From Minnesota Public Radio at:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/22/_onlineed/
(Go to URL for photo and links to audio and resources)
Online Learning is Growing by the Gigabyte
by
Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
April 23, 2008
Children and parents around the state this spring are picking elementary and
high schools for next fall. But more and more students won't be going to a
school at all. These students will take classes at home, by computer. Online
learning has been growing by the gigabyte in Minnesota and around the
country, and that's only likely to increase this year.
Royalton, Minn. - Alexa Olson is one of the thousands of kids in Minnesota
going to school via the Internet.
"I wake up in the morning. I sign onto my classes, check to make sure that I
did everything that was needed," Olson said. "I usually do a good five hours
a day, like a normal school day, to keep up in my classes."
Olson reads textbooks, and hands in papers and gets grades, too, like any
other high school junior. But that's about as traditional as it gets.
"You can sign on whenever you want. Sometimes I sign on in the evening, when
I'm feeling lazy," Olson said. "The teachers mostly call when they want to
talk to you, otherwise it's mostly by e-mail."
"There's chances when you can have live chat, but I really don't go into
that," Olson continued. "But they have podcasts, where your teacher will
like, record a lecture for you to listen to. But otherwise, it's pretty much
on your own time."
There are 4,500 more kids like Olson across Minnesota.
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