Student Testimonial

One of our Ga. Virtual students shared this wonderful testimonial with us. If you would like to share your story, please leave a comment to this post.

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Coming from a small school offering a narrow range of classes, I was desperate for a variety of challenging courses. Luckily, my counselor informed me of GAVS, which would allow me the opportunity to enroll in some courses not available at my school. Aside from the extensive list of course options, GAVS has several benefits. First, all of my instructors have been extremely helpful and responsive and offer online meetings to elaborate on the topics covered. Because of this, prospective students should not fear the lack of traditional instruction. Second, GAVS helps to develop organizational and scheduling skills. Assignments for each course are due weekly, and each student constructs his or her own weekly schedule to complete them on time. Finally, GAVS provides a network of other committed students in the state who want to make the most of their high school education.

GAVS has opened so many doors for me; most notably, it has given me the opportunity to take Advanced Placement courses to gain collegiate credit, thereby enabling me to remain on par with other top students in the state. After having taken three online courses, I am grateful to be able to say that, because of these classes, I feel highly prepared for college-level work. If you are someone who is self-motivated and responsible with at least basic computer skills, GAVS is right for you.

Lance White
Bacon County High School
April 30, 2009

Online Testing

This is the time of year for state End of Course Tests and for course final exams. Some Georgia schools require students to take their Georgia Virtual course exams in a proctored setting, though the exams are designed to be taken online without any proctoring. Most schools do not require proctoring.

Here is the question. Do you think a good test requiring some higher order thinking can be designed to accurately reflect a student's mastery of the performance standards in an online class? Most Georgia Virtual exams rely on the time limitation to assure students actually know their material. Do you think this works?

The required state test in some subjects means a student not living in Georgia must come to Georgia on a particular day to take his Georgia End of Course Test. Since this is administered online, it seems to me the test could be taken anywhere there is a suitable proctor and an Internet connected computer. However, both the state and Pearson, the testing company, prohibit students from taking these tests outside of the state. If you are from another state, how does your state online program deal with this issue and other testing situations?