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One school's
quantum leap
In Florida, a Class of 2004 will do all its learning
online
By Karen Thomas, USA TODAY
POLK COUNTY, Fla.-- Go ahead and build it, they said.
No one
will come.
The lackluster faith of district-level educators in a
futuristic cyber high school didn't discourage principal Sue Braiman. Good
thing. She has had to turn away as many students as she can accept for the
new Daniel Jenkins Academy, a groundbreaking public school of tomorrow
that's here today.
When doors open this fall, all academics will be
taught online.
This week, students take their first bold plunge
into the fast-approaching new world. Using any computer, Jenkins' students
will register for online classes through the state's Florida High School,
which will act as a sub-contractor to the new school and provide all
academic courses and online teachers. The 3-year-old FHS has, until now,
focused on serving individual students throughout Florida who wanted an
online alternative to traditional public high school.
Jenkins'
students are the first to gather as a class in a brick-and-mortar school
to complete their learning online. Web-based, innovative learning such as
that offered by FHS will take a step closer to becoming an everyday
educational experience.
"You just go for it," says Marilyn Butler,
who made a "mad dash" to enroll her son Owen, 14, for the ninth grade at
Jenkins. Owen is among 30 freshmen -- a handful of 10th- and 11th-graders
also signed on -- who plan to complete high school online to be Jenkins'
first virtual class at graduation.
USA TODAY will monitor closely
this pace-setting Class of 2004 and chronicle in a series of articles the
triumphs and missteps, successes and mishaps of the students, parents,
administrators and teachers. Educators throughout the USA, too, will be
watching to see whether the co-mingling of traditional high school culture
with pioneering Web-based academics, a project that has never been tried
on this scale, can succeed.
"We want to know about these
cutting-edge projects out there," says Kathleen Fulton, project director
for the Web-based Education Commission, a national congressional group
that was formed to look at the educational potential of the Internet and
report back to Congress in November. Little concrete research exists about
the effectiveness of online learning in K-12 students, even though new
initiatives and funding are compelling schools to look to new technologies
to improve learning.
An idea takes
shape
Braiman's brainstorm is rooted in a very common
non-academic problem that faces many schools today: space. Construction on
the dilapidated Daniel Jenkins building couldn't be completed by fall to
house students, teachers, classrooms and labs necessary for a full high
school curriculum. But there was room for students with desk-top and
laptop computers to link with teachers and learning.
She was
overwhelmed by the number of parents and students who eagerly jumped on
board, enticed by Jenkins' promise of small classes and the
individualized, self-paced education offered with online courses that
allow students to build their school day around their learning strengths.
Students will plug in to their most difficult courses when they feel the
most alert. Some will schedule courses in long blocks of time; others are
more comfortable switching subjects every 45 minutes.
The focus of
an online school will be education, say many Jenkins parents who
complained of chaotic school days plagued with discipline problems,
classes packed with 45 to 50 students, busy teachers and regular bomb
threats that disrupt learning for hours at a time.
Most intriguing
to Fulton's team is the classroom culture, she says: "Is that something
that will survive in an online environment?"
Unlike most
ninth-graders in schools across the USA this fall, Jenkins' students will
have no classroom teachers. Instead, in-school facilitators, counselors,
resource teachers and a technical team will guide students through their
individual curriculums. Full-time online teachers in homes throughout
Florida will provide instruction, assignments and grades, leading up to a
face-to-face, paper-and-pencil final exam required for course credit that
meets state standards.
And the Jenkins class won't be typical
distance-learners: online students who are often alone when they meet
teachers and classmates in a virtual classroom. Instead, Jenkins students
will come to school daily and share lunch together. Their school days will
be filled not only with academics and instruction but also with hallway
mingling, locker-side chitchat and after-school life lessons learned in
the parking lot.
Some students also may choose to be part of the
band, drama club or participate in sports at a nearby high school, where
many would have been enrolled if Jenkins weren't an
option.
"Honestly, the students don't have to be in the building,
but we decided that the culture of high school is so important," Braiman
says. "They become a cohesive group among themselves, and that was
important enough to us to say, 'You have to be here every day.'"
