How can a student go to school at home, and yet not be considered home schooled? For high school students in North Carolina, the walk to their next class just got shorter. With 70,000 students enrolled since 2007, NCVPS or North Carolina Public Virtual School is the second largest virtual school program in the country, and it is growing. “We have an enrollment of around 19,000 students for the spring semester,” David Edwards, Chief Communication and Professional Learning Officer at NCVPS said. Through this program, as many as 112 high school courses are available online.
So what makes this program so popular?
“We have a very strong curriculum, and a very strong teacher support and a school based support that really helps to promote the growth and improve the quality of the program. Any student enrolled in a North Carolina public school or a North Carolina charter school is eligible to take the courses offered in this program,” Edwards said.
A student who wants enroll for these courses can meet his school’s distance learning advisor, who will help him get enrolled. Most of the high school courses that are currently offered online, have a particular enrollment period, which is follows the enrollment period of all North Carolina public schools. A high school student can take these courses and get credits for them, just like conventional classroom courses.
“Some of the programs have what is called as a rolling enrollment, which are the credit recovery programs,” Edwards said.
Some of the high school courses in science, math, languages, history and arts can also be taken by middle school students, for high school credit. The record of all students in maintained in the public schools’ database, and any course that a student takes online is synchronized with this database. High school students can also take some AP course, for college credit. These courses are recognized not just in North Carolina, but all over the country.
“I would have loved to take an online course when I was in high school if such an option would have been available then. I really could have taken some language courses which were not available in my school as there was no teacher to teach them. I wish they had such a thing then. My sister is in high school, and has taken some online course. She likes them better than some of her in-class courses,” said Ashley Johnston, a senior in political science.
The Friday Institute at N.C. State has been conducting external evaluations for the NCVPS since 2007. The main purpose of these evaluations has been to provide data for the NCVPS administration to improve their program. Three separate studies have been conducted to date, and over 4100 students, 303 teachers, 357 distance learning advisors, and 59 high school principals, provided feedback on NCVPS in them.
Dr. Kevin Oliver, Assistant Professor, Curriculum, Instruction, and Counselor Education at N.C. State said, “Evaluation work is continuing with NCVPS, tied to the state’s recent Race to the Top grant. Specifically, over the next three years evaluators will be investigating blended courses piloted in underserved districts to determine impact on student interest in STEM careers, among other outcomes.”
The NCVPS courses use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous delivery, allowing students the freedom to choose when to engage in their online course. Discussions boards, email, file exchange and collaborative groups are used as asynchronous tools which are available to the student at any time. In addition to this, synchronous media like telephone, text based chat and V.O.I.P are used to aid the student.
“We also have a 24 x 7 help desk which the students can access,” Edwards said.
“I think that there is a myth that virtual lectures are not personal. But when you can see the teacher on the screen and in addition if you can follow up with her email or text, then the whole experience is quite personal,” Jacob Smith, a foreign languages freshman said.
The teachers who participate in this program have to be North Carolina certified teachers. They also have to be a part of a program called Carolina Online Teacher Program. The teachers then work as contracted employees for the NCVPS. They normally have office hours which are after their regular school hours.
“We like the teachers who newly join this program to assist a teacher who has been taking online classes for some time. That way the transition is easier,” said Edwards.
“There are several students who do not participate in face to face discussions, but participate online. I had some video courses this semester, and I think that I had a very good experience [with them],” Edward McCoy, a junior in Industrial engineering said when asked about the social aspect of not taking classes in a physical classroom. “And it is not as if I don’t meet friends, or make new friends. Classes online are just more convenient. I don’t have to get up at 7 a. m. anymore,” he said.
Educators are convinced that technology will have an important part to play as the nation educates its future citizens. “I think the best aspect of NCVPS is that the students can take these courses whenever they like- they can take them during school, after school hours, or they can take them in a blended fashion where they take certain modules or lessons to support their learning in the schools,” Edwards said.
