Notes+about+Cyber+Education

Notes about Cybereducation Ask Virtual High School CEO Liz Pape what she thinks her organization has to offer high school students and she'll tell you in no uncertain terms: great content, curriculum not available in kids' regular schools, a chance to interact with people around the world, a 24/7 learning experience, an environment that tends to include, rather than exclude kids. Pape's cyber school, a non-profit entity, primarily works with educators in traditional high schools to provide a wider variety of courses for their students. Since 1997, enrollment has mushroomed, from 710 students in 11 states to more than 5,000 students in 26 states and 10 countries. Pape's forecast for next year: 7,500 enrollees. While critics may find Pape's glowing assessment of online education for the under-18 crowd flawed—isolation and too much spent time in front of a computer are common complaints—schools like Pape's, which focus on varying aspects of a K-12 education, continue to pop up across the country. Today there are roughly 2,400 publicly-funded cyber-based charter schools and state and district virtual schools in 37 states, with an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 students participating in online courses, says Susan Patrick, Director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology. While those numbers may seem small, they are expected to grow. Some kids are opting to leave traditional schools and get their entire education online from home. Others remain in school but use virtual classrooms to take courses not offered in their own schools. Some web sites focus purely on tutoring services.

Virtual classrooms are still outnumbered by brick-and-mortar schools, but they are gaining popularity. A glimpse of the future
==By Laura Fording=

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4633126/