A lecture for guests from Australia, spring 2005.

1. The Comprehensive
Secondary School of Ármúli
Iceland

2. FÁ – Fjölbrautaskólinn við Ármúla
 The school offers general education as
preparation for academic studies as well as
vocational education.
– 1000 Students are registered in our school
(day school)
– 1150 students are registered in our distance
education programme
 The school is now the largest secondary
school in Iceland, regarding the number of
students.

3. General education in FÁ
 General education (matriculation
examination) as preparation for academic
studies:
– Languages
– Natural Sciences
– Social Sciences

4. Vocational training in FÁ
 Health care:
– Assistant Nurses
– Masseurs
– Dental Assistants
– Pharmacy Technicians
– Medical Secretaries

5. Vocational training in FÁ
 Information Technology

6. IT pilot project
 The school is one of the leading secondary
schools in Iceland in the implementation of IT
in education.
 The school took part in a 3-year pilot project
under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture
and Education from 1999 to 2002.

7. The goals of the IT pilot project
 One of the goals
that our school set
when it became a
part of the IT pilot
project, was to be
able to offer
distance education
in most of our
courses.

8. Teachers trained to use IT in teaching
 Long before 1999, the school offered a
variety of courses to all teachers in the use of
computers and the Internet.
 Since 1999 the teachers have been
continually trained to use IT in teaching.
 Teachers have to be highly qualified, both
academically and in computer technology, in
order to be distance teachers.

9. Courses in using IT in teaching
 Courses in using a variety of software:
– Windows, Word, Excel, Power Point, Html,
Front Page, Dreamweaver, PHP,
Photoshop, Fx Draw, WebCT, Respondus,
Quiz parser, Hot Potatoes, etc.
 Courses in the pedagogy of using computers
in local and distance education.
Our teachers have mastered it all!

10. IT driving licence for education
 In the year 2001 the school started a
programme to support teachers with laptops.
 All teachers who had basic knowledge of
computers got a laptop to use in both classes
and at home.
 Today all our teachers are equipped with
laptops.

11. Wireless net
 A wireless net was set up
in the school building in
the year of 2001 to make
it possible for students
and teachers to connect
to the local net as well as
to the Internet.
 In 2004 all teachers can
connect by ADSL to the
school net including wireless
connection at home.

12. Distance teaching and learning
 In the autumn 2001 the first courses were
offered in distance learning, and 50 students
were registerd.
 In the autumn 2005 the courses offered in
distance learning are 131, and 1150 students
are registered.

13. The organization of the web-school
 From 2002 three terms of distance learning
have been offered each year:
– Spring term from January to May
– Summer term from June to August
– Winter term from September to December
 In addition to various assignments, most
courses end with a final exam at the end of
term.

14. Examinations
 Last autumn exams
were taken:
– at 55 places, apart
from our school
– in 10 countries
– on 3 continents
 Exams were taken
in schools or
Icelandic embassies

15. The staff of the web-school
 45 teachers, 5 from
other schools than FÁ
 1 Chief Co-ordinator of
Distance Studies
Programme
 Administrators
 Office staff

16. From e-mail to WebCT
 In the beginning, we used ordinary e-mail to
contact our students.
– Teaching was from the teacher to the students
 Since the spring 2003 we have used WebCT.
– Teaching is from the teacher to the class.
– The students have the possibility to contact each
other
– A learning community is established in each
course

17. Learning environment - WebCT
 Teachers prepare a learning environment
with:
– study plans
– course guidelines
– course material
– assignments and exercises
– communicative exercises
– discussions, etc.

18. Whom are we teaching?
 People who need education but can not
attend ordinary classes for various reasons.
 Students born 1939-1991
 Avarage age is 25.6 years
 68% are women
 Students are scattered all over our sparsely
populated country, and some are abroad

19. Number of students in each year group, autumn 2004
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
30 35 40 45 50 55 69 65 70 75 80 85 90
Year of birth
Numberofstudents

20. Age distribution of distance students
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1939
1941
1943
1945
1947
1949
1951
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
Year of birth
Number
Konur
Karlar

21. E-mail and internet addresses:
 Sigurlaug Kristmannsdóttir, Chief Co-
ordinator of Distance Studies Programme
– sigurlaug@fa.is
 The Comprehensive Secondary School at
Ármúli
– http://www.fa.is/fjolbrautaskolinn
 The Distance Studies Programme
– http://www.fa.is/fjarnam/