O'ahu high school students will now have another option when it comes to taking Advanced Placement courses with the addition of 'Iolani's new eSchool program.

'Iolani officials say the new program will allow public, private or home-schooled students who don't have access to Advanced Placement courses to take the college-level classes online with 'Iolani instructors. Recent studies have shown that students who take AP courses in high school get better grades in college, have higher GPAs and better graduation rates in college when compared to students who don't take AP classes.

The 'Iolani classes won't be cheap. Tuition for the college-level courses is $1,600 per subject, three times as much as an undergraduate course at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

Demand for the courses has been increasing in the public schools, according to the state Department of Education. But the courses are available and well-attended in public schools and students may take the courses free of charge at their high school, the DOE said.

REACHING OUT

'Iolani Admissions Director Pat Liu said the program came about because the school was looking for a way to fulfill one of its missions, to broaden its reach.

The program will initially be offered to students on O'ahu starting in August and could broaden to include students statewide, she said.

Online courses have been growing over the past few years because they provide students with the flexibility to learn when it fits their schedule, said Diana Oshiro, principal of Myron B. Thompson Academy, a public charter school that offers an entire e-curriculum and provides all of its students their own laptop computer.

Oshiro said she is glad to see the online learning trend grow, considering there had been a stigma attached to e-education.

"A lot of folks equated it to correspondence courses, which is absolutely not the same thing," she said. "Now that it is a lot clearer and a lot more people are embracing it, they are finding that it really fits in to a multitude of students' different lifestyles."

The number of Hawai'i public school students taking AP exams increased 13.2 percent between 2005 and 2006, according to the College Board, which oversees AP curriculum and administers the three-hour AP exam. Since 2001, the number of exams taken by Hawai'i public school students has increased by more than 63 percent.

Students who pass the exam earn college credit, and all students would earn high school credit upon completing the AP course.

"This is another option for students," DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said of 'Iolani's online offerings.

Although, he said, public school students do have access to the classes through their own high school. Students don't pay for the course, but pay $83 to take the exam in May.

"The total numbers of students taking the exams suggests (AP) courses are pretty available," Knudsen said.

'Iolani's program makes available the pricey private school's courses and its instructors to all students in electronic form.

" 'Iolani already has credibility established and certainly they do things very, very well, so offering this to other students who are not 'Iolani students is a wonderful thing," Oshiro said.

INTERNET CLASSROOM

Through 'Iolani's eSchool, students will be able to work on assignments from any location where Internet access is available. Students may be involved with synchronized activities online, such as live chat discussions with other students or on-site laboratory work.

'Iolani would keep a record of the amount of time students spend online, when assignments are completed, and assignment and test grades. Students will have "regular and frequent" contact with instructors, just as they would in a live classroom, 'Iolani said.

"We have a tremendous amount of expertise on our campus, particularly in our Advanced Placement curriculum. We hope through distance learning, our educational program is available to a broader constituency," said 'Iolani Headmaster Val Iwashita, in a news release.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.