GMU expands online program

Fairfax (Map, News) - George Mason University is planning a major expansion of an online high school program that could bring new flexibility to how some students learn.

The Online Academy, a collaborative initiative with local school districts, has allowed 125 students over the past two years from Loudoun, Frederick and Stafford County schools to correspond online with mentors for course-credit, said Priscilla Norton, a GMU professor and director of the project.

She said the university is negotiating with three other Virginia school systems — which must approve offering credit for the classes — as part of a larger effort to broaden the program’s availability.

The Online Academy allows for one-on-one instruction between a teacher and student through e-mail and an instant messaging system.

A mentor can work with a number of students at a time who, for a variety of reasons, need to take a course outside of a traditional classroom.

“Instead of basing everything on a class of many students, we just have a classroom of one,” said Norton. “And that allows us to tailor instruction to their needs, to have ‘start-and-stop’ flexibility around their world, rather than forcing them to stay in pace with a number of other students.”

Backgrounds of students vary, she said. Some participants are home-schooled or home-bound. Some live in a rural school district and don’t have access to a particular class. Some simply want to take a course during the summer, said Norton.

Others are competitive athletes with rigorous training schedules or are retaking a course to try to improve their grade, said Anne Little, who taught math at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology for 20 years and has worked as a mentor in the program since 2003.

Last summer, she taught Geometry to five students.

“These students got a chance to be responsible for their own learning,” she said. “They got to set the pace, they were able to go fast if they understood, or we could slow down if they didn’t.

wflook@dcexaminer

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