While VHS uses the Blackboard Learning Management System to provide asynchronous content, it also identified a need for providing synchronous communication and content for its membership outreach initiative as well as for instructor training and student course offerings. In addition, the organization wanted an interactive tool to use for weekly faculty meetings and virtual office hours for instructors.

"Only Elluminate Live! offered a total solution that met our needs," said VHS President and CEO Liz Pape. "Because 12% of our teachers use Macs, multi-platform support was particularly important as was the ability to record classes to accommodate international time zones. This semester, we are conducting an Elluminate Live! pilot for four diverse courses: social studies, computer science, anatomy, and digital geography. The course instructors are located in three different states as well as in Peru, with students participating from around the globe."

"At Elluminate, we believe in enabling interactive elearning and distance education at every academic level, from K through 12 and beyond," said Maurice Heiblum, Elluminate's VP of Sales & Marketing. "Elluminate Live! offers a reliable, accessible eLearning environment that enhances learning opportunities for VHS students and helps its teachers expand the scope of their instructional capabilities, facilitating international, multiple platform engagement of learners."

Virtual High School is the pioneer of online training and course design and instruction for teachers and online training and distance education for high school students. The company's rigorous, real-world simulated model of online education is a supplement to traditional high school course offerings, providing skill enhancement for both students and teachers. The recipient of the Stockholm Challenge Award for Global Excellence in Information Technology and the United States Distance Learning Association's 21st Century Best Practices Award for Distance Learning for extraordinary achievement in distance learning, VHS was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.govhs.org.