From PC World Magazine:
Virtual Schools Rapidly Building Online Education Foothold
Just in case you require further convincing that online learning is perceived as credible and viable, check this out: This summer, Florida is making it mandatory for each school district to offer "virtual school" for all students K-8, as well as online courses for those in high school. How cool is that?
While we have watched e-learning become more commonplace at the college level, its integration at the lower level is encouraging and definitely exciting. The state is still fine tuning the delivery methods it'll employ to bring online learning to FL students, but because research from the Sloan Consortium says online students need to possess good self-direction, this will probably influence the state's course of action.
While the state acknowledges that it could be simple to view the endeavor as a way to outsource education, supporters say "it's a mistake to be afraid of changes that will benefit learning." Elisabeth Walden of Florida's Jackson County School District gushes, "This is going to transform the way education is delivered in schools." We couldn't agree more.
Here's a link to the article from PC World: http://www.pcworld.com/article/160737/virtual_schools.html
-Andria