[Sly Fox]

Is Liberty making a play in the homeschool market?

Liberty Christian Academy to offer online curriculum

By Annie McCallum
amccallum@newsadvance.com
June 23, 2007

This fall students anywhere could be just a few clicks away from receiving a Liberty Christian Academy education with the launch of the new Liberty University Online Academy.

“We intend to provide Christian education, fully accredited, to students across all 50 states and the world,” said Ron Godwin, Liberty University executive vice president.

Courses will start in September and registration begins Aug. 1. The online academy will offer students an entire year’s curriculum or what Godwin calls “a la carte” courses, where students could pick and choose an enrichment course such as a foreign language.

Click Here for Full Story

[Cider Jim]

Home school, as well as Christian schools that have limited offerings. This sounds like a gold mine for these kids as well as being financially beneficial to us, and it also will help us with marketing for LU.

[PeterParker]

Several colleges are starting to offer this type of online or "virtual" high school curriculum for a full-fledged diploma. (It is a solution that many universities are seeing as an answer to college professor complaints about the lack of depth to incoming student's academic skill sets.) This allows universities, with the resources at their disposal, to provide an avenue to counteract this issue that many professors speak of.

Here are some of the universities that offer online High School Programs:


1. University of Miami Online High School

http://www.umohs.com/index.html
http://www.umohs.com/faqs.html Fully accredited and course NCAA approved for the Clearinghouse requirements.

What are the benefits of collaborating with the University of Miami division of continuing studies & education? [or any accredited college USA]

These benefits include bringing the expertise of UM's professors and graduate students to our curriculum development process, providing our students with access to the University of Miami's excellent pre-college programs, and other exciting new learning opportunities.

2. University of Oklahoma High School http://ouilhs.ou.edu/




3. University of Missouri-Columbia High School http://cdis.missouri.edu/MUHighSchool/HShome.htm


4. Texas Tech University http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ode/k-12Overview.asp


5. et al


Here are some Virtual High School programs that are offered by States:

1. Florida Virtual School http://www.flvs.net/ Public School option backed by the State of Florida



Just as LU makes sure to prepare its graduates to be competitive on and excel on all national/regional/state certifications (i.e. Teacher Licensure, CPA, etc.), I believe it would benefit LU's online high school (LCA Online) to ensure that it's students could compete favorably and excel on the state standards tests just as the Florida Virtual School strives to prepare it's students to be competitive on the FCATS. Patrons of the online version will also judge the quality of the offerings on the succes rate that previous online students find on the SAT's and quality of college acceptance (as well as success in garnering academic scholarships for college.)

This would give additional credibility to LU/LCA's online (and brick and mortar) high school asthe high school graduates are competitive with or actually excel beyond their public school counterparts on state standards tests.

(This is not to imply that the high school graduates aren't already competitive...I couldn't find any stats on it to date.)

[Fumblerooskies]

Can you say, "Shady diploma mills for academically wayward athletes?" It won't be long before the NCAA cracks down HARD on these operations. Hopefully, LCA won't get caught up in it.

[Libertine]

Can you say, "Shady diploma mills for academically wayward athletes?" It won't be long before the NCAA cracks down HARD on these operations. Hopefully, LCA won't get caught up in it.

If the academics are legit, that's a non-issue.

[PeterParker]

Gotta check the links, bro.

As an FYI: While I can't speak for the others, the ones associated with Universities, especially the state ones, have much to lose in terms of reputation if they were merely "diploma mills." For example, the University of Miami Online High School has accreditation and stipulates that the course offerings are NCAA approved.

Is UMOHS accredited?

UMOHS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA). All core courses are NCAA approved.

If we use that as our calling card for credibility, then we have to extend the same respect to those distance options.

[Hold My Own]

This is brilliant and will be in no way more of a diploma mill then homeschooling is (it's not).

This will become the backbone of LCA like DLP has become the backbone of LU


This could be the $$$$ source you all are looking for to become a boarding school.

[LUconn]

Courses will be available for students in grades three through 12 and will cost $2,500 per student per year. Students who attend the online academy would also be eligible for a discount if they attend LU.

No free ride

[Sly Fox]

Alpha Omega Publications Partners with Liberty University to Create Liberty University Online Academy

A new online academy, Liberty University Online Academy, is the result of a partnership between Liberty University and Christian publishing company, Alpha Omega Publications.

