Virtual Schools

Smartboards and ipods litter the classrooms today. New media and virtual learning are playing a huge role in classrooms today. Ask any 8^th grader how many moons Jupiter has and many pull out their phone, text kgb or google the questions presenting the correct answer in seconds. Gone is the age where students conducted research by flipping through pages in encyclopedias. What if we took away the classroom leaving behind the student and technology...we get virtual schools, a remote third space where children can learn art, business and even take AP classes. What began in Maynard, Massachusetts in 1996 now involves over 11,000 students annually at the high school level incorporating over 500 schools.

Virtual High Schools (VHS) offer courses such as 101 Ways to Write a Short Story, AP Biology, AP Economics, AP French, AP Spanish, AP Psychology, Art and the Internet, The Holocaust, and Basic Mandarin Chinese. There are also rumors circulating that due to the growing number of international students the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum is going to be offered. VHS' mission is “to develop and deliver standards-based, student-centered online courses.” In extension each VHS participating school contributes by offering one classroom teacher to teach a VHS online course in his/her discipline as part of that teacher’s daily teaching responsibilities. In exchange, the school receives seats in VHS, which offer students courses not available from their local schools.

Think back to any online course or workshop you may have taken. Imagine having that ability to explore on your own time whenever and where you so desired.

For more information check out this VHS in Ontario: https://www.virtualhighschool.com/