There will be days, though, when students will be required to
complete away-from-school projects and field trips. "You will not complete
a course just sitting in front of a computer," FHS counselor Rosemary
DuRocher told the excited students last month as they were being
introduced to the logistics of registering.
Blending the two
worlds "is the logical next step," says Judy Salpeter, editor in chief at
Technology & Learning magazine. She has been following the
Net's infiltration into the nation's schools for 13 years. "I wonder what
kind of social coherence they'll develop in class, and what kind of
relationships they'll build with other online students?"
Will
bringing together learners on a daily basis quell critics who fear that
the wired generation is growing up isolated and lacking in social
experiences? Are self-paced, online academics a solution for overcrowded
classrooms -- the No. 1 complaint among Jenkins' parents and students --
where kids often feel invisible and teachers feel unable to give
individual attention?
About 30% of Jenkins' students are likely to
return to traditional high school by November, says Felicia Ryerson, the
FHS regional coordinator who has been working closely with the Jenkins
staff. Most of those students struggle with time management and written
communication. But because that's the average for FHS students learning
from non-classroom settings, no one is sure whether the Jenkins class will
fare better in their quasi-schoolroom
environment.
Real-life concerns
Will
Jessica Berry, 14, long for more classmates (read: boys)? What about the
shy young man who until he was offered a spot at Jenkins had planned to
drop out after the ninth grade? Will Sarah Yani, 13, get over her concerns
that colleges won't look as favorably on online advanced-placement class
as they do on traditional courses? Will Keri Varney, 15, be able to speed
up her acceptance into the culinary school she longs to attend? Can
Brittany Weeks, 14, and Thomas Welsh, 14, and Heather Gonzalez, 13,
forgive their parents for making them attend?
The most significant
factor for successful online learning is those adults in students' lives
who will guide students through technical frustrations and time
management, Ryerson says. "Grade-point average is not a significant
contributor."
Among the valuable lessons from FHS that will guide
the Jenkins students is taking a light load in the first year. Students
will carry only five courses "as they adjust to the environment," Ryerson
says. "It'll be tough. The learning curve is so great. In the first 30
days, kids aren't learning a lot of academics in an online course. It
takes a good 30 to 40 days to get really comfortable; then they speed
along." Those who excel will be able to add that extra class in January
(in the virtual world, when you're done with a course, you're done,
whether it's June or not). Others may use summers to make up that one
missing course required before graduation.
The campus environment
may add some new challenges to online students, including keeping them
focused on their computer and avoiding the "feeder effect," Ryerson says.
"We've found that if one student gets frustrated and starts making
comments out loud -- 'This is a stupid assignment!' -- all of a sudden
other students are getting frustrated."
The students signed on for
Jenkins' ninth grade say they've thought long and hard about their
decision and are willing to struggle -- and hope to persevere -- through
those aggravations.
They're eager to be tomorrow's chefs, actors,
farmers, scientists, politicians and business executives.
For
today, they like chess or shopping or hunting or dancing. Many take French
or Spanish. Some excel at AP History; others struggle through English
Skills. There are a few saxophone players, a guitar player and more than a
half-dozen who play with the band. Several kids are into volleyball or
video games or church.
Their favorite subjects? Lunch, many say.
(At Jenkins, the dining room will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with
students themselves scheduling their breaks.)
Come fall, they'll
be fused together in a virtual world that's seeming less and less distant
with every high school commencement ceremony.
"I know four other
people who are going, and that was a surprise," says Jessica Berry. Keri
Varney declares "missing friends" as the hardest part. "They were
interested, but their parents weren't. They thought that it's not a real
school, just a way to get out early."
Brandon Bryant, 13, can't
wait. "It'll be a cool way to go to school!"
Several students are
cheerleaders. There's a handful of football and baseball players and about
a dozen who belong to the drama club. Like many from this part of the
country, which is rich in citrus orchards, quite a few students
participate in the 4-H Club and Future Farmers of America.
"What I
don't want to lose is their ability to socialize with each other and the
feeling they have for school pride," Braiman says. "That's a big reason
kids go to school."
Or at least why they love to go.
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