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Norwood High School students next year may be taking virtual classes - sort of.
School officials have included $12,000 in the fiscal 2009 initial budget request to purchase Virtual High School, an online education service that offers high school students an array of more than 200 courses ranging from Advanced Placement to electives.
High School Assistant Principal Thomas Raab told the School Committee last week that joining the service, which requires both one-time purchases and an annual fee, will allow the high school to offer students courses that otherwise would not be available to them.
"We do not envision this as a tool to replace courses we already offer," said Raab.
Raab said he envisions Virtual High School, which is a nonprofit online organization, will be used to offer students AP courses or electives, such as meteorology or Mandarin Chinese, the high school does not or cannot offer.
The courses are taken entirely online and students enrolled in them will be provided time during the day to have access to a computer to take the lessons, said Raab. Interaction with the teacher and fellow students will be done via a message board. Each participating school is limited to 50 participants each year.
Superintendent Ed Quigley said the tool will also allow high school officials to get more students into classrooms.
"In some cases, this will replace study halls, or students taking elective classes that they're really not that interested in, but they were the only ones available," said Quigley.
Raab said, if approved, administration will have to develop an application system to determine which students are allowed to take Virtual High School courses.
School Committee members were generally in favor of the tool.
Member Chris Morrison said it's a relatively cheap way to increase the school's offerings without killing the budget.
"By my math, this will give 50 students a chance to take a course they can't take today at a cost of about $140 a student," said Morrison. "You hear the term 'short money,' but that is really short money."
"This is outside the box thinking - this is where we're going, and I'm in total support of this," said member Mark Joseph.
But member Paul Samargedlis was not as enthusiastic, saying he would like to see a program that at least involves videoconference classes that would add more interaction between teacher and student.
"This society spends a lot of time online as it is, and I don't think a student will get the passion from this that a teacher can bring to the classroom," said Samargedlis.
If approved, joining Virtual High School will require training for a teacher and program administrator. Training courses may be taken online.
Daily News Staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or at bfalla@cnc.com
Norwood High School students next year may be taking virtual classes - sort of.
School officials have included $12,000 in the fiscal 2009 initial budget request to purchase Virtual High School, an online education service that offers high school students an array of more than 200 courses ranging from Advanced Placement to electives.
High School Assistant Principal Thomas Raab told the School Committee last week that joining the service, which requires both one-time purchases and an annual fee, will allow the high school to offer students courses that otherwise would not be available to them.
"We do not envision this as a tool to replace courses we already offer," said Raab.
Raab said he envisions Virtual High School, which is a nonprofit online organization, will be used to offer students AP courses or electives, such as meteorology or Mandarin Chinese, the high school does not or cannot offer.
The courses are taken entirely online and students enrolled in them will be provided time during the day to have access to a computer to take the lessons, said Raab. Interaction with the teacher and fellow students will be done via a message board. Each participating school is limited to 50 participants each year.
Superintendent Ed Quigley said the tool will also allow high school officials to get more students into classrooms.
"In some cases, this will replace study halls, or students taking elective classes that they're really not that interested in, but they were the only ones available," said Quigley.
Raab said, if approved, administration will have to develop an application system to determine which students are allowed to take Virtual High School courses.
School Committee members were generally in favor of the tool.
Member Chris Morrison said it's a relatively cheap way to increase the school's offerings without killing the budget.
"By my math, this will give 50 students a chance to take a course they can't take today at a cost of about $140 a student," said Morrison. "You hear the term 'short money,' but that is really short money."
"This is outside the box thinking - this is where we're going, and I'm in total support of this," said member Mark Joseph.
But member Paul Samargedlis was not as enthusiastic, saying he would like to see a program that at least involves videoconference classes that would add more interaction between teacher and student.
"This society spends a lot of time online as it is, and I don't think a student will get the passion from this that a teacher can bring to the classroom," said Samargedlis.
If approved, joining Virtual High School will require training for a teacher and program administrator. Training courses may be taken online.
Daily News Staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or at bfalla@cnc.com
