One of the major goals of the Department of Gifted Students in The Ministry of Education in Israel is to provide accessibility to innovative, quality science curricula for gifted students in all parts of the country, including areas in the periphery. In line with this goal, the Department operates a virtual school on an internet website that enables students to engage in distance learning via virtual science courses. In this paper, we will delineate the nature of distance learning, detailing the conditions for successful distance learning. We will proceed to describe the goals and design of four distance learning courses for gifted junior high school students. The results of piloting these courses during a two year period from 2002 to 2004 will be presented.  Furthermore, the implications of this type of learning for future online programs for the gifted will be discussed.

Distance learning involves a system of interaction between learners and content matter on various websites on the internet. Distance learning may be asynchronous or synchronous, or may combine the two modes of learning [1]. Asynchronous learning is based on content and resources stored on web servers. Synchronous learning involves real-time interaction on the Internet between a teacher in one location and students in various locations through such means as video conference or electronic chats.

            The learning environment on the internet attempts to provide gifted students with the vital conditions they need for effective learning, knowledge construction and creativity, in order to help them realize their potential for their own benefit, as well as for the benefit of society. Distance learning creates and facilitates a challenging learning environment characterized by flexibility and dynamism in addressing complex learning tasks and enhancing creativity; requiring initiative, assumption of responsibility for one’s own learning, and reflection about thought processes.

            In designing distance learning courses, one has to take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of the internet medium. Based on our experience with distance learning and on research in this field [1], the advantages of such learning include:

However, distance learning also has its disadvantages. These include:

The above problems may lead to a considerable drop out rate from distance learning courses. Salant [1] notes that various follow-ups of students in Israel and abroad report a 25-50% dropout rate from distance learning courses. However, a study by Dallas and Franklin [2] showed an increased interest in virtual learning courses in comparison to traditional courses in high school. Moreover, evaluations of achievement in high school conducted by Fleming and his colleagues [3] showed greater equity of access to learning opportunities for all students in distance learning courses, as well as enhanced achievement in distance learning courses, especially in foreign languages and science.

            Distance learning requires certain capabilities and skills above and beyond the skills needed to engage in face-to-face learning.. The most important capability is self discipline. Since there are no defined time and location frameworks for class meetings in asynchronous distance learning, students have to be self disciplined. In addition, they have to possess internal motivation to learn, since the teacher’s ability to fine tune the courses to motivate students is limited. Moreover, students must be independent learners. They have to cope with problems that come up during the learning process on their own, without the help of the teacher or their peers. Further, they have to formulate questions that can help them obtain information and skills to cope with their difficulties. Last, but not least, distance learning requires considerable technical skills to use the internet as a learning tool

Gifted students have unique characteristics that result in special needs. Distance learning may address these needs quite effectively in the following ways:

The Department of Gifted Students in the Ministry of Education in Israel is committed to create various educational frameworks to address the needs of gifted students: To provide every gifted student a work environment suited to his/her needs and adapted to his learning style, such that s/he will be able to develop his/her capabilities to the greatest possible degree. In this environment, the teacher serves as a mentor, advising, supporting and directing the student in the educated and controlled use of diversified sources of information; among them, the use of technological tools. The nature of student work in distance learning encourages divergent thinking, multi-disciplinary thinking, development of creativity and originality in the problem solving process. Thus, the teacher must be capable of cultivating and guiding these processes, and helping to design applications of understanding at the highest level.

At present, gifted students are usually offered enrichment once a week in magnet centers, in extracurricular afternoon clubs or in year round special classes and in two special schools.  However, some gifted students do not enroll in these educational frameworks because they live far away, usually in communities in the periphery.  In these communities, the additional enrichment opportunities provided under the auspices of the Department are rather limited due to the distance from institutions of higher learning; and, in many cases, because of difficult economic conditions. Hence, there is a gap in learning opportunities offered to gifted students in large urban areas as opposed to those living in small, remote communities. 

