Online school adjusts course

Of the students who enrolled in online classes at Spokane Virtual Learning last semester, nearly half didn’t finish, dropped the course and returned to the regular classroom, or failed.

The statistics were alarming enough to send Spokane Public Schools, which operates SVL using district teachers and curriculum, into action to try to improve the program’s success rate.

Now, students who slack off in the virtual classroom are likely to get a visit from a teacher or counselor, after an electronic monitoring system was put in place to flag kids who aren’t logging in.

“The whole thing is so new. We are learning as we go,” said Kristin Whiteaker, director of SVL and instructional technology for Spokane Public Schools.

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Online school adjusts course: Spokane program cracks down on virtual slackers by Sarah Leaming

From The Spokesman-Review