Virtual Schools

INTRODUCTION: THE EMERGENCE OF THE VIRTUAL SCHOOL

Until recent times, schools have been characterised by the physical presence of teachers and students together. Usually, a building is used for instruction, and teaching materials such as topics or blackboards are often in evidence. In the 20th century, alternatives to what may be called “bricks-and-mortar” schools emerged. These were forms of distance education, where children could learn without attending classes on a regular basis. The technologies used included mail, for correspondence schools, and the 20th century technologies of radio and television.
Virtual schools can be seen as a variant of distance education. Russell (2004) argued that they emerged in the closing years of the 20th century and can be understood as a form of schooling that uses online computers to provide some or all of a student’s education. Typically, spatial and temporal distancing is employed, and this results in students being able to use their computers at convenient times in their homes or elsewhere, rather than being subject to meeting at an agreed upon time in a school building.
The concept of a virtual school is agreed upon only in broad terms, as there are a number of variants. Some virtual schools insist on an agreed upon minimum of face-to-face contact, while others are so organized that a student might never set foot in a classroom. It is possible for a virtual school to have no physical presence for students to visit, and an office building in one state or country can be used to deliver virtual school services to interstate or international students.
One way of categorizing virtual schools is by imagining where they might be placed on a scale of face-to-face contact between students and teachers. At the conservative end of this scale, there would be conventional schools, where students use online computers in classrooms or labs for some of their lessons. A trained teacher in the same subject area might be available to help students, or other teachers, volunteers, or parents could supervise them.
Toward the middle of such a scale would be mixed-mode examples, where some subjects are offered in virtual mode, but students are asked to visit the school on a regular basis to monitor their progress or to participate in other face-to-face subjects, such as sport, drama, or art.
At the other end of the scale are virtual schools where the student and teacher never meet, and there is no requirement for the student to enter a school building for the duration of the course. One example of such a virtual school is Florida High School, where, as the Florida High School Evaluation (2002) noted, there is no Florida High School building, and students and teachers can be anywhere in the world.


FACTORS PROMOTING THE RISE OF VIRTUAL SCHOOLS

The principal factors that account for the growth of virtual schools include globalisation, technological change, availability of information technology (IT), economic rationalism, the model provided by higher education, perceptions about traditional schools, and the vested interests of those involved in them.
The first of these factors, globalisation, refers to a process in which traditional geographic boundaries are bypassed by international businesses that use IT for globally oriented companies. It is now possible for curriculum to be delivered remotely from across state and national borders. Educational administrators can purchase online units of work for their school, and parents in developed countries can sometimes choose between a traditional school and its virtual counterpart.
As IT continues to develop, there is a correspondingly increased capacity to deliver relevant curricula online. As broadband connections become more common, students will be less likely to encounter prolonged delays while Web pages load or other information is downloaded. Advances in computers and software design have led to developments such as full-motion video clips, animations, desktop videoconferencing, and online music. Collectively, what is referred to as the Internet is already very different from the simple slow-loading Web pages of the early 1990s.
Economic rationalism also drives the spread of virtual schools, because the application of economic rationalism is associated with productivity. For education, as Rutherford (1993) suggested, the collective or government provision of goods and services is a disincentive to private provision, and deregulation and commercialisation should be encouraged. Consistent with this understanding is the idea that schools, as we know them, are inefficient and should be radically changed. Perelman (1992) argued that schools are remnants of an earlier industrial age that ought to be replaced with technology.
The ways in which higher education has adopted online teaching provide an example of how online education can be accepted as an alternative. The online courses provided by universities in recent years have proliferated (Russell & Russell, 2001). As increasing numbers of parents complete an online tertiary course, there is a corresponding growth in the conceptual understanding that virtual schooling may also be a viable alternative.
Those convinced that existing schools are unsatisfactory can see virtual schools as one alternative. Criticism of schools for not adequately meeting student needs, for providing inadequate skills required for employment, or not preparing students for examinations and entrance tests, are continuing themes that can be identified in a number of educational systems. Discussions related to school reform can include funding, resourcing, teacher supply, curriculum change, and pedagogy, but they can also include more radical alternatives, such as virtual schooling.

