An online high school is an institution that teaches courses entirely or primarily through online methods.  The term “virtual” school is generally used for accredited schools that teach full-time course of instruction designed to lead to a degree.  An accredited high school means that students will receive an accredited online degree once they’ve completed the curriculum. 

All student interactions with the instruction are conducted through internet technology.  The online high school differs from the traditional high school through the interactions that students have with each other as well as faculty.  Traditional schools allow students to interact with the faculty, which isn’t available through an online high school.  The online high school option does allow students to “work” or study at the pace that is right for them.  This new form of teaching also gives students the option to choose a teaching method that works best for that individual student.   

There are many different types of accredited online high school programs that are available.  Each program is unique and offer different learning techniques that others may not offer.  Instructional models range from fully independent self-paced courses to semester based, teacher facilitated courses.  Class sizes range widely with anywhere from a couple dozen students to as many as 200 students in each class section.  Some programs offer chat sessions with the instructor with live broadcast feeds, while others work only through e-mail.

Students that take an online course will interact with each other as well as teachers through web communication tools provided in the course delivery platforms, such as Blackboard or Moodle.  Some programs give students the opportunity to call their instructors by phone.  Many accredited online high schools have implemented their own system programs to help build courses and maintain student profiles.  They also offer textbooks and reading material that are all web-based. 

Many of the current accredited online high schools are direct descendants of the once popular distance learning programs.  Distance learning programs gave students the option to learn without being in the classroom.  This gave students more flexibility as to when they would learn the material.  Many of these programs were great for students that were busy and didn’t have the time to be in the classroom.  These distance learning programs would utilize the postal service or two-way radio transmissions for student-teacher interaction.  Teachers would also video tape themselves in a pre-recorded television program. 

Today, with modern technology, many students have the opportunity to complete and submit homework assignments within a matter of seconds and are able to communicate with their instructions live.  Many high school students have turned to online high schools to earn their diploma.  Students that earn a high school diploma online must meet the same criteria and undergo the same curriculum as their counterparts in the traditional birck-and-mortor high school.