High school principals had nothing but praise for the school system’s newly implemented virtual high school, an online curriculum program for students who have fallen behind, or want to get ahead.

The virtual high school is a series of online curriculum operated through e4TN, a state-owned e-learning program aligned with state education standards. School officials have said it is intended for students who have fallen behind on coursework, or were on the verge of dropping out.

The new program is just finishing its first month, and principals say they are already seeing inspiring results. Dickson County High School Principal Ed Littleton said it has made a difference for students who didn’t learn as well in traditional school settings.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual High School students off to fast start

Overton High School teacher Ray Fox likes to stay on the cutting edge of technology. The math instructor will be teaching an online statistics class this fall.

“I’m excited about it to see how it works and to see the possibilities of it,” said Fox.

It seems this type of technology may just be the beginning for Metro schools. Starting this year, the district will actually have a virtual high school. Students will be able to forego the class room. If they choose, they can earn all the credits needed for graduation online.

For the rest of the article, go to Metro Develops Virtual High School

Metro Schools’ first virtual high school, offering online classes for grades 9-12, has a few slots available for full-time students and hundreds of part-time course openings for those who want to take a class while wearing pajamas.

Home-schooled, private school students, or anyone living in Tennessee can apply. Metro will limit its first group of full-time virtual students to 10.

If a Metro senior takes that final year as a full-time online student, he will graduate with Middle College.

For the rest of the article, go to Full, parttime slots remain for Metro’s Virtual High School

Metro Schools’ first virtual high school, offering online classes for grades 9-12, has a few slots available for full-time students and hundreds of part-time course openings for those who want to take a class while wearing pajamas.

For the rest of the article, go to Nashville’s first virtual high school is accepting applications

There’s a myth going around that kids don’t learn anything in the summer but Hamilton County’s virtual school is working hard to change that.

These elementary students at Bess T Shepherd school are up bright and early this summer as part of Hamilton County’s virtual school program. They’re learning math, language and science, and much of their contact with teachers is made by sending e-mail.

“They do, they get e-mail from instructors, lab coordinator, and they send it to each other, which is really fun, ” says teacher Jennifer Moser.

Teachers like Moser say such activities gives these students a chance to be on equal footing when school starts back and the students are learning how to use computers to their advantage.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual school helps kids learn during the summer

Fresh off its Race to the Top win, Tennessee is leading a group of states in competing for another $50 million in stimulus money from the federal government.

This time, the state’s online school, E4TN — whose director is Hamilton County Schools employee Wendy Oliver — is heading up the Investing in Innovation, or i3, grant proposal.

The idea is to combine the strengths of the state’s already developed virtual schools into a multistate program and give more students access to the courses while also conducting research on what makes an effective online teacher.

“There isn’t teacher-effect data for online teachers,” Ms. Oliver said. “Until you have a large enough sample size, you can’t really determine what that is.”

Since 2005, the number of students participating in online learning has grown by 800 percent in Tennessee, Ms. Oliver said.

Winners for the federal money should be chosen late this summer.

For the rest of the article, go to Online schools grant sought

The newest high school in Nashville won’t have walls. Or desks. Or books.

Metro Nashville Public Schools will open its first virtual high school this fall. Courses will be offered entirely online and accessible to everyone from home-schooled students to Metro students looking for elective classes they can’t find at the school they attend.

The virtual high school is still under construction. The district has yet to decide which classes will be offered, how many students will be enrolled and how widespread the first year’s effort will be.

But it’s all part of the school district’s long-range goal to ensure that all students take at least one class online before they graduate.

“There’s an assumption that children today are completely plugged in,” said Keisha Ray, director of instructional technology for the school district, who is working this summer to organize the first classes at the virtual high school.

For the rest of the article, go to Nashville’s first virtual high school rolls out in fall

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Tennessee High School Assistant Principal Blair Henley admits that when he was first assigned to make Bristol’s school district a regional leader for online learning, the early results were humbling.

“It wasn’t smooth, instant success,” Henley said. “When we started, only 40 percent of the students who started [an online] course would actually finish it.”

Some three years later – with 97 percent of students completing their online classes and 71 students across Northeast Tennessee taking “eLearning” courses this summer alone – Henley sees a promising present and future.

“I think eLearning has become an area that’s set to explode here,” he said.

Henley was recently promoted to regional distance learning coordinator by the Bristol school district and the Niswonger Foundation, a Greeneville, Tenn.-based nonprofit organization that promotes education across Tennessee.

For the rest article, go to THS asst. principal leads distance learning effort

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) June 30, 2010 — The Effective Engaging E-learning Environment for Tennessee (e4TN), a grant funded e-learning initiative in Tennessee, held its 4th annual Envision 2010 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee last week.

The two-day conference welcomes educators from Tennessee school districts to come together to share new ideas and best practices in the State of Tennessee’s e-learning program. By partnering with the state’s online learning program and one another, school districts are able to create a sustainable e-learning model.

The theme of this year’s conference, “Everyone holds a piece of the puzzle”, focused on innovative ideas that can grow online learning programs. Envision 2010 offered educators a venue for professional development, program updates and mindshare. Demonstrations and guided classroom learning sessions focused on online teacher effectiveness, improving student completion rates, and common core standards. e4TN has also developed and is releasing Physics for the first time in Fall 2010 to meet the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) requirements for science and mathematics.

For the rest of the article, go to e4TN’s Annual Conference Casts Vision for Online Education

Online education is exploding in cyberspace with more than one million secondary school students taking online courses in the 2008–2009 school year. Taking advantage of this trend, four NAIS-member schools launched the Online School for Girls (OSG) in the summer of 2009.

A joint project of Holton-Arms (Maryland), Westover (Connecticut), Harpeth Hall (Tennessee), and Laurel School (Ohio), the goal of the Online School for Girls is to inspire girls worldwide to reach their potential by offering exceptional instruction in an online setting.

With research indicating that most girls inhabit cyberspace differently than boys, the Online School for Girls is designed to capitalize on the ways that girls learn best. That includes connection among the participants, collaboration in learning, inspiring creativity, and engaging in real-world problems and solutions.

For the rest of the article, click here.

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By NAIS Reporter