One of the important topics that we discussed in class is the characteristics that a successful student might have, and the characteristics that might cause a student to be unsuccessful when taking an online course. We were given the assignment to create two imaginary student profiles. One of a student who would likely succeed with and benefit from a distance education class, and the other a student who would not.
Here are the profiles that I created.
Successful Student Profile:
Peggy Woo, Female, Chinese American, Age 17, Senior in High School 
(Photo from Creative Commons)
Peggy has always been an excellent student and is carrying a 3.92 average into her senior year of high school. She is responsible, organized and a high achiever. Her reading, writing and communication skills are excellent. She attends a small, private high school that has a limited number of electives. Her school offers only Spanish and French as foreign languages. She has been taking French since middle school and has completed all the offerings that her high school has in that language.
Peggy’s father is white and an Engineer. Her mother is a Chinese American and teaches fifth grade at the local elementary school. Her maternal grandmother came to America from China as a teenager. She lives with the family now. While English is the primary language of the family, Peggy has listened to her mother and grandmother converse in Chinese her whole life. While she doesn’t consider herself to be fluent in Chinese, she certainly knows a number of phrases and words. Her grandmother has shared many stories about her memories of growing up in China. Peggy would love to be able to visit China when she is in college and meet some of the distant family relatives who still live there. However, when she does that, she wants to feel comfortable with her ability to communicate and to understand the culture and the country.
Peggy’s high school participates in the Virtual High School Global Consortium. She has discovered that a course entitled “Basic Mandarin: Chinese Language and Culture” is being offered in the Spring semester. It requires access to Power Point, Quick Time and Real Player. She received a new laptop for her 16th birthday, so she knows she has all of the features that she needs to work on the course when at home. She has had experience downloading MP3 files and she has used Sound Recorder for past school projects. She has had access to computer technology in her home since she was a child. She is confident of her ability to learn new things when it is necessary and enjoys doing so.
Peggy took the VHS Pre-Student Survey and scored a 43 out of a possible 45. She spoke with the VHS Site Coordinator at her school and has been accepted to take the VHS Basic Mandarin course as an elective in the spring. She was given an assigned class period in the computer lab in which to take the course. Her school provides all of the necessary technology and assistance for students who take the VHS courses. She is very excited about taking this course in Basic Mandarin. She knows that if she has any problems, her mother and grandmother will help her.
Unsuccessful Student Profile :
Tyler Brown, Male, Age 16, Junior in High School
(Photo from Creative Commons)
Tyler is an average student. He has always done alright in math and science; but he struggles with social studies. If asked, he’ll tell you that he “hates to read” and ELA is his least favorite subject. He barely squeaked by getting C’s on most of his subjects in his junior year, and unfortunately he failed 11th grade social studies, United States History. In his opinion, this was mainly due to the fact that his teacher expected lots of written papers throughout the year. He’s certain that if he had a better teacher, he would have been able to pass. Besides, his teacher definitely didn’t like him from the first day.
His high school does not offer a summer school program. His guidance counselor has told him that he can make up the credits over the summer by taking two distance education courses from the Virtual High School. During their first four week summer session, he can take “U.S. History: Colonial America – 1877”. During their second four week summer session, he can take “U.S. History: 1877 – Present”. It will cost $450 for him to take the two courses. His school has a program by which they will cover half of the expense. His parents are willing to cover the other half up front, though they expect him to reimburse them for it.
What Tyler would really like to be doing this summer is hanging out with his friends, listening to music, partying and playing video games. He was also hoping to get an easy, part-time summer job somewhere. However, he really doesn’t want to have to take 11th grade social studies again next year when he’s a senior. So he reluctantly agrees to give it a try. He’s never taken an online course before, and doesn’t know anyone else who has taken one either. But he enjoys downloading music and playing video games on his computer, so he believes that it should be easy.
Tyler took the VHS Pre-Student Survey and scored a 28 out of a possible 45. They said that he should be sure to choose a course that interests him; but it’s not as if he has any choice in the matter. He doesn’t need any fancy technology to take this course. All he needs is a computer and an internet connection. His family has a computer that they all share, so he’ll have to figure out what’s going to be the best time for him to use the computer. He wouldn’t admit it to anybody; but he’s a little nervous about trying something new like this. Tyler is hoping that he won’t have to change his other plans for the summer in order to take these courses.