Open High School of Utah

The Open High School of Utah (OHSU) aims to provide Utah students with an education through an online, virtual environment that will help them achieve their full academic and social potential.

OHSU is committed to using open educational resources.

OHSU offers a full college preparatory programme and the opportunity for students to earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree from Utah State University.

The Open High School of Utah is currently full for 2009-2010, but was still accepting applications for a wait list.

Orientation began on Monday, August 17, 2009. Classes began on Monday, August 24.

The Open High School of Utah web site is at http://openhighschool.org

More details

As a Utah public school, any 9th grade high school student (13 to 15 years of age) in the state of Utah can apply to enroll in the grade they would attend at any other high school in the state. OHSU opened for 9th grade in fall 2009 with a quota of 125 students in the 2009-2010 school year. OHSU will add 10th grade in 2010, 11th grade in 2011, and 12th grade in 2012.

Open High School of Utah is a publicly-funded high school, so there is no tuition cost to attend. As with any public school, there may be incidental fees as allowed by state law. Students can expect any such fees to be comparable to their local high school, including the opportunity to have the fees waived.

During the 2009-2010 school year the Open High School of Utah will enroll only 9th graders and will offer only 9th grade courses, including the following core courses:

• Algebra
• Earth Systems Science
• World Civilizations
• Geography for Life
• English 9

If there is a course that students would like to take that the Open High School of Utah doesn’t yet offer, enrolled OHSU students can take advantage of the OHSU partnership with Brigham Young University Independent Study (in the Utah Higher Education Consortium) to take BYU independent courses at no cost. There are over 200 such courses.

For more details see http://openhighschool.org/enrollment

e-learning

In framing e-learning, OHSU utilizes cutting edge multimedia technologies and diverse educational approaches and methods including but not limited to service-oriented learning and inter-disciplinary project-based learning.

All the students are issued/provided a laptop and an internet connection subsidy, along with CDs/DVDs and other instructional supplies.

In collaboration with the teachers, students pace their own learning.

OHSU utilizes both synchronous and asynchronous types of communication. Synchronous tools enable live interactions and immediate feedback, and give a sense of belonging to a group. For each course, students will have the opportunity for synchronous instruction with their teacher each scheduled day of class. In addition, asynchronous modes of communication allow students to access instructional materials any time of the day

For more details see http://openhighschool.org/teaching-model

Reports

The charter proposal is at http://openhighschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/OHSU-Charter-as-Amended-Apr09.pdf

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