DO I STILL NEED A LIBRARY CARD if I go to school on the Internet? Distance education is becoming as big a fad as cell phones and rave parties and many are beginning to wonder if P.E. class can be taken in cyberspace. One popular type of distance education is the "virtual high school." 
           
Who might attend

A virtual high school is typically state-approved and accredited to provide classes via the Internet to any student regardless of where they live or what district they are enrolled in. The virtual schools focus mainly on Advanced Placement and college-preparatory courses in the kinds of subjects that many traditional high schools don't have enough teachers or money to offer.

Proponents say cyber education has many advantages, such as:

 

Classroom vs. Computer

It permits students in poor districts opportunities for advanced classes that have traditionally been available only in upscale areas.
It provides home schooled students with instruction in subjects their parents might not be able to teach.
It meets the needs of those in hospitals or recovering at home, dropouts who would like to get back in, expelled students, single parents and students in other states or countries looking for nontraditional educational solutions.
And, in an age when many schools are overcrowded, cyber learning makes financial sense, too, because schools do not need to modernize or build new buildings in order to provide quality online classes.
However, there are some down sides to cyber learning. Virtual high school programs are so new that there haven't been many evaluations done to measure the quality and effectiveness of these programs. Some people worry, as well, that fraudulent companies will try to sell inferior classes to unsuspecting students.

Educators agree that although virtual high schools are becoming more popular, no one's tearing down any schoolhouses just yet. Most believe that virtual schools provide great opportunities but should be used in addition to traditional classrooms.

The number of distance learning ventures across the United States that are offering high school credit for online courses is growing by leaps and bounds. Among the states that have created virtual high schools are Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska and Utah.

One of the first pre-college virtual schools, The Virtual High School, was started in 1996 by the Hudson (Massachusetts) Public School System and the Concord Consortium. The VHS project is a collaborative of high schools from around the country that offers participating schools Net Courses in exchange for teaching time. More than 3000 students from 200 schools can choose from more than 150 classes offered.

The map shows the states that offer online courses in yellow

For more information about virtual high schools, see the following related articles:

Virtual High Schools: The High Schools of the Future?
Virtual High, Real Opportunity
Students and teachers experiment with virtual high schools
As Distance-Learning Boom Spreads, Colleges Help Set Up Virtual High Schools

Melissa Marinello
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology