How online learning helps students pursue their passions

As a high school principal at an international school, I want students to successful and well supported if they journey into online learning. Our students in grades 11 and 12 can take online classes for the IB Diploma Program (DP), and we partner with The Virtual High School (VHS, Inc.) to prepare them for the high-stakes online DP courses, as well as to better prepare them for the online learning that they will inevitably engage in at university and/or careers.Taking online courses with VHS not only helps students get comfortable working online, but it also exposes them to opportunities we can’t offer. As a smaller international school, we cannot provide as many options as a larger institution can. VHS greatly increases the diversity and choice for our students, allowing them to pursue their individual passions.We also benefit from VHS at a pragmatic level. Enabling students to take online classes allows more flexibility in our scheduling and allows greater chances for students to get the options they want in terms of our internally taught classes. Here are five other reasons districts and schools should add online learning to their curriculum offerings.