Virtual Schools Come To Florida

Virtual Schools Come to Florida

by

Patricia Hawke

The online public institution, Florida Virtual School, had paired with the private school of Pearson to create a online community for them. They are called Pearson Virtual Learning and will be offering over 100 programs designed by Florida Virtual School across the U.S and world that include career, advanced placement and technology courses. They are mainly focusing on grades 6-12 so far. So what’s the difference between virtual learning and physical learning in a classroom?

Learning in a classroom has its advantages. You have the ability to raise your hand at any given moment and ask a question and have it answered immediately, rather than waiting for an email response. You also have hands on learning with your peers in a classroom. You can have group discussions, projects and just have them there to give insight on certain assignments or schoolwork. This is vital to a child’s development, working together in a group and learning to interact mentally with other students. In a classroom setting, group projects are so important because it teaches kids how to interact with society and work together. This knowledge is great because it will be applicable throughout their life, help them with their careers and just help them live a heathy social life in general.

Virtual Learning environments also have its advantages. Virtual learning gives children the opportunity to go to school or further their academic career if they otherwise would not have been able to. If a child can not get to after school classes that give extra credits and a head start on their educational career because of transportation issues, the Virtual School is a great alternative. Also, in general if a child’s parents work and can’t get them to school during the normal school hours, the Virtual Learning is a great solution as well. As some students thrive in a environment where they are around a lot of people, some thrive working on their own and are very self-sufficient.

The new online courses that Pearson Virtual Academy and Florida Virtual Schools have made give the teachers room to specialize courses for the individual student. Unlike most online classes, that are uniform and are taught as a whole. These courses are specialized for the individual student who might have a different learning pace than another student. This makes choosing to go virtual not that hard of a decision knowing that your child is still getting the individual attention they need to be successful in school.

The lower cost of virtual courses make it inexpensive for schools to offer more programs and courses designed to help students advance their educational journey. As long as students are learning and being successful in their schoolwork what does it matter how they get their education? Whether it’s virtual or in a physical classroom, the information they are getting are the same. Now with the newly designed virtual courses, online is now becoming individualized per student. Virtual schools are becoming more and more prevalent today and are only improving in their curriculum. For more information please visit Florida School Report Cards and Public School Rankings

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit

Florida School Ratings

and

Florida School Rankings

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Virtual Schools Come to Florida