By taking a class via the Internet, the middle school students are able to stay in their familiar school setting, which is important socially because they would otherwise be in a class with high school juniors and sophomores, explains Nelson. In the past, if younger students were qualified to take a high school level course, their parents would have to drive them to the high school. The middle school students would often miss more than one class period at their school and through CyberRockwood they stay at school while interacting with a high school teacher. Such interaction is truly unique. With CyberRockwood, the middle school students spend 30-minutes every day in a virtual classroom with their teacher.
Web cams placed atop the computers allow the students and teacher to see and hear each other.
The computers are also equipped with software that allows the teacher s and students work, such as graphs and equations, to be viewed on the computer screen. In addition, Nelson e-mails tests and quizzes to the students schools. The students also scan their homework assignments and e-mail the completed work to their teacher. The CyberRockwood website features lessons, an outline of the class, objectives and study notes. The online version of Honors Algebra 2 is aligned with Rockwood s high school mathematics curriculum.