Online Education Increases in Indiana

Indiana Connections Academy opened its virtual doors to 280 students in 2010 and now has an enrollment of almost 3,000.

INCA is fully accredited and is authorized by Ball State University. The virtual academy provides exclusively online education.

Kaitlyn Belcher has been a secondary math teacher at INCA since 2011. After teaching for four years at a conventional public school, she said she wanted to be able to help students who sometimes fall behind and applied for a job at the online academy.

“I felt that was really important in education right now,” she said.

She said students are able to get the extra help without the embarrassment of their peers finding out.

“There’s a lot more bullying going on in a public school,” she said.

Additionally, more advanced students can also work ahead and complete additional work.

She also said the online schooling schedule is flexible for students. She cited some students who are training with the USA Diving Team and are able to complete their lessons in the evening after their practice throughout the day.

Any student who is a state resident can enroll at INCA at any point in the year. The students do not pay tuition or a book rental fee.

Every time a student logs in, they are given five to six lessons to complete. The lessons contain learning objectives, an overview, a video tutorial, practice problems, homework and an assessment page so the students are able to voice whether or not they understood the material.

Belcher said teachers then look at the assessments to determine whether more work needs to be done.

She said she sometimes records a lesson for students to watch and live lessons are done each week in which students can communicate with the teacher directly through a chat room where they interact through microphones or text.

“I think it’s important to understand that students are different all across the board all the time,” she said.

Belcher said their third through eighth grade ISTEP scores from 2012 were comparable to the state average. Their English scores were above average, but biology and algebra were not.

“Sometimes, students come to school thinking it will be easier,” she said. “The curriculum that we have here is so much more rigorous.”

She said it is possible for the students and teachers to cover more material because interruptions, such as students acting out, don’t occur in virtual classrooms. The academy also offers about 18 Advanced Placement courses.

She said the school is constantly growing, and she received three new homeroom students just yesterday.

While the Monroe County Community School Corporation doesn’t offer fully online education, Director of Secondary Education Janice Bergeson said the corporation is looking at ways to integrate technology into classrooms.

NovaNet, a program where students can take courses online, helps students to finish classes they may have failed or not completed. The corporation is working to develop My Big Campus, a similar virtual online education program where teachers can develop resources such as video clips or tests students can look at and complete online. Mobile devices are also available to students at all schools.

She said hybrid courses may be available in the future, where students will do some work in the classroom and some online. She said she does not believe solely online education is effective but doesn’t think this type of learning will go away.

“I think it is an area that will be growing,” she said.

Sydney Murray