SCHOOL TAKES LEARNING ON LINE.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer Like adults who telecommute See telecommuting. , students at a Lancaster private school can attend a virtual campus via computer within the confines con·fine v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines v.tr. 1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. of their bedroom or family room. The Young People's Institute of Arts and Academics has launched an on-line school called the Odyssey Academy Odyssey Academy is a high/middle school in Greece, New York. It is situated in a residential district. Greece Odyssey Academy is part of Greece Central School District. Odyssey maintains a population of slightly over 800 students, with grades 6 - 12 in attendance. , which lets students earn their high school diplomas A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. through their home computers. ``It's a new thing for me, going on a computer,'' said Georgia May Frankenberg, 14, of Juniper juniper, any tree or shrub of the genus Juniperus, aromatic evergreens of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), widely distributed over the north temperate zone. Many are valuable as a source of lumber and oil. Hills, who has been a student at YPIA for six years. ``It seems very comfortable. I can go on my own time and do what I need to do. . . . It's the right way to go.'' The program, which started the first week of September, has an enrollment of 15 students in the seventh through 12th grades. The YPIA, which charges $3,000 tuition annually, is a nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. private school in its ninth year. ``We were using the Internet in class last year, and the kids seemed to love it,'' said Lynn May, the academy's co-director and instructor. ``We saw all sorts of potential of stimulating kids more in areas they were interested in.'' Also, since the school moved out of its converted downtown restaurant into smaller quarters at 43301 Division St., Suite 303, going on line didn't require as much space. Students need to have a computer or access to one. Those who don't can use computers at the school. ``All of our lessons are posted on the World Wide Web, where we have a Web site set up for us,'' said Curtis Harrell, one of the school's two instructors and also academy co-director. ``All the students have to do is log on to our site and navigate to where the academic department they are taking the lesson from. We made it so the homework is right on the screen.'' Harrell and May said they made a conscious effort to avoid becoming ``a correspondence course over the computer'' or having students holed up in their rooms hunched hunch n. 1. An intuitive feeling or a premonition: had a hunch that he would lose. 2. A hump. 3. A lump or chunk: "She . . . over a terminal. ``There are none that are offering what we are offering,'' Harrell said. ``We wanted the most interactivity that we could do.'' Students can go to the school to take classes in art, drama and physical education. Field trips, hands-on activities, job training and community service projects also are offered. Harrell said he created and wrote the school's Web site and has developed 200 pages of lessons covering different subjects. The school has a comprehensive curriculum that has the state's approval, school officials said. The Web site, at www.odysseyacademy.com, offers course descriptions, a master directory and an academy gallery, where students can post their work, including paintings, music and sculpture. At the academy's virtual gallery, browsers see walls of artwork and can click on a specific piece to get a closer look and learn the artist's identity. Freya Rubin, 12, a seventh-grader from Lancaster, is new to the school, having attended public school in the Lancaster School District Lancaster School District may refer to:
``I enjoy working on the computer,'' Rubin said. ``I don't have to get up early in the morning to go to school. I like to sleep in.'' ``So far I like it a lot, the certain lessons, the stuff that they come up with,'' Rubin said. One math exercise she liked in particular dealt with changing American money into foreign currency when taking imaginary trips to other countries. A lesson on metaphor, for example, covers poetry by Robert Frost. Students can go to other places on the Web to conduct additional research, including sites where Frost's poems are recited, even by the poet himself. ``With our vision,'' Harrell said, ``we were targeting students who wanted a flexible, solid, quality education.'' ``Whose interests and talents are addressed,'' May interjected. ``The flexibility and vast richness of materials available are perfect for students of all levels.'' Students can do all their work at home, or wherever they have their computer set up, by downloading lessons, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The school also offers chances for pupils to interact with teachers and other students and take part in the socialization socialization /so·cial·iza·tion/ (so?shal-i-za´shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so·cial·i·za·tion n. aspect of regular school. For two hours per week per class, students and their teacher meet for discussions, quizzes and oral reports through video conferencing See videoconferencing. (communications) video conferencing - A discussion between two or more groups of people who are in different places but can see and hear each other using electronic communications. , using a camera each student has at home or has access to, and software called CUSeeMe. ``We meet at a reflector reflector: see telescope. site. Imagine a meeting room in cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. ,'' Harrell said. The YPIA on-line school is not the first in the state. That claim goes to Choice 2000 Online School, a charter school in the Perris Union High School District The Perris Union High School District is a school district located in Perris, California. It has schools in Perris and in nearby Romoland and Menifee. Schools
In its third year of operation, Choice 2000 has 150 students enrolled from the seventh through the 12th grades. Twenty-five percent of the student body comes from within the district, the rest from around the state, school officials said. ``The program is accredited accredited recognition by an appropriate authority that the performance of a particular institution has satisfied a prestated set of criteria. accredited herds cattle herds which have achieved a low level of reactors to, e.g. by the state, and the curriculum is approved by the state,'' said school registrar Sherryle Wilkins. Wilkins said the school has had about a dozen graduates. May and Harrell said they know of one other private on-line school in Ojai. CAPTION(S): Photo: (1) Students Freya Rubin, front, and Georgia Frankenberg work on lessons under the supervision of teachers Lynn May and Curtis Harrell. (2) Academy students can use the school's computers or earn their high school diplomas from home, using a personal computer. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion