Crossroads FLEX, in partnership with North Carolina Virtual, is a digital, blended learning school. Crossroads FLEX serves students whose outside interests and activities require considerable amounts of time during regular school hours (e.g., competitive and active arts, sports, entrepreneurship) The school allows students to pursue those obligations while meeting all requirements for high school graduation and college and career readiness.
Crossroads FLEX High School offers students the opportunity to participate in District C Teamship, an experiential learning program in which teams of students solve real problems for real businesses. In this example, students at the high school work with a soccer program to solve one of their business challenges.
Learning virtually can create opportunities for students to work flexibly, self-direct, and access the personalized resources they need. However, learning independently online can also pose a host of new challenges. Educators can proactively address these challenges ahead of time and offer specific support to help students persevere and reach their goals.
Virtual schools can set up physical, in-person locations where students can work on assignments, seek help from teachers, and socially connect with each other.
This November 2021 calendar from Gem Prep Online shares multiple opportunities for virtual students to go to a nearby brick-and-mortar building (within the Gem Prep network) to take school pictures, participate in an after-school club, or play sports. This offers opportunities for virtual students to connect with their peers in person.
Schools offer real-world experiences for students to deeply explore their interests and experience authentic learning opportunities.
Students at VLACS can create their own “experiences”, in which they have the option of participating in independent learning, entrepreneurship, service-learning projects, internships, and travel based upon their interests and talents. This article dives into the stories of two students at VLACS who created their own experience pathway.
Village High School offers students the opportunity to develop their own individual project course (e.g., beekeeping, podcasting) based on their interests, enroll in it for the semester, and complete the course for credit after demonstrating their learning. This course schedule for the 2021-22 school year demonstrates some examples of individual project courses that students can enroll in (listed under “Ind. Projects”).
Students at The Forest School and The Forest School Online engage in quests – real-world challenges around a specific theme that students explore deeply and produce work to showcase at an exhibition. This blog post shares some examples of quests that students worked on across grade levels during January and February 2022.
Students can begin to explore career pathways and develop basic workplace skills in high school by participating in student internships.
