North Allegheny students will be able to study Chinese via a videoconferencing class offered by A.W. Beattie Career Center in McCandless.

The North Allegheny school board Wednesday approved the Distance Learning Technology Mandarin class for students in grades nine through 12.

A maximum of 30 students can take the class and will receive one arts and humanities credit.

There is no per-student cost to Beattie consortium districts, but each district will be asked to pay $500 that will go toward administration costs, said Matt Roberts, Beattie's curriculum coordinator.

If Beattie continues offering the class, it will be added to North Allegheny's 2009-10 program of studies.

Considering the class has nearly quadrupled in size since Beattie first offered it last fall, keeping it going shouldn't be a problem, Mr. Roberts said.

"This has absolutely been a success," he said. "It started out good, and it's getting better every day."

Last year, Mr. Roberts spearheaded the effort to offer the course, which is a partnership sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh's Confucius Institute, an offshoot of Pitt's Center for Asian Studies.

There are 144 Confucius Institutes worldwide. Twenty-two are in the United States.

The class is taught on-site at Beattie Tech and sent out to participating schools via video feed. Through technology, the students in their home districts can interact with the instructors.

There will be two instructors in the fall, Shen Zinghua and Xiao Shan, both of China. They will be temporary, one-year employees, Mr. Roberts said.

Last September, there were five students enrolled in the class, the first of its kind at Beattie, Mr. Roberts said. By the end of the year, that number had grown to 25, he said. The students were from Beattie and from Upper St. Clair.

As it heads into its second year, he expects at least 100 students from a variety of new districts to sign up for the class.

"Technology wise, the implications of this class are huge," he said. "I think we're on the very front edge of a coming trend in education."

Because North Allegheny's board is just now approving the course for the 2008-09 school year, some adjustments will have to be made to accommodate students who want to take the class but have already made their schedules for next year, Superintendent Patricia Green said.

In addition, the district will need to get the word out about the class, perhaps through a direct mailing and through the district's regular publications, Dr. Green added.

"The board is quite excited about this opportunity," said Linda Bishop, school board president.