Global Online Academy Turns Ten Matt Wilce speaks with current and former high school students about their experiences taking courses through Global Online Academy.
In the last year online learning has become par for the course for many students around the world, but rather than logging into a Zoom call with their regular classmates and teacher, Global Online Academy (GOA) has offered ASIJ students a different type of virtual learning for the past decade. A not-for-profit consortium of over 120 independent schools, GOA was started by a group of independent schools looking to bring the benefits of online learning to their teachers and students. Teachers create their own materials for classes and connect students to curated material gathered from a variety of sources. Just like in brick and mortar classrooms at their member schools, in GOA classrooms emphasis is on engagement, interaction, and collaboration among students and with the teacher. ASIJ joined GOA in 2012, as the program entered its second year, with three pioneering students — attracted by classes such as Multivariable Calculus, Comparative Government and Medical Problem Solving — taking courses in the first semester and another seven in the second semester. The diverse range of subjects on offer has proved to be a key reason why students have continued to choose GOA over the years, allowing them to pursue new interests or delve deeper into a topic they’ve already studied at ASIJ. Akira Camargo ’14 was in one of the first cohorts of GOA students at ASIJ and took the Examining the Media with a Global Perspective course in the fall of his senior year due to his interest in media in all its forms. “Looking back, the course was beneficial because the issue area was one that was not available as a course offering at ASIJ,” he says. “It also allowed me to connect with students from across the globe,
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THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN JAPAN
