Title: Creating a virtual school based learning environment for the Finnish school

Authors: Kirsi Tirri, Seppo Tella

Addresses: Department of Education, PO Box 39 (Bulevardi 18), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland. Department of Teacher Education, PO Box 38 (Ratakatu 6A), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to first briefly analyse the concept of a virtual school. The aim of the empirical part was to exemplify how a virtual school based learning environment can be created and established in a Finnish educational context. For this purpose, a Finnish case study conducted in 1996-1997 as part of the activities of the European Observatory was analysed. The virtual school was seen by the participating teachers as a way to keep up with the latest trends in education and in information and communication technologies. It was also noticed that developing a new type of school and creating learning materials for it requires huge investments.

Keywords: virtual school; Freenet; European Observatory; teaching; learning; comprehensive school.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2001.000404

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2001 Vol.11 No.4/5/6, pp.343-355

Published online: 16 Jul 2003 *

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