the web, which are mainly text based. Some courses may include video and audio materials 

that are distributed on cassettes. 

Tutors give feedback on all questions and comments by using the communication system that 

the student prefers, which can be e mail, normal post or comments in  discussions groups . 

Videoconferences are important for discussion but also much used for examination. 

Assignments for submission commented and corrected by a tutor are central in tutoring. 

One online are mainly used by including links to external web resources, by providing links to 

search engines, and by asking students to search for information not provided in the course 

material. SSVN has a long tradition with correspondence courses and individual 

communication between individual students and their tutor. This tradition and our pedagogical 

experiences as course designers favor the use of one to one techniques. Hence, personal e 

mail communication between individual students and their tutor is essential in our courses. 

One to many techniques are sparsely used by teachers who would like to give some 

information to all the students in the course conference. Some tutors have tried to give online 

lectures, but the interest has been very limited, probably due to a less flexibility. 

Many to many techniques are also sparsely applied for example in student presentations, 

project groups, etc. However, SSVN has chosen to provide courses with individual start up 

and progression. This model limits the opportunities for application of many to many 

techniques. 

All courses are assessed through tutor marked assignments during the whole course. Marking 

is for process evaluation and feedback. There are formal exams in all courses. For final 

grading the formal exams counts for the main part, but during the course students are assessed 

by various methods as  home experiments . In some courses we apply some form of project, 

where the student is assessed by this work and not by a final grading. 

The typical examinations are four  or five hour written exams that could be arranged at a local 

school at the student's request, quite often combined with a discussion with the tutor by 

video conference. The student receives a grade in exactly the same way as at a local held 

course. In the courses that are given as collaborative projects between SSVN and a community 

school, the local school sometimes does the examination on there own. If  Studyshops  are 

used SSVN does the examination. 

No fees for the public, the same conditions are provided by the government as when a person 

is studying at a local school. 

With a few exceptions, all our courses are offered with flexible enrolment, the students can 

enroll at any time of the year. We also allow free progression, so that the students may have 

their individual progression schedule.  

Total number of students is approximately 12 000, where about 10% is studying by ITC. 

Working with development of distance education or flexible learning shows a need for an 

open attitude in course developers and tutors concerning the thinking about the meaning of 

learning and knowledge. This also goes for the school system in general. Therefore we think it 

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