March 24, 2001
Virtual HS grows from 2 to 12 at Columbian
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Students seeking a course that stretches their educational opportunities have sought out a new style of classroom.
Begun three years ago with two students, Virtual High School has grown at Columbian High School to 12 students and one participating teacher. The 15-week courses offer a wide range of subjects to high school students across the country, electronically, that they could not take at their home schools. The Virtual High School Cooperative Project, begun by the Hudson Public Schools in Hudson, Mass. and The Concord (Mass.) Consortium, offers 150 courses from teachers in 30 states to students in 350 participating high schools across the United States, as well as some international sites.
Junior Krista Bird took a course in political cartooning last semester. A paper is required every week, and students communicate with each other and the teacher through an electronic message board. She found it difficult to log in at the same time as some other students due to time-zone differences.
Kate Purnell is taking a course in American popular music and received a stack of compact discs to listen to for her coursework.
"An art teacher would send art materials,'' added Tiffin City Schools Gifted and Talented Coordinator Gail Shreiner. "The sponsoring schools are responsible for sending the materials.''
Amanda Homan, also a junior, is studying "Evolution and Natural Science'' over the Internet.
"It's an in-depth study of Darwin and his study of the Galapagos Islands,'' she said. Science courses fill up fast, as well as those in the arts and government, she said.
Another science student is Pritha Dalal, who is taking a chemistry course, where even lab work is done on line.
"They show a video that shows you the reaction and we can see what is formed,'' Dalal said. "You can replay it, and it shows you up a close up of what's formed. And it doesn't make a mess.''
All of the students interviewed said that it was important to be self-motivated to do well in an Internet high school course.
"It's hard to learn some things yourself,'' Dalal said. "You ask the teacher, but she might not get back to you until the next day; it could take a week to understand the lesson.''
They also said it was easy to get behind, with no one keeping track of student progress every day.
"No one is there telling you not to or to do something,'' Dalal added.
Sophomore Zach Foster is enjoying his course in "Military History and Theory: The American Civil War.''
"I like history and it's a different look at the Civil War, the battles, generals and tactics,'' he said of the course. "We have mostly discussion groups, and do research on the Internet.''
Students use the Columbian computer lab during free periods to do their work, or go on-line at home. For teacher Deb Baker, who is instructing students on "101 Ways to Write a Short Story,'' trying to log in to her on-line students before her regular school day starts helps her keep in touch with her cyber students.
"I feel more compelled to spend more time with them,'' Baker said of the virtual high schoolers. "Because I don't have the face-to-face contact, if I don't check in for a day, I feel guilty if I don't get to it.''
Due to the need for students enrolled to have a high degree of self-motivation, Baker said that some don't make a successful transition to an Internet course.
"I had three students that needed to drop; they just weren't coming to class enough.''
School coordinators are contacted if students are not working on their course work. "For all site coordinators, communication is just critical,'' Shreiner said.
The Virtual High School involvement for Columbian is due to a five-year grant that expires at the end of this year, Shreiner said.
"We have been fortunate that as part of the grant … we are not required to pay a participation fee for three years,'' she said.
She said the school board has been supportive of the program, and the $6,000 annual registration fee, because of the interest of the students in the program.
Some of the advantages, besides the variety of courses, are the feeling of working at your own pace, and everyone being on the same "playing field.''
"One of my students is deaf,'' Baker said. "Yet there is no stigma attached to him.''
"They don't have to deal with other students,'' Shreiner added. "They are all equal here.''
Dalal said that students use punctuation and other methods of making their postings stand out.
"You can tell a lot about a person by their postings,'' she explained. "They use postings to express their personalities.''
Students interested in enrolling in Virtual High School talk to counselors when making out schedules for the coming year.
"When they speak to any of the four counselors, they talk about what other opportunities that are available,'' Shreiner said. "We want to recruit students who like to do something different, who are self-motivated, and who are very committed to being in charge of their own learning.''
Students must have a grade point average of 3.0, or permission from the network coordinator and a 3.0 in their area of expertise.