Rock Rapids, IA (PRWEB) August 8, 2007 -- Alpha Omega Publications®, a Christian publishing company, proudly announces its partnership with Liberty University in creating the new Liberty University Online Academy. Liberty University was founded by the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, a well-known evangelical Christian pastor and televangelist.

Alpha Omega Publications will provide Liberty University Online Academy with its award-winning curriculum Switched-On Schoolhouse®, a computer-based, multi-media enriched curriculum that covers five core subjects and a variety of electives. The development of the academy and the cutting-edge curriculum it will carry clearly represents the accelerated growth of online education.

Beth Te Grotenhuis, president and CEO of Alpha Omega Publications, said the online learning component of her company has evolved rapidly and the number of students participating has increased tremendously. "We find that a lot of families like the younger students to be online," Te Grotenhuis said. "Computers are like breathing to them."

Ron Godwin, Liberty University executive vice president, said he is excited and optimistic about the new pursuit. "We understand in this day and age that only a small percentage of students can come to us. A far larger percentage can be reached if we go to them," Godwin said. "We intend to provide Christian education, fully accredited, to students across all 50 states and the world." Courses will start in September and registration begins Aug. 1. Godwin said the academy, for grades 3-12, is a natural extension of Liberty University's distance-learning program, which has 19,000 students.

Founded in 1977, Alpha Omega Publications (AOP) has been a leader in providing outstanding Christian curriculum, products, and services to schools and families. Alpha Omega Publications is located at 804 N. 2nd Ave. E. in Rock Rapids, Iowa. For more information on AOP, visit www.aop.com.

Click Here for Source

[shukcb04]

talk about a geek factory right here. kids wont even have to interact with a person now. just log on a computer and get your education. at least with homeschool you ahd to have face to face contact with at least one person. someone should do a study on this distance learning thing to investigate the implications on a person's social skills.

[JDUB]

a lot of the homeschooling now is on a computer.. i have had several friends homeschooled. i think this is a good idea, it will bring in more funds for the school and help spread a Biblically based education to more students across the country

[El Scorcho]

talk about a geek factory right here. kids wont even have to interact with a person now. just log on a computer and get your education. at least with homeschool you ahd to have face to face contact with at least one person. someone should do a study on this distance learning thing to investigate the implications on a person's social skills.

You know, most homeschoolers are part of groups where they get together just so they can interact socially. And most of them are fairly involved in church as well. I've met some homeschoolers with social issues, but I met a lot more people with a lot worse social problems in my public high school.

[LUconn]

no, education must be run by the state. It's the only way to assure our children are learning what we think.



Cold Heartedly,
USSR

[PAmedic]

no, education must be run by the state. It's the only way to assure our Comrade children are learning what we ARE TOLD TO think.



Cold Heartedly,
USSR

fixed it for you

[Sly Fox]

Update from the local fishwrap:

Liberty wired about online classes

By Annie McCallum
amccallum@newsadvance.com
January 4, 2008

Liberty University Online Academy officials say their first year has been a learning experience.

The academy, for students grades three through 12, was launched six months ago.

It aims to give students anywhere in the world a Liberty Christian Academy education via the World Wide Web. Students can enroll full time or in individual courses.

Click Here for Full Story

[phoenix]

About six years ago, the local community school was going to start a distance learning program using this curriculum, and I was going to be the one running it. The coursework is decent, and the accountability is there IF the program is administered properly. We had 60+ kids enrolled until local politics pulled the plug on it -- and yes, I'm still mad about that.

When I first heard about this (we got a mailing from them a while back), I thought Liberty was going to be giving ACE, Abekka, and Bob Jones some competition in the curriculum department. I wish they would -- the market's open right now.

[belcherboy]

Can you say, "Shady diploma mills for academically wayward athletes?" It won't be long before the NCAA cracks down HARD on these operations. Hopefully, LCA won't get caught up in it.

They still have to pass an ACT/SAT test. If some of these do become shady, those tests should shake those people out. I've known SEVERAL athletes in this area that got a diploma, but couldn't pass the ACT up here in Michigan. One kid had full ride offers from a couple of Division I schools (he was a great player), but is attending a JUCO college now because he could pass the test. The kid got a dipolma, but couldn't pass the ACT....pretty sad.

[matshark]

BWAHAHAHA...as an LCA grad from 2001, i can say with confidence that is is ALREADY a diploma mill... tyvm!