The Peoria Unified School District’s eCampus offers students the option of taking a course where access to materials and communication with the instructor & other students is primarily accomplished via the World Wide Web. The content of these online courses has been developed by Peoria Unified teachers and approved by content coaches. All courses are aligned to the Arizona College & Career Ready standards and curriculum standards of the district.

The Vision
of Peoria eCampus is to use new and emerging technologies to provide students increased equity and access to the highest quality educational opportunities.

The Mission
of Peoria eCampus is to serve students, parents and our community by providing a quality, online, non-traditional, flexible learning experience through an alternative setting to help students achieve a successful educational experience. By doing this, we help eCampus achieve Peoria Unified’s goal of every student, every day, prepared to shape tomorrow and drive our model of success through excellence in the areas of graduation, academics, and future applications.

Teachers
eCampus Virtual High School employs highly experienced and highly qualified Peoria Unified teachers who are Arizona certified in the subject areas in which they are teaching. These teachers have received specific training and support in online teaching. They are highly qualified to instruct online students throughout their coursework. Online teachers are available via email, phone, and in-person during office hours.

About Online Courses
Online courses are written specifically for internet-based learning and frequently use multimedia components such as original audio and video files, animated tutorials and interactive activities. Using the internet to its fullest, eCampus courses also provide opportunities for online communications between teachers and students and links to national, historic, scientific, and research center digital libraries worldwide. The courses are based on the constructivist learning theory, which recognizes the importance of incorporating an individual’s experiences and knowledge into their learning process. A certified, trained teacher works one-on-one with each learner, ensuring progress, answering questions, and evaluating assignments and tests. The result is an engaging, motivating method for learning.
Each course includes an overview of the course, objectives, and how the course will be graded. Courses may include video, audio, online quizzes, tests, and projects that students complete and submit online to the teacher via the learning management system. Students will use email and discussion forums to communicate with their teacher(s) and other students taking the same course(s). Links to the web will provide additional information about a particular subject.

Who is a Good Candidate for an eCampus Class?
Students should realize that online courses require strong reading skills, personal discipline, and effective time management skills. Students may spend more time on an online course than they typically devote to a traditional high school class. All students should meet with their school guidance counselor to assess whether he/she possesses the traits of a successful online learner.  

Some reasons why students enroll in online courses are:

• to access year-round learning opportunities
• to take academic courses not offered at their home high school
• to gain credit needed for a timely graduation (credit recovery or make-up)
• to pursue specialized student interests, gifted, advanced, or enrichment opportunities
• to obtain advanced, specialized, or college preparatory courses
• to accommodate special circumstances such as medical homebound needs, etc.

Coursework Expectations
Students will be required to work online for at least 400 minutes (about 7 hours) per week in the fall and spring semesters. During summer school, students will need to log 800 minutes (about 13 hours) per week for a full credit course.  Students taking full credit summer school courses must remember that they are compressing 18 weeks of course work into a nine week summer session. Half-credit course time requirements remain the same year round (400 minutes per week).  In addition, students will need to complete the tasks below:

• Students must also anticipate working offline researching, preparing for assignments, doing assigned readings, studying for tests, quizzes, etc.
• Students should check their Peoria Unified student email account DAILY for course information and teacher communication.
• Students must complete the course by the date designated at the time of enrollment in order to receive credit for the course.
• It is the student’s responsibility to take all required state assessments at their school of enrollment or school or residence.
• Students must bring the signed parent verification report to their scheduled final exam.

Student Responsibilities
In person meetings are REQUIRED for:

• Midterm, labs, and final assessments
• In person midterm and final exams