“I wasn’t a great virtual student to begin with,” said Amarrah Kean, who attends Schoolcraft High School in Livonia, Michigan, after completing an advanced composition course online through Michigan Virtual High School. “With millions of Web sites designed to entertain, it was sometimes an arduous task to use studying tips and stick to schoolwork.”
Mastering high school academics online was the very challenge Michigan legislators were hoping to help students overcome when they signed a law this year requiring students have at least one online learning experience before graduation. Michigan was the first state to enact such a requirement.
“One of the reasons Michigan passed an online learning requirement was to help children develop 21st century learning skills,” says Jamey Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of Michigan Virtual High School. “Lots of kids can download songs or instant messages, but they aren’t equipped to go beyond recreational use of the Internet to advance their own education.”
Since the nonprofit Michigan Virtual University launched its Michigan Virtual High School site in 2000 and began offering online courses to teens, students have signed up for more 23,000 courses at the site (www.mivu.org and www.mivhs.org). They are logging on to learn about high school literature, algebra and everything in between.
Starting with the class of 2011, Michigan graduates will be among those leaving high school a step ahead of the crowd, according to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
“Our online learning requirement makes Michigan a leader among all the states in using the power of the Internet to create learning opportunities in the classroom, the home and the workplace,” Granholm said. “In a world that demands lifelong learning, we are giving our students and our state a competitive advantage when it comes to landing the good-paying jobs of the 21st century economy.”
What's Next?
The new online learning requirement starts with this year’s eighth graders, so these first students have five years to fulfill that online course requirement — plenty of time to work it into high school schedules.
The architects of this new plan have not overlooked parents who have yet to learn their cell phone text messaging, much less signing their children up for online courses. But parents with visions of Googling “high school course” with crossed fingers can relax. Schools will partner with families to make sure kids are enrolling for the right online classes — and in many cases will act as a go-between.
For example, CareerForward is a ninth grade Michigan Virtual High School course that may also involve interaction with local teachers. It’s a free way to meet the new requirement and a lot cheaper than traditional online courses that cost hundreds of dollars.
For those families who can afford to invest in online learning, courses range from oceanography to entrepreneurship to astronomy. These courses can take kids out of the classroom to new and exciting worlds.
“About once every week, I sit…with students from different schools, different states and even different time zones,” says Grand Rapids homeschooler Tonya An. “It’s the 21st century…. Technology has expanded the boundaries of learning far beyond the brick walls of a high school classroom and has taken education to a new level — the virtual.”
Rebecca Kavanagh is a freelance writer from Farmington Hills, Michigan.