MATHEMATICS EDUCATION FORUM

November 24, 2024

Mathematics Education Online Case

Florida Virtual School Online Mathematics

Presented by Nathan Putney,
FLVS Mathematics Curriculum Developer and Instructor.

History
Florida Virtual School started in 1997 with the Florida Legislature funding an effort that combined previous work that had been started in two Florida school district to reach students on a statewide level. The number of students served has grown from less than 100 the first year to over 10,000 students for the 2002-2003 school year. Many students take only 1 course from us to supplement their traditional curriculum. Some take more than one course at a time from us and in a few cases they take all of their classes from FLVS.

Goals
The mission of Florida Virtual School is to provide students with high quality, technology-based educational opportunities to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century.

Delivery Method
Students register for courses online with the permission of the guidance office of their school. All Florida high school students who have met the prerequisites for the course they are taking are welcome including public, private and home schooled students. There is no cost to the student. Once registered, the teacher contacts the student and parent by phone to welcome them into the course and answer questions about how to get started. Students log on to their course at the FLVS web site and complete assignments asynchronously. Individual feedback is given to the student on the assignment as necessary by the course instructor. The instructors' student loads are similar to that of a teacher teaching in traditional Florida high schools.

Students may ask their teacher questions via the phone, email, or our own chat/whiteboard area. Teachers may hold live chat sessions with students as needed for that particular course.

Students select a pace for completing their course and are expected to maintain that timeline. If they fall behind, the teacher contacts the student and/or parent as needed to encourage the maintenance of a pace that will allow the student to finish the course in a timely fashion. Many Florida students are on a block schedule at their traditional school and may want to finish the course in 18 weeks. Others might decided to take 36. Enrollment is on a continuous basis with new students coming in to the course as others complete and space becomes available. Courses are available year-round, although many of our courses go to a wait list within hours of the start of registration for a new semester.

Visit Our Courses!
FLVS offers over 65 courses including the traditional math offerings:
Algebra I (Regular and Honors)
Geometry (Regular and Honors)
Algebra II (Regular and Honors)
SAT Prep
Pre-Calculus Honors
Advanced Placement Calculus AB

You can view a module of any of these courses by going to http://www.flvs.net and choosing Students - Course Catalog - Demos. Choose any course you like and find the menu item that says "showcase".

I teach the AP Calculus course, but will be happy to answer questions about any of our math offerings.

Interested?
FLVS courses are leased by a number of school districts in several states as well as foreign countries. Choose Global Connections on our home page.



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