PROBLEMS OF VIRTUAL SCHOOLS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

Virtual schools face a number of challenges related to the way that teaching and learning are implemented in online environments. While similar problems can also be identified in conventional schools, the different natures of virtual schools serve to highlight these concerns. These problems include authenticity, interactivity, socialzsa-tion, experiential learning, responsibility and accountability, teacher training, certification, class sizes, accreditation, student suitability, and equity.
The first of these problems, authenticity, relates to the verification of the student as the person who has completed the corresponding assignments and tests from a virtual school. Virtual schools may assign students a secure password to use over the Internet, but this procedure would not preclude students from giving their passwords to a parent or tutor who completed the work on their behalf. A possible solution that may have to be considered is to independently test students to confirm that they have the understanding, knowledge, and skills suggested by their submitted work.
Interactivity describes the relationship between the learner and the educational environment. For virtual school students, there is an interactive relationship involving the multimedia, the online materials used, and the teacher. Students would typically access materials on the World
Wide Web, respond to them, and send completed work electronically to their teachers. The preferred way for students to become involved in online learning is to have an active engagement involving a response. If a student is directed to a static Web page containing a teacher’s lecture notes, learning may be less effective, unless other teaching methods are used to supplement it. The solution to this problem will be found in both the increased capability of students’ online computers to operate in a rich multimedia environment, and the recognition by course designers that virtual schools should take advantage of advances in learning theory and technological capability.
Socialization continues to be a problem with virtual schools, because there is an expectation in conventional schooling that students will learn how to work cooperatively with others and will internalize the norms and values necessary for living in a civilized community. Moll (1998) is concerned with disruption to the tradition of public education as the primary vehicle for the transference of national narratives and humanistic and democratic values. Clearly, socialization will still occur if students use online learning supplemented by some contact with teachers and opportunities for organized sports. However, students’ ability to relate to others in society is likely to change. Despite this concern, a type of virtual school that routinely insists on organized face-to-face learning and social situations, with peers, teachers, and other adults, will reduce the problems that otherwise are likely to arise
A related concern to that of socialization is the belief that Web culture is inherently isolating, and that by encouraging students to pursue their education with a virtual school, an existing trend toward loss of community may be exacerbated. Kraut et al. (1998) originally suggested that Internet use could be associated with declines in participants’ communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circles, and increases in depression and loneliness. However, more recent research (Kraut, Kiesler, Boneva, Cummings, Helgeson, & Crawford, 2002) found that negative effects had largely dissipated.
There are some teaching activities in conventional schools referred to as experiential. These usually involve some form of hands-on activity or physical interaction with others. Typically, a teacher will provide a demonstration, explanation, or modeling of what is to be learned, and activities that follow provide opportunity to correct errors. While virtual schools commonly offer subjects such as mathematics and social studies, the study of physical education, drama, art, and the laboratory component of science is more problematic. Sometimes the problem does not arise, because students will enroll only for subjects that they missed or that they need for credit toward a qualification.
A common solution to these problems is for the virtual school to provide online or print-based teaching materials, as with other subjects in the range to be offered. Students complete the activities and send evidence of the completed work to the school. The Open School (2002) in British Columbia, Canada, offers art in both elementary and secondary school levels. At the Fraser Valley Distance Education Centre (2002), students are invited to participate in a science fair by sending in digital pictures and a digital video clip of their project to the supervising teacher.
Changing notions of responsibility, accountability, and student discipline are also likely to arise in virtual school environments (Russell, 2002). In a traditional school, teachers accept responsibility for the students in their charge, including the prevention of physical injury, and accountability for using appropriate teaching techniques. When there is a spatial and temporal distance between teacher and student, teachers are unable to exercise some of their accustomed responsibilities. While there is still a requirement to act ethically, and to ensure that appropriate teaching materials and methods are used, much of the responsibility shifts to parents, students, and to the suppliers of the online materials.
Teacher training is also emerging as an area of concern. Virtual teachers will find that some new skills are required, while others are less important. Class management skills in a face-to-face environment will differ from their online equivalents, as will many of the teaching practices. Salmon (2002) identified a number of skills that will be required by online teachers in the future. It is clear that there will be an ongoing need to use technological skills and to apply these skills to an appropriate educational context. However, it is unlikely that many teachers’ colleges and other providers of trained teachers have modified their courses to reflect these changes, as mainstream teacher education is still focused on conventional school education. There are, nevertheless, some hopeful signs. The California Virtual School Report (2002) provided evidence of the use of online modules for teachers at Durham Virtual High School, in Canada, and a 15-week teacher-training program in Fairfax County School District.
Parents would normally expect that the virtual teacher working with their child would be a competent online teacher and be certified or registered with the corresponding school system. Where a student is working from home, and the principal contact with the teacher is by e-mail, the anonymity of the communication mode could conceivably cover the use of unqualified teachers. The necessity for demonstrating that a high-quality educational experience is being supplied is, however, likely to reduce this possibility. Florida Virtual High School uses only certified classroom teachers (Schnitz & Young, 2002, p. 4). As the online environment becomes more competitive, it is likely that virtual schools will provide evidence of their teachers’ certifications.
With conventional schools, the issue of class sizes is a perennial problem. The diversity of virtual schools means that it is not easy to determine corresponding workloads. The evaluation of Virtual High School (VHS; Kozma et al., 2000) revealed that some of the teachers involved in the case study had to complete their VHS work at home in addition to their normal teaching load during the day. When teachers are asked to take responsibility for large groups of students, the time available for individual attention is likely to be reduced, and the quality of the educational service provided may be less satisfactory. There are indications that some virtual schools have recognised this problem. Louisiana Virtual School (2002), for example, is limited to 20 students per course.
Accreditation of courses across geographic regions will also become an increasing problem. Palloff and Pratt (2001) noted concerns with the quality of online high school programs as early as 2001. Varying standards can mean that a course in one area is not recognized in another. Students will increasingly be able to choose programs across state and even national borders and complete their schoolwork by sitting at home with their computers.
An important item relating to the quality of a student’s educational experience in a virtual school is the recognition that not all students are suited to online learning. Already, some virtual schools try to determine whether the prospective student is suited to online learning by using questionnaires. Typically, these questionnaires ask students about their independent learning skills, motivation, time management abilities, and comfort with technology.
If virtual schools are perceived to be advantageous for those enrolled in them, there are also concerns as to when the access to them is seen as inequitable. Bikson and Paris (1999) found that there were “highly significant differences in household computer access based on income” (p. 9), in the United States. It is reasonable to assume that households with children will have less access to computers to use in a virtual school if they are part of a disadvantaged group. Unless there is careful planning, the use of technology-mediated education is likely, in the short term, to further entrench those inequalities that exist in society.

