the theme of research of many modern scientists, the concordance of terminology is under discussion. In the article some approaches to determination of concepts on this issue are analysed as well as offered some definitions, namely: virtual, virtual educational and virtual learning communities.