Probably one aspect of online education that weighs heavily against its advantages is the fact that the percentage of face-to-face contact between the students of a course is almost zero. With a growing increase in the number of people who feel that interaction with your classmates is important for academic growth, the Florida Virtual School (FLVS), a provider of supplemental and full-time virtual instruction to students in Florida and in other countries, is now hosting virtual clubs for its students, through which they can participate in field trips and competitions.

FLVS students can belong to science and math clubs, even though they do not learn the particular subjects. Science Club teams have participated five times in the Florida State Science Olympiad; they have also won prizes in a few categories. The students prepare for the competitions virtually and meet for the first time on the day of the contest. "Their ability to communicate and collaborate virtually has proven successful, because club teams have a consistent record of winning awards each year," said Mary Mitchell, FLVS teacher and advisor to the Science Club. Scenarios similar to the real world are played out here, notes Mitchell. Her students collaborate easily on projects and build structures at a distance, she says, comparing it to the way a company’s engineers who are scattered all over the world collaborate virtually to complete a project.

A virtual club gives students a chance to interact with each other based on what a counterpart could contribute to the team, rather than being influenced by how he/she looks or dresses, as would be the case in a traditional school, adds Mitchell. A newspaper club hosted by FLVS produces two student newspapers a month with pooled online resources. It also offers competitive computer science and Latin clubs.

Other virtual schools do offer virtual clubs and regular meetings with teachers, but not to the extent that FLVS does, says eSchool News.