Teacher Questions
The teacher questions are grouped into the following categories:
Copyright Protection for Writers
If an educator develops a curriculum which is used, then can that educator use or sell the course somewhere else? 
Yes you most certainly can. Details such as these are discussed on an individual basis and laid out in the contract. [return to top]
How will my course be protected from being copied by a third party?
All courses are placed on the server and access to these courses is controlled by name and password. In addition, evaluation vehicles, flash instructional devices and many other activities are woven throughout the course, making the course extremely ineffective if someone tries to "copy". As well, the communication pages are actively served from a database making them impossible to copy from the front door. [return to top]
Compensation for Curriculum Writers
How would the writer of a particular course be compensated for the project?
The curriculum writer receives a royalty payment based upon the registration fees per student per course (similar to the publishing a book). Substantial fees are also paid to our curriculum writers halfway through and upon completion of the writing of the course. All agreements to same are entered into via contracts. Any additional information regarding this should be directed to Deb Homuth, Principal of Program and Staff Development. [return to top]
Submitting Curriculum
Does curriculum have to be in a particular form in order to be considered for inclusion in VirtualHighSchool.com?
The course does not have to be in HTML but it should be in some electronic form, i.e. Word doc. The course should meet the baseline Ontario Ministry of Education guidelines, but this allows for a fair amount of flexibility. When finished, the course would be comparable to a course taught in a typical high school. The writer is also responsible for creating a bank of evaluation questions to be offered through our testing engine. These can be added to at any time. VirtualHighSchool.com will convert the course from whatever form it comes in as to a form to be presented over the Internet. VHS will also integrate the course into the infrastructure of communication tools and server-side programs. [return to top]
The Roles of Members Involved in the Kitchener-Waterloo Private School
Where do the online courses come from?
Courses are written by current teachers / educators and as such, these courses reflect the current curriculum guidelines of the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. [return to top]
Who adds new topics to the courses or updates the content?
The curriculum writer is usually the person who adds new topics and updates to the courses. These are submitted to our Content Developers whoo then does the updating to the online file. It would be in the best interest of the writer to keep their online course up-to-date and current if they wish to keep the interest of the students. [return to top]
How is the student evaluated and who manages the assessment process?
The student is assessed through the use of quizzes, unit tests, midterms, assignments and final exams following the guidelines established by the Ministry of Education. Any teacher of the courses may choose to use the formative and summative tests available through the VirtualHighSchool.com which are written for that particular course by other teachers or write their own. [return to top]
Maintenance of the Online Courses
Who is in charge of maintaining the course online and fixing any errors in the coding?
Any problems with the coding or additions to the course requiring authoring are looked after by the Content Development team. The curriculum writer may make changes to the curriculum at any time. [return to top]
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Teacher Questions
