Virtual Terrains: Learning Mathematics and Physics in the Israeli Virtual High School

• In Event: 69.047 - Virtual Schooling, Instructors' Practices and Perceptions

Abstract

The exponential growth of virtual schools generates new conditions for teaching and learning. It is thus paramount to better understand these conditions and their impact on students’ experiences and perceptions. This paper explores learners’ experiences of a virtual high school through analyses of qualitative and quantitative data. Data analyses yielded several insights that pertain to pedagogical principles in the context of a virtual high school and that include notions relating to design, delivery, and support mechanisms—to echo Barbour’s three-part framework of online learning. Data have also yielded insights about students’ agency, which we would like to suggest as a fourth dimension in teaching/learning online courses. Implications for establishing potentially better conditions for learning in virtual contexts are discussed.

Authors

• Osnat Fellus, University of Ottawa

• Yaniv Biton

• Dafna Raviv, Center for Educational Technology