FUTURE TRENDS IN VIRTUAL SCHOOLS

Two broad trends can be identified in the growth of virtual schools. These are the continued expansion in the number of virtual schools, and the trend from virtual high schools to virtual K-12 schools. Research by Clark (2001, p. 3) indicated that more virtual schools began their operations in the United States during the period 2000-2001 (43%) than in the previous 4 years combined. Fifty-one percent ofvirtual schools surveyed offeredjunior high and middle school courses as well as high school courses, and about one in four schools offered courses across the whole K-12 spectrum (Clark, 2001, p. 4). In Canada, there is also evidence of growing demand for virtual schools. The 2-year cumulative growth rate for Alberta virtual schools was 125% (SAEE, 2002).
Collectively, the implication of these trends is that there will be increased attention devoted to those problems that arise from virtual schooling across the K-12 range. When virtual schools made their first appearance, it would have been possible for some educators to dismiss them because they were experimental, or ignore their existence because they catered only to a niche market of high school students. In some cases, this suggestion may still be valid, but support for virtual schooling is increasing, rather decreasing, and the nature of what is offered is becoming more comprehensive.

CONCLUSION

Virtual schools continue the tradition whereby students learn at a distance from their teachers. The availability of online courses through the Internet has simultaneously reduced the emphasis given to older forms of distance education, while it increased the opportunities for students to explore alternatives to traditional school education. It is likely that there will be an increase in the number of virtual schools, and that they will continue to attract students. The expected increase in the number and type of virtual schools is likely to provide both exciting possibilities and daunting challenges.

KEY TERMS

Bricks-and-Mortar Schools: These are traditional schools, where students attend at a physical school building.
Distance Education: A generic term referring to education where teachers and students are geographically separate. Modes employed include print and nonprint technologies.
Experiential Learning: Learning based on direct and unmediated instruction or on physical interaction with people and materials.
Globalization: The bypassing of traditional geographic borders using information technology to enable global orientation of business and remote curriculum delivery.
Interactivity: The relationship between the learner and the educational environment.
Socialization: The process by which students internalize the norms and values necessary for living in a civilized community.
Virtual School: A form of schooling that uses online computers for part or all of a student’s education.

Next post:

Previous post: