Fairmont Preparatory Academy to Offer 18 'Hybrid' Online Courses This Summer

ANAHEIM, Calif., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- With summer just a few months away, today's college bound high school students are looking for opportunities to build their resumes, boost their grades and get a leg up on the competition for top college acceptances.  Fairmont Private Schools' Preparatory Academy in Anaheim, CA answers the need for tech-savvy teens to make the most of their summer downtime with online coursework combining the convenience of online learning with dynamic classroom experiences.  

Fairmont Preparatory Academy, Fairmont Private Schools' destination high school campus attracting students from throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties, will be offering online summer school classes to the public this June. Fairmont is using a hybrid course model for most of its summer school classes -- students take part of the course in the classroom and part of it online. The hybrid in-class/online program includes 18 courses covering math, science, social studies and English.

The first semester of summer school begins on June 28.  Enrollment is open now via www.fairmontpreponline.com.  Fairmont's hybrid online courses are priced at $400 per semester, per course and include popular for-credit courses such as Chemistry, US History and Pre-Calculus.

Why the move from 100% traditional classroom learning to the hybrid model?  Fairmont's Director of Online Learning, Alan Rudi, explains it provides the best of both worlds.  

"With Fairmont's new summer program, students will gain additional learning time and instructional elements which complements the time they spend in the classroom," he says.  "Students can read material and answer self-check questions online with immediate feedback. When they receive immediate feedback, they develop higher order thinking skills and retention," Rudi continues.

According to the US Department of Education in 2009: "Students who took part of their class online performed better…Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage… by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection."

Fairmont Preparatory Academy's hybrid courses also offer multi-media interactivities. This summer, students enrolled in Fairmont's summer program will participate in virtual simulations, virtual science labs, virtual field trips, discussion boards, videos, and online whiteboards.

"Multi-media presentations require students to engage in measurements, provide responses to critical thinking questions, and record their observations," says Rudi. "Students then participate in classroom based labs with a higher level of practice and experience."

For the past two years, Fairmont has taken the use of education technology to the highest private school standard through a strategy that prioritizes development and implementation over installation. While new technologies (including interactive white boards, response systems, student research software, laptop computers, etc.) have been installed across all grade levels, Fairmont's main focus has been on teacher technology application and the implementation of technology tools within Fairmont's proprietary curriculum. By embracing technology in these ways, Fairmont expects individual student achievement to further soar.

Fairmont Private Schools' hybrid online summer school courses are open to all public and private school students.  For questions, more information, or for a demo of how the program works, email [email protected].

About Fairmont

With six campuses in the Orange County area, Fairmont Private Schools is the oldest and largest family of private schools in Southern California. Starting in preschool and continuing through high school graduation, Fairmont prepares students to succeed in colleges of quality and challenges them to become exemplary citizens of a global society. For more information, please visit www.fairmontschools.com.

SOURCE Fairmont Private Schools