The Nebraska Virtual Partnership was created this year to expand educational opportunities for high school students throughout Nebraska. The partnership is a collaborative effort by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Independent Study High School, the Nebraska Department of Education, the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council and Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.

The interim study presented Oct. 3 gauged what each member of the partnership is doing to expand course offerings and educational opportunities across the state.

Brian Halstead, assistant commissioner of education, said the committee’s efforts in creating a virtual high school, with legislation going back as far as 2006, is working well.
A pilot program launched by UNL in August was created to gauge the demand for distance education in Nebraska. The pilot program offered 50 free course enrollments through the Independent Study high school, with preference to first-time applicants, rural students and applications for science, technological, engineering and math courses.

Barbara Shousha, director of Independent Study, said 74 applications were received as of Sept. 2, when admissions closed.

“Clearly there is a need and desire,” said Shousha.

Halstead said every member of the partnership was required to fulfill these needs and realize the governor’s vision of a virtual high school.

“We cannot do it ourselves,” Halstead said. Every member of the partnership, he said, has something they can bring to the table.

For example, Halstead said the partnership’s greatest strength was its access to accredited high school coursework and public high school teachers through the Independent Study high school.

The high school, which has been in operation since 1954, has offered 2,800 course enrollments to 150 different schools worldwide in the past two years.

Shousha said Nebraska students represent 11 percent of the high school’s efforts.
Gordon Roethemeyer, executive director for distance education, said the educational service units offer 419 high school courses and can reach more than 4,000 students.
Matt Blomstedt, executive director of the ESU coordinating council, said the ESUs bring to the partnership a conduit to supply exchange courses to students throughout Nebraska. In addition, the ESU’s mission is to provide professional development for current teachers and tools for them to use technology in the classroom.

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Gary Targoff, assistant general manager at Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, said NET will bring online within the week a repository of digital multimedia, which will be available to distance and regular classrooms alike.

Halstead said providing these digital tools and training for Nebraska teachers is just as important as providing online courses for students in rural Nebraska.

“You can’t just learn from reading a book or a laptop,” he said. “There has to be interaction.”

And by supplying these tools and long-distance instructors to students, he added, high school students in Nebraska will get the critical thinking skills they need, no matter where they live.