E-Learning
The first site I visited was Florida Virtual School. I at first thought the website was difficult to navigate and wasn’t sure where to find the information about this on-line school that I was searching for. Once I spent some time clicking on different links, I discovered that there really was quite a lot of information on this site.
There was a disclaimer on this site that stated Florida Virtual School meets or exceeds most state standards. However, there was no elaboration. AP courses are offered but there is no certification for those courses, either. Hardware and software requirements were clearly outlined, although I could find no mention of any other learning tools other than the computer being used. Activities provided appeared to be appropriate to student age and reading level, multi-cultural in nature, diversified for learning styles, and gave students an opportunity to apply higher level thinking skills.
Progress reports were sent monthly with phone calls and e-mails as necessary. Additional resources were suggested for student enrichment and remediation. There was no mention of student-to-student interaction nor of updating courses on any kind of regularity. I could also find nothing about peer review of courses, just some testimonials from parents and students in favor of the program.
Certification was another gray area. At one point the site stated that teachers were certified in relevant subject areas and at another location the statement was made that teachers teaching Florida students were Florida State certified. Teacher training is provided for online instructors.
K12.
The second site I visited was the K12 site. K12 primarily offers courses for grades K through 8, although they do have a high school component. This high school component also offers AP courses, but details concerning official AP information were sketchy as they were in the other site I viewed. K12 is actually a program that can be implemented in school districts. Again the statement was made that the program meets or exceeds most state standards. This time you were encouraged to contact them for specifics. Public school teachers from the local district are the teachers employed in this program so they are certified but maybe not in the content they are teaching. This program required that students meet with teachers four times a year. Students were also required to interact with other students by virtue of required field trips, museum visits, picnics and other social outings. Teacher meetings could take place at these events. Mention was made that students could participate in extra-curricular events and teams but that decision was left to the local district.
Each family in this program was loaned a computer system so that hardware and software issues were not a concern. Courses could be customized for individual students depending on severity of need. There seemed to be a good student tracking system in place and offline books and materials were required for some of the classes. The course seemed to provide appropriate feedback to both parents and students concerning student progress.