High-tech electives go online for teens

Washington state high-school students can now opt out of certain traditional elective classes at their schools, instead taking a limited number of online courses in game design, 3-D animation, video production and other technology subjects.

The for-credit classes, free to most students, supplement normal core courses, allowing students to stay enrolled in their high schools while taking some elective classes their schools do not offer.

It's all possible through a new partnership, announced earlier this month, between the White Salmon Valley School District and Giant Campus, a national online technology-education company.

"It's an avenue for students to pursue to take courses that normally they wouldn't be able to," White Salmon Valley Superintendent Jerry Lewis said.

Students will be limited by Giant Campus to one online course per semester, said Cathy Shoaf, the company's vice president of marketing. To ensure the students who sign up for the classes are fulfilling the online course work, parents and school administrators will be informed of the course, and students will be asked to maintain at least electronic communication with a company teacher each week.

Although the program is being run through the White Salmon Valley School District in Klickitat County, it is open to all state high-schoolers, including home-school students. Public- and private-school students will have to receive permission from their home districts. Home-school students will have to pay to take the courses.

For record-keeping purposes, students who take the classes will technically become part-time students of the White Salmon Valley School District.

The program will primarily benefit home-schoolers and public-school students in rural districts because they have fewer course options, Lewis said. His district has an enrollment of 1,250 students.

But it also will benefit those in larger districts, said James Peters, head of schools for Giant Campus of Washington.

"For public-school kids, it's like a no brainer: If they can make it work with their schedule, they would so much rather take 3-D animation than wood shop," Peters said.

Administrators hope to enroll 300 students this spring, 1,000 in the fall and many others in the future, he said.

Giant Campus, which began by offering summer technology courses at the University of Washington in 1997, taught 38,000 students in 34 states through online courses last year, Peters said. This initiative marks the first time the Seattle-based company has worked with a physical school.

"Career and technical education classes are in high demand," said Judy Margrath-Huge, director of the Digital Learning Department at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), calling the program an advantage to schools and students.

Margrath-Huge confirmed that students can receive credit through Giant Campus of Washington, although the program has not yet been approved by OSPI.

That approval is needed under a law passed by the Legislature last year, Margrath-Huge said. The law allows a two-year "catch-up" window, during which programs can fully operate — granting credit to students and receiving state funding — without OSPI approval. Company officials said they have met with OSPI and will soon file for approval.

Courses begin Feb. 22 and run 18 weeks, following a normal school schedule. The spring course list includes computer literacy, game design, digital photography, graphics, 3-D modeling, flash animation, Web design, C++ programming, computer-aided design and introduction to entrepreneurship.

Brian Rosenthal: 206-464-3195 or brosenthal@seattletimes.com