School was never like this. For Carroll students in online classes, the virtual classroom?s wherever they log on to a computer.
“I love the classes,” said Samantha Beary, a 21-year-old taking online classes to earn a business degree from Carroll Community College. “The flexibility is great. It does take some self-discipline because when you have something due, you know you have to get it in yourself.”
Beary works at an insurance company during the day and signs on to her classroom at night to check assignments, messages and notes.
“Everything you need is online,” Beary said. “It?s like a classroom.”
Such courses are becoming more common in colleges, and students? transitions from high school would be smoother if they could take a wider variety of courses on the Internet, said Sherri-Le Bream, Carroll?s director of high schools.
Other counties, such as Baltimore and Anne Arundel, offer more than 40 online courses and enroll hundreds of students, while Carroll is offering four this year, enrolling fewer than 10 students, school officials said.
“In a lot of ways, people are learning through an electronic medium,” Bream said. “We have to look at it as a possibility in the near future.”
Online courses are designed in Carroll high schools for advanced students who can?t fit all the classes they want into their schedules, said Robert Caples, the schools? assistant supervisor of information and technology. On the Internet, they can take courses individually from teachers throughout the country,
“Online courses aren?t for everybody,” Caples said. “You have to be very driven and independent.”
The online courses aren?t devoid of interaction, however. With a click of the mouse, movie clips and word definitions pop up in online courses, allowing for a more interesting lesson, said David Volrath, supervisor of Harford?s secondary schools.
Counties can offer nearly 60 online classes through the state education department?s Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities, from art to English to computer science.
