Interest-Based Online Learning

GOA offers high school students in public, independent, charter, and international schools the chance to learn in a highly collaborative, global learning community, building the skills they'll need for college, career, and life.

Since GOA's founding in 2011, our Student Program has brought together students and teachers from around the world to learn together in high-quality, relationships-based online classes. We have built a diverse set of offerings, including semester and yearlong courses, an online capstone project and conference, and a unique summer program. In all cases, GOA learning experiences are led by expert teachers who are committed to knowing students, to connecting them to relevant academic content, and to engaging them in rigorous work that deepens understanding and builds skills that matter in school and in life.

What We Believe

High-quality online learning is connected, relevant, and flexible.

Students who take a GOA course will learn far more than just the content of that course. Learning how to learn online is a lifelong skill. All of our courses are designed to support the development of six core competencies. How can GOA help support your portrait of a graduate?

Image of GOA's six core competencies: 1. Collaborate with people who don't share your location. 2. Communicate and empathize with people who have different perspectives from your own. 3. Curate and create content relevant to real world issues. 4. Reflect on and take responsibility for your learning and that of others. 5. Organize your time and tasks to learn independently. 6. Leverage digital tools to support and show your learning.

To ensure all students have the opportunity to build these skills, GOA courses:

  • Are small (average teacher-to-student ratio is 1:18) to ensure personalized support.
  • Are led by an expert teacher trained and supported by GOA's staff.
  • Bring together global rosters of students from a variety of different schools to create unique opportunities for collaboration and perspective-sharing.
  • Are primarily asynchronous: teachers design the coursework and calendar, and students work within their own school schedules, gaining important independent learning skills along the way.

GOA's mission is to reimagine learning to empower students and educators to thrive in a globally networked society. The Student Program reflects our commitment to students and to designing learning environments that are equitable and inclusive.

The Student Experience

  • I loved tak­ing Pris­ons and the Crim­i­nal Law. Our final project was a reform pro­pos­al for any part of the jus­tice sys­tem, from polic­ing reforms, to sen­tenc­ing man­dates, to prison reforms. I advo­cat­ed for the removal of soli­tary con­fine­ment as a treat­ment for men­tal health issues and pro­posed it should be replaced with a group ther­a­py sys­tem used in some New York City jails called CAPS. I got to advo­cate for a real, tan­gi­ble change in some­thing I am pas­sion­ate about.” Ava Student, The Downtown School
  • This was my son’s 3rd class. This class and teacher pro­vid­ed a nice bal­ance of chal­lenge and relaxed learn­ing. He still talks about much of what he learned in the class. He is writ­ing to his head of school at high school to incor­po­rate more coun­sel­ing for stu­dents on eat­ing dis­or­ders as a result of what he learned in the class.” Denise Harnois Parent
  • My first ever course was Prob­lem Solv­ing with Engi­neer­ing and Design. I learned a lot of new things about a sub­ject I loved at a high­er lev­el than taught at school, and I was able to col­lab­o­rate with so many peers around the world. The course projects were made to fit our own inter­ests, so I always was look­ing for­ward to work­ing with our mod­ules. I’m tak­ing anoth­er course this semes­ter because I enjoyed my expe­ri­ence so much!” Sarah Student, UNIS Hanoi

Flexible, Independent Learning

GOA classes are mostly asynchronous: teachers design the coursework and calendar, and students work on their own schedules, gaining important independent learning skills along the way.

Frequently Asked Questions
independent learning online courses

Global Connections

GOA classes are small. Students work with a caring, expert teacher from a member school and get to know and collaborate with peers from around the world.

See our member schools
Global Digital Classrooms

Explore topics you care about
With peers around the world

Discover Courses