Virtual Classrooms

Despite an increase in online learning since the pandemic, not much has changed in terms of how colleges and universities are accredited, but officials at accreditation agencies are interested in tracking outcomes.

Noting the efforts of health care workers during COVID-19, a private research university in New York is cutting online tuition in half for the College of Professional Studies for employees of local health care systems.

With an abrupt move to online learning now in the rearview, schools have to make it work in the long run with training for both teachers and students, infrastructure investments, innovative new tools and a funding plan.

The mother of a 17-year-old student at a statewide online public school is suing the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association over its policy barring students in virtual schools from interscholastic athletics.

A Washington school district is expanding its online option, Wisdom Ridge Academy, to students anywhere in the state. They can also partially enroll in part-time learning programs elsewhere in the district and region.

West Virginia's first two statewide online charter schools have less than half the number of enrolled students they projected last year, although officials say it's still too early to know what fall will bring.

With a TK-12 virtual schooling program created to satisfy demand, Newport-Mesa Unified School District gives parents the flexibility to keep students home while staying connected to the district.

The NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program challenged community college students to design a mission to the moon or Mars, including cost calculation, engineering work and studying the surface.

Newark has a new student service center through Gateway U, which is not itself an accredited college but gets online faculty, curriculum and other academic resources from the Southern New Hampshire University.

Both K-12 and higher education expect to see interest in online full-time and part-time options grow in the long term. Some view hybrid learning as a way to mitigate the negative effects of online-only instruction.

After COVID-19 forced everyone to pivot to a digital-first world, many students decided to stay there. Colleges should meet them where they are, online, by developing courses with their needs, distractions and technology in mind.

In partnership with the state's community colleges, UNI this fall will offer an online bachelor's program to students who have completed associate's degrees but cannot afford or attend the university's in-person courses.

Given plummeting test scores and worsening student behavior issues that followed months of online learning, some people are skeptical that increasingly popular remote-learning options are a wise strategy for the future.

Online credit recovery programs are an option for K-12 students to make up courses they failed during remote learning, but researchers say they should involve personalized academic support and supervision.

Hoping to stem the tide of declining enrollment and rising tuition, universities have partnered with VictoryXR and Meta to use AR/VR technology to create “digital twin” campuses and make online classes more immersive.

The ed tech company, which has created its own VR headsets, announced a learning platform for K-12 that can be accessed by any device and brings students into a virtual environment for lessons and field trips.

A study by the Pennsylvania Charter Performance Center found enrollment in online charter schools surged 59 percent in the 2020-21 school year. Boyertown School District estimated this exodus added $5.4 million to its costs.

A pivot to online tools over the past two years helped an Irving, Calif.-based company that allows entrepreneurs to build and sell educational content to increase its annual revenue by 250 percent.