Image source http://www.k12.com/vava/home Evaluation of the Website
Click on the voki character to listen to the information about The Virginia Virtual Academy Website.
The Virginia Virtual Academy website is clear, uncluttered and easy to navigate by students, parents and teachers. The color scheme is soothing and the font size, style and layout of the website is easy to follow and read.
The Home Tab gives an overview of the academy, its benefits as well as news and information about upcoming events. If parents were looking at Virginia Virtual Academy for their children they would be able to get a quick summary of the school right on the home page. Enrolled students and their parents would quickly be able to find information about upcoming events so that they can attend them. The Who We Are Tab Gives information about the school's administration and teachers. It talks about how they select the staff for their school. The meet our administrators tab introduces each administrator. This allows parents to know that the school hires highly qualified teachers and administrators. It also gives parents, that are new to a virtual school setting the assurance that the quality of teaching is important to the school and that the school hires experienced and qualified teachers and administrators to operate their program. Since students and parents wouldn't be seeing the staff members everyday having a picture of the staff member in this section would have been helpful. There is a Career Opportunities Tab in this section it provides potential administrators and teachers looking for a position with the school a list of job openings. It has links to apply online. The How It Works Tab provides information about the program and the format of the teaching process. This is the most important section on the website that provides valuable information to parents and students seeking to join a virtual school program at Virginia Virtual Academy. It provides information about how to get started, how to enroll in the school and information about the cost. The Curriculum Tab provides important information about the curriculum. Students and parents can use this information to compare curriculum of the face to face school and the program at Virginia Virtual Academy. They can also use the information on this page to learn more about the curriculum at the Virginia Virtual Academy. This section provides a course overview and detailed descriptions of the courses in each subject area with links within those areas to sample lessons to provide students and parents with detailed information about the course work and the curriculum. The Community Events Tab Gives information about the academic calender and events and happenings in the school. The events are further divided by in person events and online events. This is a nice feature of the website. It keeps parents and students informed of the many events the school organizes so that students and parents can plan ahead of time and make arrangements to attend the events. The academic calender informs parents and students about testing dates and holidays so that parents and students can plan vacations accordingly. The FAQs Tab Provides vital information to parents and students. A good feature about this section is that the FAQs are divided by General FAQs, enrollment and attendance FAQs,Technical FAQs and testing and assessment FAQs. The How to Enroll Tab Provides links to enroll in the school. The website also has contact information and customer support information complete with emails and telephone numbers for the school personnel and for assistance with technology. This is very important for students and parents as they embark on the journey of virtual education. When one calls the telephone numbers on the website a real person answers the phone and assists with problems and technical glitches. This section also lists times and dates of scheduled maintenance so students can plan their work and study accordingly. Overall the website is well organized and provides important, detailed and relevant information to students, teachers and parent whether they are new parents looking to enroll students in a virtual school setting or veteran parents already familiar with the virtual school system. The website is detailed enough to provide the necessary information but simple enough to navigate easily. The information on the website is current and updated in 2012. The website is a good resource for students and parents seeking to study at Virginia Virtual Academy. |
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