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DECEMBER 2003

Distance Learning Profile:
University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Independent Study High School
by Mitchell Levine

Distance education has come along way since the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Independent Study High School's inception in 1929. In its 75-year history, Nebraska's High School has moved from delivering courses on horseback to offering an interactive, real-time web-based course management system they call Way Coolª. Introduced in April of 2003, Way Coolª allows students to submit assignments and tests online, receive instantaneous grading, view feedback on graded assignments and access their online courses.

"The entire scheme of online and distance learning has changed dramatically, particularly in the last five to ten years," says Carol Ash, director of Nebraska's High School. "We offered our first online course more than five years ago, and already we have moved from that platform to Way Coolª, which goes beyond just an online course to a full course management system. I like to think of Way Coolª as a student's homeroom on the Internet."

Having year-round open enrollment is such a blessing for so many students, Ash continues. This kind of flexibility allows students to customize their academic schedule. Our students can enroll in courses at any time throughout the year and complete in as little as five weeks or take as long as a year.

Students wishing to earn their diplomas from Nebraska's High School have the option of choosing from two-sequences: a general education or college preparatory sequence. Students wishing to attend college after graduation are encouraged to enroll in the college preparatory sequence. In addition to granting diplomas, courses Nebraska's High School can also be used to supplement either a homeschool curriculum or a local high school curriculum. With more than 160 online and print courses in 14 subjects, Nebraska's High School offers courses such as Latin, Career Planning, Drivers Education and courses that are challenging to teach at home, such as science courses with labs.

All of Nebraska's courses are designed by an in-house instructional design staff that has won numerous curriculum awards from the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA), an organization devoted to advancing new distance education technologies within universities. Nebraska's High School also offers advising services, a friendly customer service staff and Way Coolª, its online course management system.#

For more information about Nebraska's High School, visit http://NebraskaHS.unl.edu or call (402) 472-2175.

 

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