Educators join virtual high school
Virtual High School Global Consortium, the pioneer of K-12 online learning and course design for teachers, announced recently that 62 additional educators and administrators in 15 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will soon start teaching or administering Virtual High School (VHS) courses at their school - two from Tulsa.
Having completed VHS’s 10-week NetCourse Instructional Methodologies (NIM) or 4-week Site Coordinator Orientation (SCO), many of these individuals have begun participating in the Spring semester presently in progress so that students at their school can enroll in VHS’s online courses.
Designed to supplement a school’s classroom curriculum, VHS is a non-profit, worldwide collaborative of high schools, teachers and students. VHS member schools have access to over 200 online elective, Advanced Placement and honors courses, which are delivered co-synchronously and taught by VHS teachers who actively teach in classrooms at their member schools. All are certified in their specific discipline and have completed a graduate level professional development program in online teaching. Instructors facilitate and continually monitor all courses, engaging students in discussions, and assessing each individual student’s progress.
VHS’s NIM program transforms traditional face-to-face classroom teachers into online instructors by introducing the pedagogy, methodology, and moderation techniques needed to effectively teach a VHS NetCourse. Participants learn how to foster online community-building, facilitate project-based and collaborative learning, promote online dialogue, design activities and assessments that achieve learning objectives or outcomes and become comfortable with the Desire2Learn online course platform.
A requirement of each VHS member school, a VHS Site Coordinator ensures the program runs smoothly at their school. A Site Coordinator becomes certified after completing SCO, an online professional development program in which they learn how to recruit and register students for online courses, coordinate materials and resources, monitor progress and more.
This Winter, the following teachers and administrators successfully completed either NIM or SCO.
- Shawn Calaway, Nathan Hale High School, Tulsa, OK
- Erica Walker, Will Rogers High School, Tulsa, OK
“We are pleased that these educators have recognized the value of online education and dedicated the time and effort needed to learn and master new skills,” said Liz Pape President & CEO of VHS. “By having these skills in their arsenal they will be able to grow in their profession, help their school adopt best practices in 21st century teaching, and make VHS an even stronger resource for the education community and students.”
Virtual High School is the pioneer of online course design and instruction for teachers and online education for high school students. Virtual High School partners with schools to provide rigorous, student-centered online courses that help expand rather than replace existing curriculum options. The VHS collaborative includes 676 member schools and more than 15,000 enrolled students from 30 U.S. states and 43 countries. The recipient of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2005, 2007 and 2008 awards for Excellence in Programming and Excellence in Best Practices and the Stockholm Challenge 2001 Award for exemplary use of technology in education, VHS was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.govhs.org or call (978) 897-1900.