Fairfax Schools May Offer Virtual Classrooms for High Schoolers

Students may get a chance to attend some of their lessons on the Internet as part of a proposed virtual education program, according to The Washington Post.

The program would move some curriculum out of the classroom, taught by teachers via phone or email. Fairfax County Public Schools officials will hear more about the idea at Monday's meeting. 

If FCPS likes the idea, the program could be available to all county students as early as September. It'd be the first virtual education program offered to high school students in Northern Virginia, The Post said.

But it's not a new idea to this area. George Mason University's Center for Neuroscience bought their own island on Second Life to give students a chance to experiment and learn in a virtual world.

Second Life is a virtual world with its own money system, rules and customs. Users can sell goods or services, build a home, socialize with other players, craft new identities, and, true to its name, live a second existence solely through the rich online environment.

GMU's economics department has a course dedicated to teaching the economics of the metaverse. These classes are conducted almost entirely in Second Life, with students creating and using their own avatars to interact with their teachers, peers and the rest of the Second Life online community.

Learn more about FCPS' virtual learning proposal here.