[February 27, 2010] Online college enrollment growing Tweet Feb 27, 2010 (The Berkshire Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Whether it's the single mother earning her college degree or the high school student taking courses not offered on their campus, the number of people taking part in online education has grown exponentially in recent years. In Berkshire County, where online courses weren't available even 10 years ago, more than 1,000 high school and college students are enrolled today in online courses -- ranging from bio-ethics symposiums to Mandarin Chinese. "This is the technology generation," said Carol Arnold, a Virtual High School spokeswoman. "They live on instant messaging and email and Facebook, so this is really tapping into that." Virtual High School is a Maynard- based nonprofit that offers more than 150 online courses to hundreds of participating schools worldwide, and it provides virtual classes for students at eight local high schools. Several other Berkshire County schools are looking to add the program. Students who take these online courses earn credits toward their diplomas, just like a typical class. While a certified instructor provides course material for students over the Internet, students, working in classes of similar sizes to in-room courses, work on their own time to complete assignments. There can also be chat rooms set up, where students and instructors can discuss topics related to their coursework. The courses can benefit smaller school districts seeking to save money, while providing access to advanced placement or elective courses. "[Virtual High School] gives us a chance to offer certain subjects that we couldn't offer here because only one or two [students] would take it," said Donna Quallen, the principal at St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield. Most educators advise that students taking online courses should be independently motivated, but the online dynamic can benefit other types of students as well. Virtual High School courses are "definitely a different experience, because you don't get that face-toface interaction," said Kara Staunton-Shron, who teaches social studies at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington and American multiculturalism to students across the country through Virtual High School. Staunton-Shron said the online setting allows quieter students, who may be intimidated to speak up in the regular classroom setting, to share their thoughts. In addition, there can be more thoughtful responses to teachers' non- test questions, since students have more time to compose their ideas in a chat room setting. At Pittsfield's public high schools, a different program, through Plato Learning, is used by hundreds of students for summer school, credit recovery and academic support. "It keep kids on pace with their peers," said Howard "Jake" Eberwein, superintendent of Pittsfield public schools. "And it provides us with a resource to make sure those kids are on pace and can graduate on time." Online courses have also become increasingly popular in college settings, with more than 4.8 million students taking online courses nationwide in the fall of 2008, a 17 percent increase from the previous year, according to report released last month by the Sloan Consortium. Locally, about 800 college students enrolled in online courses this semester. But for Berkshire County's four colleges, there is a vast difference in the philosophies of the public and private institutions. The area's two private schools, Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington and Williams College in Williamstown, offer no online-exclusive courses. While the Internet is utilized at both schools, the focus, school officials say, remains on the classroom setting. "We pretty much focus on what we do, and what we do is in the classroom," said James Kolesar, a Williams spokesman. But at the county's two public colleges, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, the online setting has become a bastion for students in fast-track and continuing education programs. Online course offerings at BCC have increased from five in 2005 to 30 this semester. And as the college finds itself short on classroom space, the online setting offers a reprieve for the West Street campus, according to Thomas Curley, BCC assistant dean of academic affairs and overseer of the academic technology department. "If we didn't have online courses," he said in regard to the current space crunch on campus, "I don't know what we would be doing." To see more of The Berkshire Eagle or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.berkshireeagle.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass. 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