NCVPS Community - E-lert for May 21

Be Empowered: Social Media Parenting: Raising the Digital Generation. If you're raising, educating, or counseling kids (or all three!), you should read Matt Silverman's article about our digital generation of young learners.

E-lert Subscription: Have you subscribed? If not, you can subscribe at the new e-lert site here. Look for the subscription service at the top of the sidebar. You will receive a confirmation email to activate your subscription. Each notice will have an unsubscribe option, too.

E-learning Success Stories: Submit your stories here: http://tiny.cc/d2oby Please tell us about student success stories and district success stories, such as increased virtual enrollment, fulltime DLA positions, teacher facilitators, and other virtual initiatives that have been started in your district. You may also forward to students and principals to complete!

Join NCVPS on Facebook: Are you into networking and social media? Come join over 500 other educators here: http://www.facebook.com/ncvps

Central Office DLC Training on May 25, 9 a.m. [E-lert May 21]

Central Office Distance Learning Coordinators:

A training sesssion for Distance Learning Coordinators "DLCs" (Central Office distance learning lead or appointed DLA to serve in this capacity) is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25 at 9:00am in the DLA Spa, "Virtual Office" classroom. Please make great effort to attend or designate one of your county school DLAs to represent your county. This session will cover year-end close out, summer semester guidelines, and any discussion about the role of the DLC. Instructions to access the Virtual Office classroom are also included in this e-lert. Please print the instructions so you will have them available in preparation to join the May 25th session.

You can follow this link directly to the classroom: http://ncvpsclassroom.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=_ncvps_s__4100_1_883357&X-Wimba-IntegrationType=classroom&X-Wimba-RoomId=_ncvps_s__4100_1_883357&X-Wimba-PlatformType=blackboard&X-Wimba-CourseId=DLA_Spa&X-Wimba-IntegrationVersion=4.0.0-7&X-Wimba-CoursePkId=_4100_1&X-Wimba-PlatformVersion=8.0.422.0

Course Previews [E-lert for May 21]

You can now preview NCVPS courses for each discipline of study. Here's how to access:

1. Go to our Blackboard login page: http://ncvps.blackboard.com/webapps/login/

2. Do not try logging in, though.

3. Click on the "Preview" button on the left of the screen.

4. Under "My Courses" on the top right, click on "MasterDemo."

5. Explore the course links on the left navigation bar.

Grade Reports [E-lert for May 21]

Here's a quick tutorial on how to access your grade reports.

Enrollment Reports [E-lert for May 21]

Here's a quick tutorial on how to access your enrollment report. You can now see students who have been waitlisted in your enrollment report.

Withdrawing Students [E-lert for May 21]

NCVPS is unable to withdraw students who have left your school in the last ten days of a course. The last day to withdraw was May 18th. The school principal must determine what to do with the grade that the instructor submits.

For more information on our drop and withdrawal process, please follow this link.

LOCK session June 1 - 11:00 am [E-lert for May 21]

LOCK sessions will be hosted each 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 11:00 am. Mark your calendar for the next session June 1st. We will feature another guest DLC. Check next week for the resourceful topic. Thanks to the many who locked into the May 18 session. Excellent!!

Thanks also to the DLCs who presented that session, Joe Baisley (Currituck), Richard McFall (Durham), & Sharon Rhodes (Buncombe). Excellent material covered and can be reviewed at http://www.thevlc.org/2010/05/lock-session-for-may-18.html GREAT work, team!

Waitlists [E-lert for May 21]

NCVPS is still accepting enrollments for the Fall 2010 semester and our Summer 2010 Credit Recovery Courses. For the Summer 2010 semester, new student enrollments (not including Credit Recovery) will be placed on a waitlist. Wait lists are necessary in order for NCVPS to gain a more accurate budget picture and capacity to hire additional teachers for sections. Thank you for your patience and for your support of NCVPS.

Credit Recovery Update [E-lert for May 21]

Important Info Regarding Last Day to Submit Work and Final Grade Reports

1) Mastery Charts and Status Reports
The mastery charts were messaged to the students within Blackboard and emailed to parents and DLAs by 5pm on Monday, May 17th. The Status Report was made available in the registration system on Tuesday, May 18th. Mastery Charts and Status Reports will be provided bi-weekly during the spring semester. For the Mastery Chart schedule, click the following link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/18170808/Mastery-Chart-Schedule

2) Last Day To Submit Work and Final Grade Reports
The end of the semester is less than two weeks away. The last day for students to submit work in Credit Recovery courses is Friday, May 28th. May 31st is a holiday and June 1st is the final day of class for NCVPS. Those students who are close to finishing on May 28th will be extended until June 1st. Final grades for those who finish will be sent to schools on June 2nd. A Non-Mastery or NM will be reported for those students that do not finish the course. Please encourage students to work with their teacher on a plan for completing the course by the final date.

3) Teacher Contact
As we are approaching the end of the semester, teacher contact with parents is extremely important. Our teachers want to make sure that parents are aware of their child's status and what they need to do to finish the course by May 28th. If the teachers are having trouble contacting a student and/or parent they may reach out to you for assistance and/or advice. We greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide and all that you do to encourage the Credit Recovery students. Please let us know how we can help!

4) Students unable to move forward in course
Also as the end of the semester is approaching, we want to make sure that all students are moving forward. If you have a Credit Recovery student that states he or she is unable to move forward in a course for any reason, please contact Jeff Page at jeffrey.page@ncpublicschools.gov. Jeff can help the DLA and/or lab facilitator to determine where or what the student can do next. Students should never be sitting with nothing to work on at any time!

5) Summer Registration
Just a reminder that we are offering two brand new Credit Recovery courses this summer, Credit Recovery Biology and Credit Recovery World History.

6) Credit Recovery Podcast Series
If you have not listened to the second podcast in our Credit Recovery Podcast Series, please be sure to check it out. This podcast focuses on what you can do if students master the course before the end of the semester based on one lab facilitator's experience at Enloe High School. The podcast can be found at this link:http://www.thevlc.org/2010/04/credit-recovery-podcast-at-your-own.html. Our hope is that you will find the information shared through these interviews valuable to your program at your school.

NCVPS Community [E-lert for April 28]

Welcome to the NCVPS Community! Below you will find the posts for this week's e-lert.

Be Empowered: Edmodo is a blogging system designed for teachers and students. Edmodo allows teachers to create a group specifically for their students and exclude those not invited to the group. Edmodo provides teachers with a place to post assignment reminders, build an event calendar, and post messages to the group. Just as with any good microblogging service users can share links, videos, and images.

E-lert Subscription: Have you subscribed? If not, you can subscribe at the new e-lert site here. Look for the subscription service at the top of the sidebar. You will receive a confirmation email to activate your subscription. Each notice will have an unsubscribe option, too.

E-learning Success Stories: Submit your stories here: http://tiny.cc/d2oby Please tell us about student success stories and district success stories, such as increased virtual enrollment, fulltime DLA positions, teacher facilitators, and other virtual initiatives that have been started in your district. You may also forward to students and principals to complete!

Join NCVPS on Facebook: Are you into networking and social media? