Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education

Torunn Gjelsvik

Torunn GjelsvikManaging Director at Akademiet Nettstudier

Former project manager atNADE (Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education)

Worked with distance and online learning for 13 years

Norway as a pioneer in distance education:

exploring new technologystudent support servicespedagogical development

developing the teacher rolepartnership with organizations and higher education

international research

16 online schools20 years of development100 years of experience

20-25,000 online students and40,000 (?) ”flexible” students in Norway

• Qualitative method, personal interviews with every accredited online school in Norway per 1.01.2013

• Semi-structured interviews• Development plans, reports and project

evaluations• Thematic compilation of findings • Newly released report (in Norwegian only):

Innovation and Challenge – pedagogical development in Norwegian Online Schools 1995-

2015

Broad subjects

Industry subjects

Niche subjects

Psychology Financial advice Chiropody

Higher education entrance qualification

Pilot’s licence Understanding the Bible

Live a healthier life online

Estate management Norwegian language for adult immigrants

Webdesign Pre Engineering Network administrator

Pedagogy Technical college in construction

Social media in education

Management Insurance law Sheep online

Health Woodworking trades Sami language

Technology Focus on student support, flexibility and variation in learning processes

Learning methods Asynchronous vs. Synchronous paceBlended learningRecources and servicesNew learning concepts

Teacher role From correspondance to guidance

Partnerships Higher educationOrganizations

Research Contribution to the field through international projects, NADE and EDEN

Financial constraints – gradual reduction in public funding

Lack of recognition – internally and externally

Accelerating technological development – it’s hard to keep up as technological pioneer

Reduction in public funding of Norwegian online schools (in millions of Norwegian kroner from 2002 to 2012)

Individualization of learning processes – learning analytics

Learning on the fly

Gaming – new competencies and increased motivation

Technology: complexity at the back end, simplicity at the front end

Torunn Gjelsvik 

Managing DirectorAkademiet Nettstudier

torunn.gjelsvik@akademiet.no