When you ask a question over the laptop, you have to be very specific and get to the point. Gupta and her colleagues in the pilot project do most of their Virtual High School courses in the classroom of English teacher Marcia Hilsabeck. Hilsabeck is there mainly to help the students with computer techniques, since the substance of each course is under the control of their cyberspace teachers. Tests are like those in conventional classrooms except that students take them online and must send them to their cyber-teacher within a specified time limit. Since few students in a Virtual High School classroom are taking the same course, there is little chance for cheating.
Every effort is made to make the cyber-classes as personal as possible.
Each student, as well as the teacher, enters a biography and a picture at the Web page of the course so everyone in the class can get acquainted. The courses have earned an increasing popularity. In 1997, there were 30 classes offered nationwide by the Concord Consortium, a group of high-tech companies including Microsoft and Lotus that sponsor Virtual High School. The pilot project at Round Rock High School will be expanded to Westwood, McNeil and Stony Point high schools after teachers on those campuses undergo training, said John Hastings, director of academic teaching systems for the district. All rights reserved.