Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute (AVLI)
Jesuit High school is making AVLI courses available to students as a way of providing additional course options so students can pursue interests that will help them grow. Beyond challenging course content, an AVLI experience fosters important life and learning skills, and provides opportunities to learn with and from teachers and students from schools across North America.
The AVLI Learning Experience
Learning
Beyond mastering the subject material, our hope for you is that you grow as a learner. Working hard in your online course will help you develop time management skills, discipline, self-advocacy, and more. You will also come to better appreciate your learning strengths and weaknesses, thus maturing into an independent learner which will serve you well in college and beyond.
Instructors
AVLI teachers are seasoned educators. They are experienced in the subject area in which they teach and have gone through extensive training in the development and delivery of online courses.
Format & time commitment
Our courses run on a traditional semester-based schedule utilizing the type of platform and online format that students might expect to experience in college. Though the formats and schedules differ from course to course, most are very flexible in design to allow students to complete their AVLI work around their existing school and extra-curricular schedules. Here are some important points about the AVLI experience:
At AVLI we value your time and try to use it well. Our courses require as much time as any other course. If you add up the time you spend in class, doing homework, and studying for any given course, that’s about how much time each week your AVLI course will require. Obviously, higher-level courses like AP courses require more time just like they would in your face-to-face school. Generally, this falls into the range of 5-7 hours per week.
At AVLI regular engagement matters. You can’t skip weeks in an AVLI course just like you can’t skip weeks at your face-to-face school. Teachers monitor participation and assignment submission to help students stay on track.
AVLI courses are largely Asynchronous, Teacher-led, and Cohort-based. These are important distinctions that warrant careful explanation.
Asynchronous: While each course will offer one synchronous (i.e. “live”) online meeting time per week, course tasks and activities are mostly asynchronous, meaning students do not have to be present online at a certain time each day. This allows students to work around their other in-school classes. Courses often use learning activities such as recorded lessons, discussion forums, readings, and assignments. Students usually complete many of these tasks independently during their school day. Teachers are available throughout each week via email should a student have questions or need support. Synchronous sessions are then often used for supplemental instruction, Q&A, group work, or extension activities.
Teacher-led and cohort-based: While students often work quite independently, our courses are not considered “independent” or “self-paced”. Our teachers design their course materials, set the course schedule, work closely with students to facilitate, and monitor their progress, and support the building of a community among the class cohort. Learning tasks are assigned deadlines throughout each week to which students are expected to adhere.
AP Environmental Science (AVLI)
Open to: 12th grade
Course length: Two semesters
Prerequisite: Minimum grade B in Chemistry & Biology
The goal of the Advanced Placement Environmental Science course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. Students will be expected to view daily videos on the AP Classroom website and answer topic questions to check their comprehension. Unit Progress Checks and Unit Tests will be accessed on the AP Classroom site at the conclusion of each topic. A variety of virtual lab activities will also be completed for each unit. Following through with this protocol, students should be well prepared for the AP Environmental Exam offered by the College Board at their school in May. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week for students to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
AP World History (AVLI; DC eligible)
Open to: 10th, 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Two semesters
Dual credit eligible through Creighton University
Advanced Placement World History is structured around the investigation of key course themes and concepts in six different chronological periods, from approximately 1200 C.E. to the present. These themes, examined across cultures and time periods, include: Interaction between humans and the environment; Development and interaction of cultures; State-building, expansion and conflict; Creation, expansion and interaction of economic systems; Development and transformation of social structures. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening every three weeks that students are expected to attend, as well as a weekly office hour that is optional for students to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
AP European History (AVLI)
Open to: 10th, 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Two semesters
In Advanced Placement European History, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes from approximately 1450 A.D. to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary & secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course also provides seven themes that students explore throughout the course to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: interaction of Europe & the world, economic & commercial development, cultural & intellectual development, states & other institutions of power, social organization & development, national & European identity, and technological & scientific innovations. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that students are expected to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship (AVLI)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Fall Semester
So you want to be an entrepreneur. There’s more to it than you might think! This course introduces fundamental components of business and entrepreneurship by giving participants the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs on real-world problems. Students will practice working in groups, scoping deliverables, setting deadlines, talking to stakeholders, and making presentations. In the final segment of the course, participants will put their entrepreneurial knowledge and group management skills to work creating startups and competing for a fictional $50,000 in seed funding. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that students are expected to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
Accounting I (AVLI)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Fall Semester
Accounting is an essential aspect of every business organization. In this course, students will learn accounting for a service business organized as a Sole Proprietorship. Students will analyze financial statements and learn the accounting cycle by working through application problems and applying accounting concepts to real-world situations. This course is primarily asynchronous and allows students to work at their own pace for weekly assignments. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that students are expected to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
AP Microeconomics (AVLI; DC eligible)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Fall Semester
Dual Credit offered through Creighton University
How should faithful Catholics think about economics? This course integrates selected themes from the Neoscholastic School of economics with the content of the Advanced Placement economics syllabus in microeconomics. The course prepares students to do well on the AP Microeconomics exam as well as offers a way to view our redeemed creation through the prism of social science. The economic way of thinking does not begin with Adam Smith. It is based on insights from Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, the Jesuit and Franciscan theologians at the University of Salamanca in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and on the Popes’ social encyclicals. We develop our understanding of basic economic concepts and analytic tools by anchoring them to our faith’s moral traditions and foundations. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that is optional for students to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
Engineering Principles (AVLI)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Fall Semester
This course takes students on a “doing” tour of the discipline of engineering and several of its sub-disciplines including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering. Students will learn the engineering design process and computer aided design and apply it to “hands-on” projects. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. This course also explores the engineering approach for problem solving. One-on-one synchronous teacher support is offered as needed, by appointment.
Genocide and the Holocaust (AVLI)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Spring Semester
This course looks at both the academic and social constructions of genocide. We will view the Holocaust as the paradigmatic example of, but not only, genocide in modern history. Students will study the causes and processes of genocide as well as other contemporary crimes against humanity. Students and parents should be advised that this course utilizes intense and disturbing materials. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that is optional for students to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
Introduction to Veterinary Careers (AVLI)
Open to: 11th, 12th grade
Course length: Spring Semester
In Introduction to Veterinary Careers, students will investigate the vast field of veterinary medicine, from entering the field to living and growing within it. They will explore educational and licensing requirements, the varied jobs within the profession, and the reality of everyday life as a veterinarian (or veterinary support staff). The class will emphasize personal discovery of an individual’s options for education and careers as well as considering his or her own strengths, weaknesses, and interests as they relate to veterinary careers. Finally, students will consider social and ethical challenges they may encounter to help them discern if veterinary medicine is right for them. This course requires weekly engagement but is primarily asynchronous which allows students to work around their school schedule. There is a synchronous meeting that will take place one evening per week that is optional for students to attend. Meeting times to be determined at the beginning of the term.
Medical Terminology (AVLI)
Open to: 11th and 12th grade
Course Length: Spring Semester
Approximate text/Resource cost: $50
Medical terminology is a specialized language used by health care practitioners and, just like a foreign language, it has its own vocabulary and ways of stringing together words. This course combines an introduction to fundamentals of medical terminology and terms associated with the various bodily systems with the opportunity for students to learn more about professions throughout the medical field.