Virtual High School
The Oregon Cyberschool, primarily for Oregonians but open to all, includes both traditional school subjects, such as English literature, and specialty courses...
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The Oregon Cyberschool, primarily for Oregonians but open to all, includes both traditional school subjects, such as English literature, and specialty courses. The delivery and response system is by email mostly. It is appropriate for home-schoolers for whom little whole courseware exists online.
The Open Learning Agency in Canada contains a component for K-12, called the Open School. Traditional courses in science, such as biology, and art can be completed online. This model follows the schoolbymail pattern. It also includes workplace and career preparation. The Concord Consortium holds workshops to train teachers in developing online courseware and provides a strong support desk capability. Their current curricular goal revolves about supplementing schools whose resources cannot address a full range of student needs, such as AP courses in small rural schools.
The Concord Consortium also draws upon the experience of its staff in inter-disciplinary and telecommunications-based science curriculum, such as microcomputer-based remote sensing investigations. E-School in Hawaii can be accessed over the Internet and/or instructional television and is supported by videos and CDs. 26 different secondary schools offer credit for its classes. And one student, moving to Florida, will be able to complete his work in his new home. This effort is one part of a DOEd Technology Grant program.
The New Century School House is also called "Raw Materials of the Mind"; this site is a gateway to databases in topics as diverse (or inter-related) as economics, sports, weather and culture. This link, though, is placed here, because the developers of the site have challenged students to design the rooms of the New Century School House. Most of the reform efforts are aimed at adults. This site will draw in the consumers--ie. students.
The state of Kentucky has established a virtual high school, especially for students who are isolated in rural areas to a ccess advanced courseware which would be too costly for one school to deliver itself. Now, many other states are offering similar capabilities.
MOODLE helps set up virtual schools, especially in crisis situations such as the SARS epidemic in China and the recent tsunami. This virtual school was as much about providing emotional and social support as meeting educational needs.
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Until recently, at the college level--and beyond--a mix of technologies have been used to deliver and respond to advanced, personalized learning opportunities. Now, some of these possibilities are trickling down to the K-12, especially high school, level. Many states are offering advanced placement courses, for instance, to regions in which such a small number of students sign up that a classroom teacher is prohibitively expensive.What are the pros and cons of this capability?
