School of the Future (Part 2) – Virtual High School

What will the future schools look like?
Virtual High School (VHS) has been in place for more than a decade and is still popular in supplementing the teaching of formal High Schools. According to the Web-based Learning – Theory, Research and Practice (page 333) Virtual High School 2003 Annual Report, VHS has grown to 200 high schools.  Here is an example of Virtual high school.

In a report on Virtual Schooling,

The demand for Choice:
Virtual schooling also appeals to the growing number of parents and policy makers who seek to expand choices for American education.

What I would like to see are more choices for the learners, the parents, the educators, administrators in institutions and even government policy makers. This will bring a wealth of educational experience and emergent knowledge to the learners, institutions (formal schools and informal VHS) and community, via various technology affordance. This will also prepare the learners for further education and careers.

I also think that learners, educators, government, businesses, and all related stakeholders should work more closely in collaboration through network connections to achieve the educational outcomes. Educational institutions could leverage the “just in time” education arising from the technological affordance and respond to the needs of learners and community more successfully.

I hope there are more researches done on the impact of VHS on our education system (both global and local education). It may be worthwhile to conduct such a cross country research to see how it could extend the high school education using an open education approach.

Do you think some of the existing high schools will shift into a blended VHS mode of operation? Will such VHS be able to fill the educational gaps of the brick and motor high school?