David Hooser is President & CEO of FVHS, an online high school in the USA. He tells The PIE that the concept of online high school study, either part-time or full-time, is well established in the USA and he is keen to export the opportunity internationally.
The PIE: So who studies for a high school diploma online?
DH: It’s interesting because everyone asks, what is the stereotypical online student, and it really is everyone. Anyone can be a part-time online student, meaning they want to pick up a class here or there, or they want to take the SAT test… so anyone is a good candidate.
But a lot of my students who study full-time are elite athletes, so they focus on basketball, baseball, soccer training for example.
The PIE: And you mentioned people on set?
DH: Yes, we also teach production kids, kids who are making TV shows or part of a music group.
And we have a lot of children who have not done so well in a traditional school environment. Instead of them going to the school, my environment goes to them.
The PIE: What about extra-curricular activities and students connecting with their peers?
DH: If you think about the way school is now, students go to school from early in the morning until the middle of the afternoon, then they all compete with the same professionals to give them music lessons, or give them dance lessons. With a lot of our students, they go in the middle of the day, when no one else is fighting for that tutor.
The PIE: So they don’t have a problem then with that set-up?
DH: They have a better life, with more freedom and flexibility. Parents save money that way too – a lot of those professionals aren’t busy during the day so they charge less.
The PIE: You mentioned they have an assigned tutor, so it is not self-access learning?
DH: You have to be careful, some courses might be just “sign up and you take it all on our own”. Our courses are delivered “asynchronously”, so there is no teacher teaching at the exact moment that the student is taking the classes, but we have a home tutor assigned to each of the students.
“There is a learning curve outside of the US”
We have core subject experts all helping them, making sure they understand the materials, helping them by giving them additional practice or assignments if they need it, so they have the same structure from a faculty standpoint as they would in a physical school.
The PIE: How many students are enrolled with you at the moment?
DH: That changes on a regular basis because we have so many part-time students. We have literally thousands of students coming and taking both full-time and part-time classes with us all the time and we even have adult learners in the USA who are taking high school classes because they didn’t finish when they were a teen.
The PIE: Are you aware of many other online high schools in other countries or is it a US trend?
DH: I think the US is certainly leading the way – I’m at this conference [ICEF Berlin] with you and there is a lot of agent interest. Of course, students that are coming to the US from other countries are learning more and more about online options. They are going to take that back to their countries so it’s going to be accepted, broadly, globally I think soon but there is a learning curve outside of the US.
The PIE: So which countries are you already working with outside of the US?
DH: We’re diligently working with Asian countries as you would imagine; there is a big demand for American education and we are an American high school.
“One agent can’t get enough students and parents to commit to academic year programmes abroad because of the cost of travel”
But we’re seeing a lot of interest in Eastern Europe and South American countries. I was just meeting with an Armenian agent and part of the issue is the travel costs. This agent can’t get enough students and parents to commit to academic year programmes abroad because of the cost of travel. But with us, we deliver the American high school experience right to your country and your home.
The PIE: What sort of fees do you charge?
DH: The fees vary – I don’t set the fees in the countries. If you go to my primary partner site, Student Management Group, it’s around $300 per month to go to my school.
The PIE: That’s not a lot. And commission-wise for agents?
DH: It can be very good, plus the agents can set the price in their country and in their agency. Through our website tech, they can set the price to meet the needs of their marketplace.
The PIE: Did you say you have not met any other similar provider here?
DH: I am at this conference and just in amazement that I am really right now the only online high school provider here.
