Factoids

The factoids are a result of a report based on student completion surveys by students enrolled in the Wisconsin Virtual School. The data is from 267 surveys collected prior to May 2009 and data collected from student records from the 2008-09 school year. This data is provided for the sole purpose of WVS and its members. Unauthorized use is strictly forbidden.

• Reasons for Taking Online Courses: 22% of WVS students wanted to try an online course, 4%  take online courses for credit recovery, 28% because the course is not offered locally, 19% for schedule conflict, 5% prefer online courses, 7% are home-schooled, 1% are homebound, 2% are expelled, 2% are required by the local school, and another 2% want to accelerate graduation.
• Most Popular Course: 16% of WVS students take Advanced Placement, 17%  take foreign language, 13% take Social Studies, 12% take Math courses, 7%  take Science courses, 13% take language arts, and 23% take electives such as career planning, business, art, music, technology, etc.
• Average Grade: 87% is the average grade received for taking a WVS course.
• Average Time Spent in the Course: WVS students spend an average of 121 days on a virtual course.
• Hours Spent per Week on the Course: WVS students spend an average of 6-7 hours per week on each virtual class.
• Communications in the Courses: 81% of the communications are by e-mail. 18% of the students also use threaded discussions. 1% communicate with other students via email.
• How WVS Students Evaluate the Technology: On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being excellent and 1 being poor, students give the readability of the text a rating of 3.5. Computer exams were rated a 3.1, and multimedia quality a 3.1.
• What WVS Students Think About the Content: WVS students give the courses a 3.4 rating for covering the topic well, 3.5 for ease of course navigation, and 3.2 for the course being interesting.
• What WVS Students Think About Their Virtual Teachers: A rating of 3.7 was given for the teacher "knowing their subject". 3.5 was given for the encouragement they received. Teacher feedback rated a 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 4.
• What WVS Students Think About Their LEG (Local Education Guide) or Mentor: Students indicated with a 3.4 rating that their LEG encouraged and motivated them. LEGs gave personal attention:  3.2. LEGs provided technical support: 3.0, LEGs provided the guidance for enrolling: 3.2.
• What Students Liked Most About the Course: 12% indicated they like the self-pacing.  52% indicated the course was convenient. 16% indicated the course was not offered at their school.
• What Students Liked Least About the Course: 17% didn't like technical problems.5% prefer face-to-face instruction. Other answers included: took more time than they thought, more difficult than they expected, not enough contact with other students, self-discipline needed.
• What Students Thought About taking Another WVS course: 99% would take or seriously consider taking another online course.
• Age of WVS Students: 83% of the students are between 16 and 18 years old, 17% are 15 and under.
• WVS Student Population represents 60% rural districts and 40% urban districts.