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When people ask me how Virtual High School "works," they almost always refer to chat lines or email. But VHS doesn't depend on either of these. In educational-techno-speak we call LearningSpace a "collaborative, asynchronous environment for active learning"! In ordinary English, this means that students work together, but not necessarily at the same time, to plan and present their work - which may include multimedia presentations, essays, research papers, creative writing, debates, seminars, or panel discussions - all the same kinds of things they do in regular face-to-face school.

The one thing I have become more aware of as a NetCourse teacher is that the VHS experience is more like a regular high school experience than it is different. You have to get to know your classmates. You have to risk sharing your ideas, exhibit good communication skills, practice good manners, learn to be flexible, develop good study skills, including time management and ethical use of source materials. You have to learn to communicate effectively with your teacher and your teacher has to learn to communicate effectively with the class and appropriately with each individual student. You have to find a proper balance of formality and informality.

From the teacher's point of view, the challenge is to make the virtual classroom seem as real as any physical classroom - providing interesting and challenging assignments, making meaningful connections between different topics that come up, modifying instructional techniques when appropriate, being sensitive to the "teachable moments" that arise from spontaneous interactions with students you come to know well but never see. One of the most important goals in my class, WebQuest: a Literary Odyssey, which is a modification of an AP English course I have taught for nearly 20 years, is to foster critical thinking skills and a mature level of discourse in class.

In one discussion thread, the students maintained a high level of energy over a considerable period of time. The comments ranged from casual to profound, but the general level of discourse was extraordinary for high school students - more typical, perhaps, of a college seminar. The students were able to communicate voice, personality, and tone in an all-text environment, which shows how discussion in a NetCourse can be perhaps even better than in a face-to-face group. No one gets interrupted. Everyone has a chance to reflect on what others have said and formulate a thoughtful response. I try not to dominate these discussions, but interject comments to raise issues, encourage participation, or just to make sure that I am perceived as "being there."

So it truly isn't chat, which is notoriously shallow and fosters sloppy thinking. And it isn't email, which corresponds more to passing notes in the back of the class than it does to dialogue in a classroom. Conversation in LearningSpace is collaborative; it is energizing; it aids learning; it fosters accountability. It facilitates the use of higher level thinking skills and prepares students to be effective workers in the world's online business environment. And because all that discourse becomes part of a permanent database, it is perhaps the best possible means of tracking what actually goes on in a classroom for the purpose of improvement of instruction. Marsha West is a VHS teacher at Forks High School in Washington. Mwest@orca.esd114.wednet.edu

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