CVA's online course offerings are available to students in grades 6-12. Check out the CVA Course Catalog to browse the available courses and review the Frequently Asked Questions below to learn more.
Is taking an online course right for my student?
There are numerous benefits to taking courses online. Here are a few:
- Online education allows students to choose from a wide variety of programs not available in their area.
- Students enrolled in online education programs network with peers locally and from all over the nation.
- Online courses allow pupils to work at their own pace.
- Students who choose online education save on gas and commuting time.
- The variety of online education programs available means that students are able to choose a learning and evaluation format that works for them.
- Online education is effective. A 2012 meta-study from the Department of Education found that students taking online courses outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms.
- Online education offers flexibility for students who have other commitments.
Are CVA’s online courses accredited, meet WA State and Core Curriculum requirements and standards and approved by the Digital Learning Department?
- Yes!
How fast or slow can a student work?
- Students will be given a pace chart which shows an average of 2-3 lessons a week for a rate of about 3-5 hours of study time a week. Students can elect to do extra assignments each week, completing the course in less time. Within each course, there is an Individual Pace Planner (IPP) that allows students to customize a pace that works for them – traditional, accelerated or remedial.
How are CVA’s online courses supported if a student needs extra help? Are the courses able to meet the needs of SPED students? If so, how?
- There are many interactive activities that allow students to perform activities in a visual manner while engaging with the material. All of these tasks offer reading support and can be read as simple text passages too. There are mouse rollover features that provide live definitions for students to access as they read. In addition, each course has a glossary that is always easily accessible for additional reading and visual support.
- For audio support, there are numerous screen readers available, some of which are often already a part of the computer the student is using. There are also some free downloads and commercial products to use for reading text aloud.
How do Discussion-Based Assessments work?
- Each course has a series of discussion based assessments (DBAs) or oral components. These are intended to be an academic integrity measure. They are also intended to be a time for the instructor to build rapport with the student and parent through academic conversation. These assessments are generic in nature and allow the instructor to vary the questions from student to student and really individualize the assessment based on each student’s needs. There are sample questions and answers for each DBA located in the answer keys. Instructors can ask different questions of each student as well as add their own. A generic grading rubric is also available for most DBAs.
Does a student work all the time on the computer?
- Much of the student work is done and submitted via computer. However, there are many times a student completes his or her work away from the computer. Project-based research, completing video and audio assignments, interacting with other people in their lives for interviews and other academic activities are just some of the ways students may complete their work. Today’s online learning is not the old “correspondence” model of learning that has students simply read online text then answer questions. In today’s virtual classroom, interaction with the outside world combined with proper use of cutting-edge technology benefits the student in a more holistic, effective and contemporary way.