Michael Putbrese, a junior high school student at Eagle River Christian High School, watches a tutorial as part of his science curriculum. This fall, the school implemented an online learning program called Switched-On Schoolhouse in which all of its students complete their academic work via computer. PHOTO BY AMY M. ARMSTRONG

Sounds like a fairly routine start to the morning until you consider that Putbrese is a junior high school student.

Putbrese and most of his fellow students at Eagle River Christian High School are learning their entire curriculum through computer applications.

Soon, say school officials, the entire school will be all-computer, all-the-time, perhaps the first of its kind in Alaska.

Switched-On Schoolhouse, a national, online secondary learning system, was implemented this fall at the school, which formerly used a paper-based curriculum.

The grade 7-12 school, now in its fourth year, is located above Giant Don's Flooring America on the Old Glenn Highway.

Of the 74 students enrolled, nearly 50 are studying solely by computer. Soon the remaining students, mostly upper classmen, will migrate to the online learning once school officials finish installing another 30 stations. By the end of this school year, educators plan to have 100 systems running.

While the curriculum is state-of-the-art-learning, it is being presented on computers donated out of surplus created by continual upgrades at area military bases, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife offices and private Anchorage-based companies where parents of students work.

That's the only way the young school could afford what essentially is a $250,000 system, said Dennis Archer, school administrator.

Putbrese, using a monitor that came from the dorms at Elmendorf Air Force Base, said he likes using the computer system to do his schoolwork.

"I actually get my work done more quickly this way," he said.

And no, he doesn't really miss having a teacher in the traditional sense - that is, up front directing all the students as one.

The high school has never used that approach even though its affiliated elementary school does. Instead students used "Paces," written curriculum popular in home-school settings. Classroom supervisors act as quasi teachers dolling out the paces, helping with individual challenges and grading.

When the school is fully switched on to the computer ciriculum, those supervisors will remain on hand.

But the students will get the bulk of their academic assistance from the computer program and its "tiny tutors," such as Captain Electric, just a click away when students need help.

Last week, Captain Electric helped Putbrese with the scientific principles of static electricity as well as providing him with a good chuckle.

"Some of them are pretty silly and you can laugh at them," Putbrese said, noting that he must be careful to not laugh loud enough to disturb other students in nearby offices.

Conventional educators such as Rick Volk, Chugiak High School principal, see some advantage to individualized computer learning, but add that they don't think students should spend all day learning only in electronic formats.

"If you go totally that way, you miss out on some of the side effects of group discussion and interaction with other students," he said.

But he does welcome more computerized learning into the public school setting.

"For some students, it is the way to go," he said, noting that much of the district's remedial efforts are computerized. "Put them on a computer assisted course and suddenly they are doing something they are excited about and that is half the battle."

Volk said that approximately five to 10 percent of Chugiak High students are taking one or two courses via online formats.

Archer is abuzz with the possibilities that the computer age is bringing.

"Today's students are kids of the computer age, so this technology isn't a big jump for them to make," he said. "But the technology takes them places they would never be able to go otherwise."

Want to check out the pyramids?

Put on your headset and head to Egypt via online videos of archeological expeditions.

Want to see why grandpa so admires President Theodore Roosevelt or Winston Churchill?

Just click the streaming video of their famous speeches.

Archer said the new online learning gives Eagle River Christian students a leg up once they hit college.

Eagle River Christian also plans to soon offer at-home access for parents who want to check their child's progress.

That's something Ann Burts, whose son Travis attends the school, says she is looking forward to.

"I can know his grades right away," Burts said. "I don't have to wait months for a progress report. I can check his progress on a daily basis."

Carol Drebert, a learning supervisor in the school's junior high, said the at-home access also transfers more responsibility to the student.

"They know right away how they are doing," she said. "No more my dog ate my homework."

For more information, visit www.switched-onschoolhouse.com. To find out more about Eagle River Christian High School, go to www.eagleriverchristianschool.org.

Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, October 21, 2004.