Virtual Virginia Student Featured At iNacol E-Learning Forum on Capitol Hill

Virtual Virginia (VVa) was pleased to be invited to Capitol Hill last week to share our successes with online learning. The International Association for K12 Online Learning held an E-Learning Forum on October 9 at the U.S. Capitol. The program started with remarks by experts in the field of online learning and included comments by the former governor of West Virginia, Bob Wise, and several congressional staffers. The event also featured a panel of students enrolled in online courses from around the country.

Frank Miller, a senior at Kecoughtan High School, was Virtual Virginia's representative. Frank has taken AP Physics and AP Spanish Language online with VVa. Regular readers of this blog might remember that Frank earned a Gold Award and was also a "Top Scorer: Level 5” on the National Spanish Examination last year. Frank is currently taking AP English Literature and Composition with Virtual Virginia.

iNACOL President and CEO Susan Patrick asks Frank a followup question

The student panel answered questions and explained how they connected with their teachers in their online courses. Miller reported that his AP Spanish course felt like an immersion language experience due to the amount of communication he had with his instructor in Spanish. (Señora Warnick, his instructor for AP Spanish, joined Frank for the event. It was the first time either of them had heard the other person speak English.) Miller also spoke highly of the Elluminate and Wimba tools that we use to facilitate live conversations between students and their teachers.

Students were also asked about the socialization in an online course. Frank described his ability to interact with his fellow Virtual Virginia classmates who live in other countries -- an experience that has broadened his perspective and has allowed him to socialize with a more diverse community.

After Frank spoke, Virtual Virginia was given some time to showcase its courses. Virtual Virginia instructors including Señora Warnick and Chinese instructor, Kong Laoshi (Susan Cox), helped provide information. Quite a few congressional staffers and parents stopped by to ask about our program.

From left to right: Asst. Instructional Supervisor Scott Cloud, Chinese Instructor Susan Cox, Spanish Instructor Sarah Warnick, Frank Anthony Miller, and Frank Alan Miller (Frank's understandably proud father).

Would you like us to speak to your organization about our program?
Email scott.cloud@virtualvirginia.org or call (866) 650-0024.