The Internet Academy (IA or iAcademy) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

virtual school An online school (virtual school or e-school or cyber-school) teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the Internet. It has been defined as "education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are se ...

a part of

Federal Way Public Schools Federal Way Public Schools is a school district in King County, Washington covering all of Federal Way and portions of Kent, Des Moines, Auburn, and unincorporated census-designated places Lakeland North and Lakeland South, encompassing . Ther ...

, approved by the

Northwest Accreditation Commission The Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), formerly named the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, is a non-governmental organization that provides Educationalaccreditation, accreditation to educational institutions in the Northwes ...

for grades K–12. Internet Academy was founded in 1996 and was the first online school in Washington state. Accredited diplomas, online tutors, teacher-to-student web conferencing, and online tutorial videos are also provided. There are two primary websites for Internet Academy. The main website, which was redesigned in September 2010, provides information on the institution, including a course catalog and contact information. The support site is where student and parents log in to access courses and contact teachers within a specific course.

Education process and support

Internet Academy provides educational content over the Internet as a

. Any student residing in Washington may choose to enroll in the school free of charge. Those out of state may also enroll for a per-course fee. After a registration and orientation process the student is granted access to the online courses. Students meet Washington State standards by performing course work. Internet Academy provides courses throughout the entire year, including during summer. Students can work from any Internet-connected computer. Washington State

Certified teacher A certified teacher is an educator who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a higher education institution or a private body or source. This teacher qualification gives a teacher authorization to teach and ...

s manage materials and create their own lessons, which are posted on the school site for students to complete. Teachers also hold live video chats, where teachers and students may collaborate on an

interactive whiteboard An interactive whiteboard (IWB), also known as interactive board or smart board, is a large interactive display board in the form factor of a whiteboard. It can either be a standalone touchscreen computer used independently to perform tasks ...

and communicate via

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

and/or a

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral d ...

Parental involvement

Internet Academy provides parents of enrolled students with a Mentor/Insight Account. These accounts are separate from the students', and they allow the parent to view data, such as how long said student has been logged in, how many assignments that student has completed, and teacher feedback on assignments and tests. The Mentor/Insight Accounts are also supported by a library of video tutorials.

Location and funding

Internet Academy parent and student interaction is primarily online, however a support staff is available during business hours at the location in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Fe ...

off of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...

. The offices are located within the same building of Harry S. Truman High School. Internet Academy is state funded, which means that K–12 students who live in Washington state may take up to five classes, free of tuition. Courses offered include

Veterinary Medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

, French,

Gothic Literature Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

Forensic Science Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, and

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, www.iacademy.org
News Article on Internet Academy from HeraldNet
Online K–12 schools Online schools in the United States Education in King County, Washington Federal Way, Washington Educational institutions established in 1996 1996 establishments in Washington (state)