Doctor of Philosophy / Secondary Education / Diane McGrath / Technological advances affect the very fabric of our world, from the way we do business to the way we educate children. The National Education Association (2005), predicted that by 2006, most school children would take at least one course online before graduating from high school. The Peak Group estimated that by 2006, one million K-12 students would enroll in online courses (Davis & Niederhauser, 2007). In March, 2006, Michigan passed legislation requiring high school students to have at least one online educational experience to graduate (eSchoolNews, 2006). Online classes open doors to educational opportunities students might not otherwise have due to lack of sufficient student interest in a subject, school budgets, or teacher expertise. The quality of programs, in terms of academic rigor and compliance to state educational standards, varies widely. Research examining and documenting online education explicitly in K-12 settings has only recently been conducted and published (Blomeyer, 2002) and there is very little of it. This dissertation is a case study of three virtual high school programs, two well established programs and one that is only two years old. Administrator and teachers were interviewed and an examination of program documents to define what attributes and characteristics indicate a high quality program, what commonalities are found among online high school programs, and what online teachers and programs do to assure a high quality learning experience for students. Findings include: Extensive descriptions of each program regarding course design, teacher training, program organization and funding, and administration. Common themes across participating programs included concerns related to collaboration, high quality courses – whether vendor provided or faculty written, professional development of online teachers, finding ways to control quality of courses from design to student learning and student satisfaction, and the importance of competent and enthusiastic teachers. Recommendations, based on the findings of this study, are that administrators considering joining an online high school program should look at course catalog, professional development, quality control, teachers, service and support, any additional benefits from joining the program, and ability to access administrators and teachers currently using the program or references.

Current research indicates that distance education courses can be as effective as traditional courses when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks. The number of states, counties, and school districts that provide online courses for high school students has rapidly expanded during the last ten years. The number of students, who enroll in these courses, has often grown by double digits each year. Understanding K-12 students' experiences in, and expectations of, online learning is important for many reasons. Online learning is certainly growing and may become a graduation requirement in more states. Currently Michigan requires every student must participate in some form of online learning as a high school graduation requirement. High school students enrolling in online courses may have a measurable influence on higher education courses in the future, as students become more experienced with online learning. A great deal has been written about the development of virtual high schools, some of the issues surrounding them and basic student demographics. There are only a few studies that have interviewed students in detail as to why they have chosen to participate in a virtual school and examined how this choice has impacted them. The purpose of this study was to describe from the student's perspective, why they had enrolled in online courses and allowed them to characterize their experiences. Further, this study sought to identify the personality types and traits of the students enrolled in online high school courses and reported on one measure of the student's cognitive style or cognitive tempo. Forty-three students who were enrolled in a state sponsored virtual high school participated in this study. The study used three online instruments to collect data. The Matching Familiar Figures Test-20 was used to measure the impulsive or reflective responses of the students. The Long-Dziuban Reactive Behavioral Survey was used to determine the students' personality types. The third instrument was an online questionnaire of open-ended questions asking the students about their online experiences. In addition, twelve students participated in follow-up interviews. The study found that the students enrolled in online courses for a variety of reasons; students were concerned about and wanted control over the timing and pacing of their learning. Students' comments suggested that there may be a relationship between cognitive tempo as classified by the MFFT-20, and the students' preference for pacing through the online course materials. In addition, the distribution of personality types and cognitive styles represented in this sample were different from the general school population suggesting that perhaps some students are more interested in online learning than others are. After reviewing the results of the students responses to the MFFT-20, it may be that students may are becoming faster at processing visual information with fewer errors. More research is needed in this area. There does seem to be a trend in this direction and this could have implications for students enrolled in virtual high school courses. Finally, the students in this study characterized their online learning experiences as positive but did not feel that online learning should be a high school graduation requirement for all students.

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