Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 22/02) - Some students are using a virtual classroom to augment their classroom studies.

The trend toward online learning is growing in the North because of its flexibility and broader access to course material.

"It helps to offer a more complete list of courses to the students," said Joanne McGrath, co-ordinator of education operations and development with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

Students can earn credits in special interest courses that may not be offered in the schools.

"Eighty students received high school credits online. It's not for everybody, but it does provide an alternative for students with different learning styles," said McGrath.

It also allows flexibility for students who may have schedules that do not allow them to attend regular classes.

McGrath said online studies offers advantages over distance education courses through the mail.

"Distance education courses had limited success, but online learning has more of an interactive component," she said.

"Kids can chat online with other kids in the course. It is more stimulating," she said.

On average, Internet-based education has shown a 58 per cent success rate.

"It may not seem like a high percentage but it is higher than other forms of distance ed," said McGrath.

Courses are provided through Chinook College in Calgary, and McGrath said it is very accessible.

"Computers are definitely available in all schools in the NWT and the infrastructure is there to support it," she said.

Van Zwanenburg, a guidance counsellor at Sir John Franklin high school, said the Chinook College courses have advantages, but they are not perfect.

Students are required to successfully complete an information technology course prior to beginning their academic program. It takes about six weeks, which leaves 12 weeks in the semester.

"It creates a problem, you can't do an academic course in 12 weeks," said Zwanenburg.

"It makes it tough unless they do their Information Highway 1090 one semester and their academic course the next semester," he said.

Zwanenburg said, however, that the online courses have a distinct advantage over regular correspondence course -- they are free, compared to $250 a course.