The days of sitting in a classroom with a chalkboard and teacher are becoming a thing of the past.
More than half of Wisconsin school districts use some virtual learning to teach students.
For some students, taking classes online allows them to get a better education.
Echo Terry, 16, a Stevens Point Area Senior High junior is practicing the Spanish alphabet. She's doing it by pronouncing the letters into her laptop's microphone, which will be sent to her online teacher.
"It's going really good actually," Terry said. "I like it better than class because I'm actually ahead of what I'm supposed to be doing and I can move at my own pace and I don't have to worry about everyone else in class," she said.
Terry is one of about 80 SPASH students who is taking at least one online course this semester.
SPASH Online Learning Center Coordinator Dana Breed helps students navigate through a variety of courses, teaching them how to submit material and communicate with teachers.
"Online learning is not a good fit for all students, but its a great fit for some and some of them need that flexibility to work on the class whenever its convenient for them."
It's a perfect fit for students like Shanice Zupan, 17, who failed her geometry class last year.
"In the classroom I had a lot of friends, I was one of those people that talked a lot, didn't really pay attention," Zupan said.
Instead of taking the class again as a senior, she opted to try it online during the summer.
"When I finally started on online class I was really focused on getting it done."
She finished the course with flying colors and plans to go to college.
But Breed warns that virtual learning isn't for everyone. Students must be self-motivated to succeed, and there are challenges.
Sophomore Keisha Kavalauskas, 15, is learning Chinese online. She's already completed three courses.
"Sometimes it's hard to communicate with the teacher because you can't really tell a recording to slow down," she said.
But without the online option, she couldn't have learned her native language at school.
Online learning is becoming more popular. Breed says last summer only four students took a summer class; this summer 86 did.
15,000 Wisconsin students have participated in virtual learning.
