Online classes aren’t just for the higher education crowd; an increasing number of high school students are taking courses online, and in Alabama, online education will become mandatory next year.

Starting in the 2009-10 school year, Alabama high school students will be required to take at least one distance learning course in order to graduate. (Michigan already has such a requirement.) Online classes are becoming extremely popular with schools and with students. Some small schools are not able to offer a wide variety of courses. In those cases, online education fills the those needs at a very low cost to the school. Online courses also provide flexibility for students and teachers. Students who need more than traditional classrooms can provide for work, athletic, family, and other reasons can take online courses and continue progressing towards graduation. A third benefit is that many students who might otherwise drop out of school for life reasons can stay in-school online.

Nationwide, online options for high school students are booming, with a number of online-only high schools, such as the International Virtual Learning Academy. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 309,630 high school students were enrolled in online courses in 2004-05. As new data comes available, many educators estimate the national number is likely over 600,000.

Online high school classes cater not only to students looking to take classes beyond what their schools offer, but also to home-schooled students, students whose schedules don’t allow them to take the in-person classes they need, and gifted students who need to study at a faster pace than others.

Global Student Network, a provider of online curriculum for grades 2-12, has been helping schools across the nation to serve their students needs. Global Student Network assists schools of all sizes to establish and operative their own Virtual Learning Academies. Schools and school districts have found this standards based curriculum to be the ideal match for their teachers and students.

At a NACOL symposium, virtual-school students discuss why they left their regular schools in favor of online instruction

International Virtual Learning Academy students say they enjoy the flexibility online classes provide.

What motivates a growing number of virtual-school students to forgo the traditional school structure and take their classes entirely online?

At the Virtual School Symposium hosted in mid-October in Phoenix by the North American Council for Online Learning, virtual-school students from a variety of programs explained they like being able to progress at their own pace–and some said they appreciate being able to take classes not offered by their traditional, bricks-and-mortar school.

Some of the comments made by the student panel, which spoke in front of the entire NACOL conference:

• I left conventional school because I wanted to study at my own pace while holding a job outside of school and focusing attention on out-of-school topics that related to college interests.
• “I was looking for something different to fit my schedule, and the traditional system wasn’t making the cut,”
• “You can create your own schedule. … It’s not the same routine I’d have in the traditional system, and I can get more of what I want to do done,”
• An online school also lets me choose courses that a traditional school might not offer, such as courses that focus more on computer science and graphics.
• “I’m really drawn by technology–that’s one of the main reasons I joined the school,”
• “In the traditional system, [the] main problem is that classes [move] only as fast as the slowest student … so it doesn’t adapt to your own learning style and learning environment. It really slows you down if you want to get ahead.”
• Enrolling in a virtual school not only frees up time for students to pursue other interests, it also teaches them valuable time-management skills.
• Working so independently encourages the same type of time-management skills that college students need to be successful.  Managing classes, assignments, and social activities can be daunting, but most students develop a routine quickly.

International Virtual Learning Academy is part of a rapidly expanding resource for online education. A study released during the Virtual School Symposium confirms that the total number of full-time virtual-school students in the United States is on the rise, “along with a continued increase in the number of new full-time programs.” (See “Report assesses K-12 online learning.”)

Education leaders would be wise to listen to what students have to say, and consider ways they can build opportunities for self-paced learning and more freedom of choice into their own school offerings–or else risk losing a growing number of students to online schools that operate outside their domain.

International Virtual Learning Academy students have access to guidance counselors to help them navigate the college application process. Adding a high school component to the company’s virtual offerings made it necessary to provide a robust guidance-counselor support staff, a company representative said.

Even virtual-school teachers at the symposium said they liked many of the freedoms that come with teaching in an online environment.

Not just students, but teachers, too, can become frustrated in a traditional school setting, because much of their time is devoted to tasks such as asking students for late passes or collecting various assignments.

• “I’m not a disciplinarian now; I’m an educator,” one Virtual Academy Teacher said, adding: “Online, there is more one-on-one education.”
• “I have always looked for … alternative ways for students to learn. All students do not learn the same way–they are totally different,”
• In a traditional classroom, educators can “try to think outside of the box, but you’re still faced with the one-size-fits-all model,” she said. “If we know that all students are different, then we have to do something different. This is going to be one of the major reform efforts that education will see.”

International Virtual Learning Academy, like many other online schools, provides individualized education for each student. During the enrollment process, a student’s transcripts and learning needs are assessed, and a graduation plan is developed specific to their needs. Each course is taught by a highly qualified teacher with extensive training in online education.

For more information, visit the International Virtual Learning Academy at: www.internationalvla.com