by Emma Hierholzer ’15

With new advances in the education world, the longtime dream of a “worldwide classroom” with students collaborating from around the globe may have a newfound validity as reported in The Washington Post. Free online courses in a variety of academic subjects, ranging from statistics to literature, have been offered by universities across America. Even Ivy League colleges have opened their doors to anyone with access to the Internet.

Although these classes don’t yet contribute to any actual college credit or a degree, they remain popular nonetheless with over 1.7 million students enrolled through websites like Coursera that offer these online programs.

This new trend in education through online courses raises issues regarding the actual worth a college degree has to offer for students and the role a professor plays in a traditional university setting. And colleges aren’t the only ones who have turned to online courses for students that replace the previous conventional classroom. The new movement is catching on in high schools as online classes are being offered through private websites or through the school districts for a price.

MCPS offers a variety of online classes, but most of them are elective courses like Health and Foundations of Technology that students usually take last minute in order to graduate. Select AP courses are also available depending what each school has to offer. Students can contact their counselors to find what their school has regarding APs. MCPS also requires a payment to complete these classes, sometimes upwards of $500.

Although MCPS does not offer enough online courses for students to graduate without attending an actual school, students could turn to private institutions for that. These online high schools are much like ones off the web. Prospective students can choose both public or private schooling with many courses available and most often an accredited high school diploma. The George Washington University Online High School (GWUOHS) is a private online school that has a program for students to earn their diploma. To pay for books, teachers, counselors and a prestigious name, the tuition is priced at $10,500 for a full academic year.

Public schooling also exists in online education with free classes students can take towards their graduation requirments. Insight Schools is a website that offers free programs just like any public school would and is fully accredited. These public institutions are funded by the state and put under the same state guidelines as offline high schools.

When it comes to high school education, most students choose to go to traditional high schools but many educational institutions, like the websites that offer the classes, believe some students thrive with an online education.  They think if these students are constantly moving locations or have trouble relating to a traditional school setting, these new online courses might be just what they need to graduate

With the internet, endless possibilities exist for aspiring students of all ages around the world. With these new innovations, education is becoming more accessible to people of all needs through online support, providing opportunities for everyone, regardless of wealth, to gain knowledge which is a gift many consider priceless.

*Hierholzer is currently enrolled in Journalism.