Virtual High School Opportunities at the High School

by Lynn K. McMullin

Already the time is upon us when students in grades 8 - 11 begin registering for next year’s classes! With that in mind, I wanted to share some information with you about one of the 21st century options we have available at the high school level – VHS!

What is VHS?

Virtual High School, or VHS, is a perfect opportunity for your independently motivated student to take a specialized online course for a semester or full-year. Currently, 14 Canton students take a variety of courses through Virtual High School, Inc., the industry-leader in online high school education. Over 650 schools subscribe to VHS, Inc. representing 31 states and 34 countries. When I look at a the catalog, there are several I would have loved to take when I was in high school.

First, however, let’s clarify VHS, because not all online courses are VHS, Inc.! The term “virtual high school” is often used generically, much like chapstick or diet coke is used. Some virtual high school courses, for example, are offered by colleges and universities; others are intended for families engaged in home-schooling; many are not taught by a teacher and are what’s called ‘static content courses’ with computer-scored assessments. Canton is a client of VHS, Inc. through the Capitol Region Education Connection (CREC), our local educational services provider. Other area schools, such as Simsbury and Granby, are subscribers of VHS, Inc. as well.

How does VHS, Inc. work?

VHS courses are offered through the Internet in a BlackBoard format, which is the common format for the online higher-education courses offered by many colleges and universities. Each day your student would log into his/her chosen course. From the course’s homepage, your student would use tabs for daily announcements, assignments, grades, discussions, and the user directory. All VHS, Inc. courses are designed by and monitored by a real, certified teacher somewhere in the United States. But the courses are ‘asynchronous,’ meaning your student can complete his/her work from any computer … at any time of day. Up to 25 students from across the country can be enrolled in any given course at a time. The teacher sets up the reading assignments and activities for the week, and all the work will be due at the end of a seven-day period; for example, the coursework might always be due on Tuesdays.

The tasks vary from week to week. Your student may have to respond to assigned articles through a monitored blog with his/her online classmates. The teacher might assign students to view online video clips, to interview local experts in the Canton community about a topic, or to listen to and record speeches. Your student’s individual work is always private, even though he/she will electronically submit papers to the teacher and receive them back electronically from the teacher with the grades and comments.

Sound good?
So, how does your student enroll?

It’s actually pretty simple. First, you and your student should discuss whether an online course is a good match for your student’s learning style. Research, reading, writing, online communicating and collaborating with peers, and time management are required to successfully complete a VHS course. Students working in an unscheduled, online environment must be organized and self-motivated. Next your student would select a course from the VHS, Inc. catalog and complete Canton’s basic VHS application available through guidance. The Canton guidance counselor and the VHS advisor, Melissa Cook, will try to determine if your student will excel in this format.

VHS offerings include 200 full-semester or full-year courses in every interest area and include many specialized topics. They offer 15 full-year Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and Canton students have been extremely successful in AP classes, as well as offerings such as “Bioethics Symposium,” “Engineering Principles,” “Oceanography,” “Environmental Chemistry,” “Pre-Veterinary Medicine,” “Anatomy & Physiology,” “Philosophy,” and even “Gods of CNN.”

You can view the full VHS, Inc. course catalog online at www.govhs.org.

How do we support VHS students?

First of all, Canton pays for Virtual High School, Inc. courses regardless of whether they are a semester long or year long. One or two students have even taken two VHS, Inc. courses in their high school careers. While it may not seem it, Canton’s VHS application process is actually a support system. It is very important to your student’s success that he or she understand the time and commitment a VHS course requires; VHS courses are not ‘a walk in the park.’ Through this application process, the counselors and VHS advisor can make sure your student and you understand the intricacies of online learning.

Our VHS Coordinator, Melissa Cook, has been trained in the BlackBoard format and technology, so she can offer tech support when necessary. She is also there to help students locate special resources when required. One student needed a specific graphing calculator, for example, which Melissa was able to provide for the duration of his course. But most important, Melissa regularly checks on the academic progress of all our VHS students. She requires them to email a screen shot of their grades once a week. If a student is not doing well, Melissa pulls the student into her classroom for extra support. For that student, the asynchronous-nature of the course is temporarily suspended; and the student is assigned a class period during the school day to complete his/her VHS work. When the student is ready, he or she can return to the asynchronous environment as soon as possible, since independence is one of the goals of the program.

If VHS, Inc. courses sound interesting -- and I certainly hope they do! -- check out the website and contact guidance.