Sizing up, virtually: whether buying existing courses or developing your own, online classes demand attention to detail

School Administrator, April, 2004 by Jim Hirsch

"Here it is, 11:56 p.m. on Sunday the 18th, and I just finished the course with an 80 percent average. Thank you so much for keeping me on track and giving me the chance to prove that I can do it."

That's how, unprompted, a once-struggling student in Plano, Texas, summed up his recent foray into the virtual world of learning. The student found the dynamics of online instruction much to his liking.

Our attempts in Plano to provide options that allow students to choose when and where they will attend classes are being replicated in school districts across the country. The growth of virtual school alternatives as a way to give students more flexibility in attaining course credits for graduation is escalating. STATS, a recent study by Interactive Educational Systems Design, indicates that more than 50 percent of U.S. high schools now use online courses.

School districts have two basic routes to incorporate online courses: Develop their own online curriculum or buy into an existing virtual school program (see list, page 19). Decision makers might consider six strategic questions before moving ahead with their plans to build their own online course offerings.

These questions deal with sizing up of existing providers, developing courses internally, providing sufficient administrative support, training online faculty and considering budget, space and equipment needs.

Proprietary Offerings

* What should you look for in an online course provider?

Check to see whether the course provider offers services other than course-based curriculum. It might be advantageous to have SAT/ACT test prep options, for example. Depending on your local circumstances, you may want to ensure the course provider can offer not only the course content but also teachers to mentor students as they progress through the course. (Providing support for online faculty will be discussed later.)

The course provider should offer a comprehensive system for monitoring and motivating student progress as more state regulations are requiring intensive reporting of online course activity (for instance, the number of hours spent on individual portions of the online course to provide the equivalent of seat time). The course provider should offer help desk services--a phone number where parents and students can speak to a live person for assistance in addition to email correspondence.

Any online courses offered for graduation credit should correlate to your existing written curriculum and must align to appropriate state standards. The online course provider should be able to demonstrate this and disclose the methods used to determine the alignment. Interestingly enough, you'll often find this correlation to be a subjective exercise on the part of the providers and local school districts.

In one instance in Texas, a national online course provider listed an algebra course as meeting state standards. That assurance was all one regional online school program needed to offer the course for state credit. However, a local school district-based virtual school did a more thorough review of the same algebra course and found it lacking in state standards in multiple areas and thus opted to reject state credit for the course. "Let the buyer beware" certainly applies to the correlation issue regarding online courses.

Online courses, when properly designed, offer many opportunities for students to participate in discussions as an ongoing activity within the course. Be sure to take the time to adequately check the level of interactivity offered by the vendor in the courses since interactivity often equates to greater student engagement. In fact, you may want to enlist the help of students to comment on the level of interactivity offered throughout the courses. Finally, references should be provided from school districts, parents and students who have recently participated in the online courses to gauge their degree of satisfaction.

Devising Your Own

* In lieu of an online course provider, how do you approach course development internally?

First, identify your primary target student population. For some districts, this might be a group of Advanced Placement students, while in other districts the target audience may be the at-risk student population. Are you providing opportunities for students to get ahead or an alternative to credit recovery? Will the courses be factored into the official GPA for students? Are you planning on providing courses for middle school or elementary school students?

Once you've answered such questions and identified the student group and the earned credit options, decide on the greatest course needs. Use faculty who are experienced in teaching the written curriculum and have taught online to complete your course design and content. More than one virtual school program has found that the course it created and offered online met the test of correlating to state standards, but did not adequately prepare students to take the subsequent course offered only in a traditional setting. Experienced faculty, by providing that overall knowledge, will ensure the online courses connect to the next level of study, whether students choose to take courses online or in a traditional school setting.