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At what age should we start?  Anytime after the student can read.  Usually 1st grade.  Younger students should use our sequenced curriculum to build up through the grades so they reach a much higher skill level when they graduate than any other method.  

Do we need to purchase any additional software?  No, we have made it a priority that software assignments use free programs that can be downloaded from the internet with our step by step instructions. These skills will also prepare students in commercial software.

Do we need a separate account for each of our other children?  Yes, the g.p.a. is averaged by account.  At this point, we need to recuperate our past development expenses AND to upgrade our services.

Can parents use the program?  Yes, only parents of students that have an account with us may use the homeschool pricing to purchase an account.  Note: Parents must use the first year 9th and 10th grade student course order.  Our servers for our flexible adult options (more advanced courses and course order flexibility) will not be available until spring 2009.    

Which courses will my student do?  1st graders start with our first course from our chronological course list (but not the Kindergarten Program).  All other grades must use our first year course placement structure to ensure standards are covered, guarantee a foundation required in later courses, and to fill gaps in areas a student appears to have mastered from being self-taught.  The first year course placement structure can be found on our Courses page.  One of the weaknesses of most technology curriculums is teaching without a scope and sequence and assuming mastery of foundational concepts without assessment.  Even if an older student finds some of the lessons in a course to be easy, it is necessary to prove mastery and to fill in the many gaps that were missed in that particular area so they may excel in more advanced courses.

How often should our student use the program?  Most lessons will take 45-60 minutes depending on the lesson and the student.  It normally works best to assign a lesson rather than a specific timeframe. 1st-2nd grade should complete 1 lesson per week.  3rd-4th grade should complete 1-2 lessons per week.  5th-8th grade should complete 2-3 lessons per week. High school students should complete 2-4 lessons per week (1 lesson per week if he/she is using a Microsoft Office training program).  It is best to follow these guidelines even if you think the student should do more. You can additionally use it for a filler activity whenever your other subjects have unexpected holdups. (You should communicate this possibility to your student before using it as a filler activity.)

How many courses will my student do in a year?  1 lesson per week will normally allow the completion of 2-3 courses per school year.  2 lessons per week will normally allow for the completion of 5-6 courses per year.  3 lessons per week will normally allow for the completion of 7-9 courses per year.

What would be typical procedures for our student?  At the designated time, the student would place his/her Student Record Card next to a computer with internet access and double-click the icon on the desktop to go to our program (icon is setup with our easy startup instructions).  The student would enter the username and password and click Login.  The student would use the Student Record Card to identify which lesson should be worked on next (the Grades section of the program will also show what was last completed, but the student is trained to rely on the Student Record Card so the parent can see progress without disrupting the student).   The student watches the lesson video, completes the video drill questions, completes the enhancement assignment, asks the parent to initial the assignment is completed, completes a mastery drill, asks the parent to enter the password to take the quiz.  The student clicks Logout and closes the window. 

What parent responsibilities are there?  (Some setup work and approximately one minute per lesson.)  The parent will follow our easy startup instructions which include printing the Enhancement Assignment Guide, printing a blank Student Record Card, setting up an icon on the computer, and occasionally installing a free program when required by a course to use for Enhancement Assignments.  The parent should always be nearby to ensure the student is working within our program and not using the computer to do other things.  The parent is needed two times (usually less than 30 seconds each) during each lesson:  The parent is needed to initial the student record card when the student has completed the lesson Enhancement Assignment. (You use your printed Enhancement Assignment Guide to compare with the student screen in order to verify the completion of that segment of a lesson.) The parent must also right down the mastery drill score before entering a password to allow the student to take the lesson quiz.

How do we assess a grade for this subject?  Login to the student account and click Grades in the Administration box.  It will show all the quiz grades with an average on a 10 point scale. (i.e. 9.5 would equal a 95%, 8.2 would equal a 82%)

Will your system remember scores from a previous year?  Not at this time, but the parent can use the previous year's Student Record Card to remember where the student should begin and to have a record of scores.

What should we do if my student gets a very low quiz score? Normally our mastery-based approach will allow students to receive high scores and feel the lessons are moderate to easy.  Occasionally, the student may not be focusing on the video as well as he/she should.  Some questions have answer choices that are very similar to the right answer.  If a student receives a score less than 8 (80%), the student should take the lesson over but may skip the Enhancement Assignment.  The second quiz score will be averaged with the first quiz score.  The second lesson should be required as extra work for that week.  The parent should try to investigate the reason for the lower score on their first attempt (i.e. not watching the video careful enough, distractions while working, not reading all the answer choices before choosing). 

Will my student be equipped to use commercial or Microsoft applications?   Students that come up through the grades with our system will develop a recognition of concepts and standards that are used in almost all programs and should be able to quickly adapt to competitor offerings.  Because high school students (new to our program) would have less time on our program, it may be worth consideration of a Microsoft Office training program in addition to using our program once per week.  Current trends show that most free programs we use are making market gains and justify our approach.  Importance of basing training on trends: A 7th grader in 1995 being trained using a Netscape browser (85% market share) would have had to adjust as a 12th grader to an Internet Explorer browser (85% market share) in 2001.  In 2002, there was not even a Firefox browser in existence, but now it is at a 40% market share in 2008 and climbing at least 4-5% per year.  This example shows how the public does change its mind quickly in K-12 terms.  In the office suite realm, Word Perfect was dominant in the 1980's, Microsoft Works was dominant in the first half of the 1990's, and Microsoft Office has been dominant since 1995, but free software-based and web-based versions are likely to replace Microsoft as the market share leader.  Just as Word Perfect users were hesitant to switch to Microsoft's Windows-based benefits (because of required learning and file format differences), the populace is very likely to switch to free software and advantages that Microsoft does not offer.  It is a given that students need a structured, sequenced technology curriculum at a younger age than ever before, but it is also a given that a particular software version will likely be replaced as a market leader before graduation.   Concept training is the only approach that works!

What is Online Computer Lab's vision?  We would like to consistently hear across the planet "If you want your child to excel in technology skills, homeschool or enroll them in a Christian school."  We hope to be a part of this movement to equip future Christian leaders to better communicate the Gospel.  We have structured for a strong new and emerging technologies department to continually evaluate, improve, and revise our courses.  We also have plans to add additional courses such as Linux Operating System, CAD, Payperclick Marketing, Programming, Network Servers, and VOIP along with short term needs courses such as iPhone, iPod, and other technologies that are likely to disappear or evolve into something else.  

How long has Online Computer Lab been in existence?  It has been in development since 2005, but the sequenced structure has been in development since 1998.   This will be the first year accounts will be offered to homeschools.  We need your help to promote our program to focus on development rather than marketing. Members of our team have technology experience specifically in education since 1985 and spatial strengths in business technology trends and forecasts.  This rare educational experience has equipped Online Computer Lab to develop skill training that will stand the test of time (still usable by the time the student graduates) and to understand the pitfalls of previous methods (to be concept-based instead of version-based). 

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