Topic 1

I selected 5 online learning programs and found the following:

Georgia Cyber Academy

Georgia Cyber Academy is a full-time online school and is powered by K12 Inc., which is a for-profit provider of curricula, content, tools, and infrastructure. They also provide social gatherings, enrichment, and support for students with special needs. GCA is a public school and there is no tuition.

Laurel Springs School

Laurel Springs School is a private online school. Tuition ranges from $2,300-3,000 a year for K-8 and up to $8,000 for high school. It operates much like the brick and mortar school, but is online.

Gwinnett Online Campus

I am interested in the Gwinnett County Online Campus because this is the county in which I teach.  I have not heard much about these online courses even though I teach in Gwinnett County. I’m not sure if that is a result of me not being in the county for very long or not. They currently have a full-time charter school for grades 6-12. Grades 4 and 5 will be included starting 2013-2014 school year.. The charter school requires students to be online Monday through Friday, but they have flexibility about when they are online during that time frame since the classes are asynchronous.   There is a supplemental program where students are typically enrolled in a brick and mortar school and take classes outside the school day. There are also students in the full-time charter school that take additional classes through the supplemental program. Some students take classes free of charge as part of their regular school day. When students take classes outside the regular school day, there is a charge $225 a class.

Chicago Virtual Charter School

This school is also powered by K12 Inc. and is a blended learning program. Students meet once a week face-to-face and online the remainder of the week.

Georgia Virtual School

Georgia Virtual School is a program of the Georgia Department of Education's Office of Technology Services. Local schools pay for courses for their students who take courses as a part of their regular school day. There are FTE funds available on a first-come, first-serve basis for Georgia private and home school students.

In summary, I am surprised at the amount of online learning that is happening around the country. At the same time, I am excited about the technology movement in our schools.Our students are surrounded by technology and it is our job as educators to make sure we are preparing them for their future after graduating high school and college. I would like to be a part of an online program in the future and I look forward to learning more about the online world in this MOOC.