Online Education Offers Opportunities

One of the great things about Georgia Virtual School and online education in general is that it offers many opportunities for students.  I have taught students online that are taking courses for a variety of reasons.   The student who is on hospital homebound and wants to graduate with her class.  The student who wants to challenge himself with an AP course only to learn his local school does not offer it.  Another student who is trying to learn enough to pass a standardized test to advance in her educational career.  In all of these cases the flexibility and availability of online education was there to help.  I think as time goes on many people: students, parents, teachers, and school administrators will begin to realize all of the opportunities that the world of online education can offer.

Your online "permanent record"! Check out this video! ALL of us need to be sure that we remember that everything we put on the web can be found! It's quite difficult to remove posts or photos that have been put out there!! Colleges and job recruiters will google your name to see what's out there! Fair warning everyone! (From Harriet)

Requiring an online experience?

This is Harriet again from the Guidance Office and Support Team. I have been hearing of states requiring students to have an online experience (not necessarily a class) before graduation. What do you think about this? If you look at statistics for the number of online courses being offered by colleges, both technical as well as four year institutions, I'd say it would be an advantage for everyone to become familiar with online learning!! What would you put in an intro to online course???

Journals

Blogs are a great tool to use to journal. You can use the blog to journal events that occur in your personal life, or use it to record responses to an assignment for class. Others, including your teacher, can comment on your posts. I use my personal blog to record the entire first year of my twins' life. I post pictures as well which allows family members all over the country to see how quickly the twins are growing.

Virtual learning - will it be the end of teachers? This is Harriet, Counselor and member of the Support Team. I hear this periodically from people who don't have any substantial experience with online learning. My personal answer is that of course not!! It will present a whole new career path for those who are interested in these new tools! I am so interested in collecting the stories from our Georgia Virtual School staff ....would love to get that collection of pro's and con's of online teaching started here! This topic could take us down many paths....let's hear from everyone!

Getting Started

Welcome to the very first posting on our new Georgia Virtual School blog, Virtuality. We hope those of you who are following us on Twitter (gavirtual) or who are taking Georgia Virtual School classes will also follow the updates on our blog.

Members of the Georgia Virtual community will be the authors of the postings on this blog. Look for updates every week or so. We hope you will comment on our postings and that we can spark some lively discussions about our program.