Teachers teach online courses using technology to present lectures, course materials and tests. Teachers offer prerecorded lectures as well as real-time lectures; students access these instructive sessions by way of their computers at a later time. Some courses involve more or less classroom time, but others are taught completely online. For the hybrid courses, students may have to attend some lectures, work in labs or take tests at a physical location.
At least 48 states in the U.S. offer online learning to some students, as of 2011. At least 27 states offer full-time virtual schools. Some virtual schools have a growth rate between 20 and 45 percent, and more than 70 percent of school districts plan to expand their online programs. As of 2006, more than 14 million computers were in use in classrooms.
Online courses make learning available to many who would not otherwise have access to it. Through the availability of online education, those who live in areas remote from schools are able to experience the same educational opportunities as those who live within commuting distance to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. For persons with competing commitments like work and family, online courses may be the only way to get or continue an education.
Though schools and teachers vary in quality at both online and traditional schools, as a general rule, online courses and traditional ones are comparable in quality. The same teachers teaching the traditional courses are teaching the online courses. The online courses use the same course materials and curriculum and are just as rigorous as traditional schools. In fact, more writing is usually required in the online learning environment -- a beneficial thing since employers often bemoan the lack of writing skills among graduates.