In many cases, gifted students feel isolated in the regular system, or they  may feel that they have too  much of an academic burden, especially in secondary school. Distance learning enables these students to take high quality courses  on topics of interest  when it is convenient  for  them.  This enables  them  to study in a virtual environment together with students who have similar interests and abilities.   Furthermore, distance learning leads  to higher quality work than in heterogeneous groups where gifted students are few and far between.  It enables  gifted students  to acquire highly important learning skills that are valued in business organizations and in universities.                    

            How can we capitalize on the advantages of distance learning, while coping with its disadvantages, in order to enable successful distance learning? Investigators who designed and administered such courses in Israel [1] and abroad [4, 5, 6, 7, 8] propose several essential components that ensure success distance learning. These components relate to technical support, and, more importantly, to various modes of interactive support for the students.

Technical support includes such aspects as:

Various modes of interactive support for the students include:

The goals of the distance learning courses developed for the Department of Gifted Students are threefold:

During the first eight years of operation of the internet site, we focused on scientific surveys and complex units in a broad variety of fields of knowledge which were written by academic experts and suited to gifted students, grades 7 and up. Subjects such as cellular telephones, the problem of the rain forests in Brazil, or a literary analysis of the Harry Potter series had a tremendous number of hits. Each survey was accompanied by questions for thought, links to additional sites dealing with the same subject, referral to relevant illustrations and animations. Likewise, the writer of the series facilitated discussion groups and answered questions for a period of two months from the date that the survey was placed on the site. Every month, we put a new survey on the site.

Despite the large number of hits, we realized that some of them were by students from the general system seeking a good source of information in Hebrew, and discovered that these surveys met their needs. Likewise, the contact between the writer of the material and the student was non-committal and random. Students were responsible to perform the tasks on their own and they got no feedback, except in those cases where they initiated contact with the writer of the material.

In light of the above limitations, we made a decision in 2002 to change the concept of the internet site. It was clear that in order to meet the needs of the gifted students, especially in the periphery, the activities had to be organized systematically and a virtual school had to be established. Four courses were prepared by experts from academia and from the Department. We approached seventh to ninth grade students in the special centers and there was a great show of enthusiasm. The choice of relatively older students was based on professional considerations. These students usually master the necessary technological skills, know English well and are ready for independent learning. We limited the number of students in each course to 30, in order to facilitate feedback and formation of a virtual community.

Our virtual courses were piloted over a two year period in the years 2002–2004 with Tel-Aviv University and the Center for Educational Technology. The topics of the courses included the senses, artificial intelligence, the history of mathematics, and environmental ethics. The modes of learning employed in these courses develop divergent thinking, and are based on capabilities of higher order thinking, and use of diverse information sources, which characterize gifted students. Likewise, ethical aspects and interdisciplinary connections are addressed.

Each course introduced various scientific concepts and examined them from philosophical, psychological and social perspectives. For instance, in the course on the senses, students studied the physiology of the senses and addressed relevant philosophical questions, such as: Is there an objective reality? Do different people perceive reality in the same manner? In the course on artificial intelligence, students studied the physiological and psychological bases for human thinking and the technologies that attempt to mimic thinking. They dealt with philosophical questions such as: Will the computer be able to think like us some day? Do we want the computer to think like a human being? What does that mean in relation to the issue of body and soul? In the course on the history of mathematics, students learned about the development of mathematical thinking through the ages and attempted to solve mathematical problems that mathematicians labored on in the past, using the knowledge that was available to them at that period. In the course on environmental ethics, students studied ethical issues related to the environment. They learned about ecological systems and how modern life created environmental problems. They discussed several philosophical approaches to the interaction of humans with their environment and analyzed actual issues (such as the question of whether it is appropriate to work to limit population growth in order to deal with environmental problems) according to these approaches. Furthermore, they engaged in a simulation game attempting to determine global policy to deal with the global warming effect.

