Virtual Virginia
Chinese III students at Blacksburg High School complete their online lessons. (Margaret Christle, Blacksburg High School Library)
Mrs. Pingli Chang works with her online students. (Sulan Lin/Linsheng Chang)
Mrs. Hui Laspee teaches a live session. (Chad Laspee)
Characters drawn by a Chinese III student. (Andrea Leng)
Virtual Virginia
Serves students in middle school and high school
https://www.virtualvirginia.org
Virtual Virginia is a program of the Virginia Department of Education
Video Examples from Live Class Sessions:
Chinese I, Vocabulary Activity
Chinese II, Reading Comprehension Activity
Program Description
Virtual Virginia (VVA) is a program of the Virginia Department of Education, which offers Advanced Placement (AP®), world language, core academic, and elective courses to students in middle and high schools throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and across the United States. Virtual Virginia serves more than 7,800 students each year, across all content areas, through online instruction.
Serving students in Virginia's public middle schools and high schools since 2006, Virtual Virginia provides flexible options for the diverse educational needs of students and their families. The program offers equal access to online courses for students who might not be able to take courses because of a lack of highly qualified local instructors, because student enrollment would be too low to offer the courses locally, or due to scheduling conflicts within a school. The courses are open to public, private, homeschooled, and international students.
The World Languages department delivers instruction in Arabic, Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish. Each year approximately 300 students work with two online instructors in Virtual Virginia’s six Chinese courses: Survey of World Languages (9 weeks of introductory Chinese), Chinese I, Chinese II, Chinese III, Chinese IV, and AP Chinese Language and Culture. Courses follow a traditional academic calendar and are offered in an 18-week semester block, a 36-week full-year schedule, and an intensive 6-week summer session. Students work with their teachers to develop interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication skills and deepen their understanding of the Chinese culture.
Program Highlights
When most people think of a high school “class,” they envision a teacher standing in front of 25 or so students sitting at desks. Learning online through Virtual Virginia is very different: Students learn in an individualized online learning environment.
Virtual Virginia’s web-based courses incorporate both synchronous instruction (live sessions) and asynchronous instruction (readings, simulations, interactive practice, video and audio content, discussions, assessments, and collaborative projects). Teachers work with students individually and in small groups through multiple weekly live sessions using web-conferencing software. In these live sessions, teachers assist and encourage students in an immersive environment, supplementing and customizing instruction as needed. The combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences actively engage students in each step of the learning process.
Virtual Virginia’s World Languages students consistently perform well on national Advanced Placement exams, participate in the Governor’s World Language Academies, and have taken advantage of special opportunities like the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) exchange programs abroad.
Program Contacts
Tom Landon
Director of Instruction
tom.landon@virtualva.org
866-606-3787
Sarah Warnick
Director of Products and Services
sarah.warnick@virtualva.org
866-606-3794
