Virtual school
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A virtual school or cyberschool describes an institution that teaches courses entirely or primarily through online methods. Though there are tens of thousands of commercial and non-accredited courses available online, the term "virtual school" is generally reserved for accredited schools that teach a full-time (or nearly full-time) course of instruction designed to lead to a degree. At the primary and secondary level, accreditation means that virtual schools tend to receive public funding; some publicly funded and private universities also provide accredited online degrees.
All student services are conducted through Internet technology. The virtual school differ/contrasts from the traditional school through the physical media that links administrators, teachers and students and is an alliance of public distance learning schools. Many states in the United States have their own virtual school, and many of them have students numbering in the thousands. By providing a student's social security number the person is then entered into a database where they can chose which classes they want to take.
There are many different virtual school instructional and enrollment models. Instructional models range from fully independent self paced courses to semester based, teacher facilitated courses. Class sizes range widely with anywhere from 25 students to as many as 200 students in each class section. Students keep in contact with teachers and collaborate with other students through web communication tools provided in the course delivery platforms like Blackboard[1] or Moodle [2]. In some cases students communicate by phone with instructors. To help with communication many virtual schools have implemented their own system programs to help build courses and maintain student profiles. There are also many books and training manuals to aid in the development of such schools and courses.
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[edit] History
Many of today's virtual schools are descendants of correspondence schools. Sometimes referred to as "distance learning," correspondence schools offered students an alternative to the traditional brick and mortar meetings within a schoolhouse. These schools utilized the postal service for student-teacher interaction, or used two-way radio transmissions, sometimes with pre-recorded television broadcasts. Students were expected to study their learning material independently and, in some cases, meet with a proctor to be tested. Modern virtual schools provide similar alternatives to students with a more ubiquitous and, often, interactive approach.
Virtual Schools now exist all around the world. Some of these virtual schools have been integrated into public schools (particularly in the United States), where students sit in computer labs and do their work online. In other situations, students can be completely home schooled, or they can take any combination of public/private/home schooling and online classes.
[edit] Pricing and location
Virtual schools may be free if the state pays for the courses, otherwise, there will be a course fee to be paid for by the student, parents or student's home school. Other materials would be purchased by the student, such as books.
Materials can also add up. Most courses will provide electronic materials free of cost, but others require some shopping on the students part. Textbooks are not required but can be used as an aid for coursework.
[edit] Materials
As mentioned earlier, many materials are provided free of cost. Some schools provide high quality programs, usually for web design classes. Some popular materials include Adobe products, Jasc products, and products from Macromedia. Other schools may use Corel products as a cheaper alternative. These products are usually free. You usually receive the full version of the selected program, with a limited license, usually 1 year or so. These programs are key in the success of virtual schools, and help them to improve each year. Many schools will also provide a brand new computer for all students in need of one. Generally, these computers run using the Microsoft operating system, Windows XP, but depending on your needs and coursework the school may also use Linux based computers or Apple Macintoshes.
[edit] Advantages and Disadvantages
One advantage of cyberschools is that a person does not have to travel to a real classroom to learn.
Another advantage is that online learning creates the opportunity for integrating digital media into the curriculum in an interactive format making teaching and learning more student centered.
Disadvantages include that a person must be self motivated to learn as learning cannot be enforced via the internet in the asynchronous model; and for the synchronous model, "lack of socialization" is often quoted[1], but recent anecdotal evidence[2] from one live cyberschool indicates that, while socialization may be different, it is not lacking.
[edit] Grading
Generally, grading is controlled by the teachers. There are 4 main types of assignments. Assessments are the most common, and include students uploading files, usually created using wordprocessors or spreadsheets. Worksheets are also common, and can consist of multiple choice, matching, short answer, and other questions. Most questions from worksheets are auto graded by the computer, but if a response is needed for any question, the teacher must manually grade that portion of the assignment. Discussions are common too. They usually have a very small grade value, and usually don't show up in the assignments section of the course, where you submit work and check scores. The final type of assignment is exams. These assignments usually count for a large part of the student's grade, and are usually taken at the end of modules, or at the mid-term point or final portion of a class.
The scoring system is generally the same as any public school system in the United States. In most schools a letter grade of A is accomplished when a student's number grade is between 90 and 100 percent. A score of 80 to 89 percent will earn a B, and so on. An F is the lowest score you can earn, and encompasses scores of 50 percent or below in most cases.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
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