The courses were comprised of twelve weekly units that were presented on the internet. Each unit included an introduction, textual material on the topic, links to various information resources and student performance tasks, which were required to be completed each week. The instructors provided students with feedback on the tasks that they turned in and on their participation in various activities. A personal meeting of instructors and students was organized once every course in Tel-Aviv University. Students spent a whole day in the university. They met with their instructors. They visited a facility that was relevant to their studies. For instance, students participating in the course on artificial intelligence visited a robotics lab, whereas students participating in the course on environmental ethics visited the zoological garden in the university. At the end of the day, students participated in an academic lecture that introduced them to various enrichment topics.

As a result of feedback from students and instructors at the end of the first year, some content adjustments were made, but more importantly, certain features were added to the interaction with the students to enhance the support provided to them. Each week, the instructors provided two office hours on the internet for the students. The instructors initiated interaction with students who were late in completing assignments, offering extra help when needed. Student chat forums were organized, as well. In addition to online feedback to students on each assignment, students and parents received two progress reports by mail, after four weeks, and after ten weeks, as well as a report card at the end of the course.

In the first year of operation, the target population consisted of gifted junior high school students in self contained classes that participated in the courses as part of their daily schedule at school. In the second year of operation, the target population included all interested gifted junior high school students nationwide, who were willing to devote time and energy to engage in distance learning. Thus, in the second year, participation was voluntary and based on personal interest.

            The results of piloting the distance courses over two years are encouraging. In the first year of operation, 50% of the 115 participants completed the virtual courses. In the second year of operation, the total number of participants increased to 155. Moreover, the percentage of students completing the courses rose from 71% in the first semester to 88% in the second semester. This significant change is probably due to voluntary student participation in these courses, to some changes in course content and to the enhanced support provided to students that were detailed above.

            Student feedback in the second year of operation is very positive. In an attempt to investigate the sources of motivation for engaging in virtual learning in comparison to learning in their school program, students were asked to rate the following sources of motivation for learning on a scale ranging from 1, denoting very low degree of agreement, to 5, denoting very high degree of agreement. Means and standard deviations (SD’s) of their ratings, as well as t-scores indicating whether the difference between virtual learning and school learning is significant, are presented in Table 1.

This table demonstrates that interest, curiosity and enjoyment serve a more significant motivating role for distance learning than for school learning, whereas teacher and peer appreciation serve a more significant motivating role for school learning.

Students were asked to rate the most salient features of the courses, such as the contact with the instructor and the nature of the learning in the course. Their feedback is presented in table 2 in means and standard deviations (SD’s) on a scale ranging from 1, denoting very low degree of agreement, to 5, denoting very high degree of agreement.

From the above feedback, it is clear that the interactive support that was provided to students in the form of instructor feedback on assignments, questions and problems that arose, and the nature of learning in the course, involving challenges and in depth thinking, created an open atmosphere, enhancing learning to a great degree. Furthermore, student satisfaction from various features of the course was quite high, as table 3 demonstrates.

Student feedback, presented in table 3 in means and standard deviations (SD’s) on a scale ranging from 1, denoting very low degree of agreement, to 5, denoting very high degree of agreement shows that most students are very satisfied with the courses. They expressed special satisfaction from the in depth studies and from the highly interesting material. However, they noted that the courses promoted little social contact with students from other schools. In line with the generally positive feedback on the courses, most of the students said they will recommend the courses to their friends and would like to continue learning in distance learning courses next year.

As the results of the pilot demonstrate, with adequate individualized support, distance learning can provide a challenging, yet rewarding independent learning experience to gifted students, especially to those in the periphery who do not have access to many other resources. In line with the objectives of the courses, further consideration is needed on how to enhance intellectual meeting and team work among students from different schools who communicate via the internet. In line with the findings concerning in-depth study, another issue to consider is whether to promote more exposure to various content areas, or to in-depth investigation in specific areas of interest, supported by mentors. The focus on these issues will enable the Department of Gifted Students to continue to modify distance learning in an effort to provide an exciting opportunity for gifted and talented students to fulfill their potential in the sciences utilizing different learning styles and world class resources and media.