Ohio DL Schools

Recently I perused five distant learning websites for schools in Ohio. Below I have created a chart comparison reviewing the schools.  All the websites contained a plethora of information. I personally wouldn't choose a DL school for my child. I believe children need social interaction and exposure to different environments outside the home. However, if I had a child who was an athlete in training, pursuing drama, dance, music, gymnastics or other extra-curricular activities for competitive or professional reasons, I would consider choosing a DL school because of the flexibility.  If I were a home schooling parent, I would also consider one of these options to supplement my lesson plans. Many of the schools have multiple learning formats to keep students connected, while allowing the child to achieve their educational goals at pace best for them.

If I were choosing a DL school, I would choose Connections Academy or ECOT. I liked both these websites, because they were easy to navigate. They both make good use of video technology, which helped me envision what my children’s virtual learning experience would be with them. I like it when the website posts its accreditation's and endorsements. I also look for how long a place has been in business to tell me a lot about their success. Corporate and celebrity sponsorship's are huge selling points. This lends credibility to the school and both these sites have prominent pictures and big names. Another plus for Connection Academy is being nationally recognized as an on-line school in other states.  This showed me they have more experience and a proven track record for implementing virtual schools successfully.

I would not choose Ohio Virtual Academy or the Virtual Community School for my child. I didn't really think either of these schools showed they were tech savvy. I felt the content of the website was there, but expressed all in text. This didn't convey to me how my child’s on-line learning experience would be at their institution. Virtual Community School did have a nice video gallery, but you had to drill down through the pages to find it.  I also noticed neither of these school sites had name recognition endorsements. The Virtual School House was an interesting website. The website was tastefully done, but I found all the services overwhelming. For instance, if you click on the “About” tab, it says the mission is to serve kids in danger of dropping out of school. This would not apply to my children. I think it fails to sell itself, because it also serves as the main website for School House Academy. Because I reviewed this one last, I was inclined not to drill down to find the information I needed. It did have an extensive resource list of services for kids with special needs, which would help if you were in search of those services.

Thus, if I wanted a direct learning school for my children, I would first research how long the school and has been around, scores on standardized tests and then graduation rates. I would also put an emphasis on checking the testimonials. Who endorses the company? Do they have a local branch if you need person to person contact? Does the DL school appear well funded? There are many schools like these that pop-up and go out of business. Your child’s educational future cannot afford to be compromised by not doing the appropriate research. Keeping these things in mind, Connections Academy and ECOT seem to be potential DL choices for those students who need a non-traditional school setting!

Review of Websites

Name of Ohio DL Schools	Clarity and Understandability of information	Look and feel of DL environment	Presence of FAQ page
Connections Academy	Video Intro by CEO Many videos Menu bar of options Well organized Understand both public and private Able to put in zip code to link to location of school nearest to you Easy to learn how to enroll	On-line, phone and in-person support options Corporate support Pearson Statistics about success Nationally recognized Videos give you real feeling of what DL environment would be like Lots of support and appears to be using state of art technology	FAQ option visible on main header  menu with links to technology or enrollment options
ECOT	Not clear what acronym ECOT stands for Is this only Ohio or available in other states? Multiple video options Main header with clearly marked info Specific videos centered around student/parent info Enrollment process clearly marked Mission statement identifiable	Live Chat Option for questions & 800 number Graduate success stories Secure login area clearly marked Celebrity endorsement- Jack Hanna Video on state of the art technology used Features discussed such as ECOT TV, ECOT Connect Video demonstrations for look and feel	FAQ’s on link with options for enrollment technology and calendar. General FAQ’s more difficult to find
Ohio Virtual Academy	Standard menu bar navigation Nice 10 minute video for you to determine if on-line learning for you Site seemed busy looking Well organized with lots of information Was not fan of bird logo	Text based, not a lot of videos didn’t give you a real feel for virtual environment Accreditation info clearly marked Letter from CEO rather than video Parent written endorsements	FAQ’s-visible from main header Broken down by enrollment and attendance Tech FAQ Testing and Assessment FAQ’s
Virtual Community School of Ohio	Site Search and request info at top of page, easily found Intro video didn’t give enough information about what it’s about Nice video gallery section, but need to drill down to get to it	No corporate or celebrity endorsements Videos give you look and feel of DL learning, but need to drill down to get info Location clearly visible	No visible FAQ’s-you need to drill down to get info No live chat option for questions
Virtual School House	About button confusing, you first see employment info Site has a lot going on serving multiple purposes First glance made me think it was just a supplemental education option	No apparent videos immediately to get you in touch with DL environment might be like Does have mission statement Equal opportunity Testimonials visible	Can’t find FAQ’s Need to have time to sift through all information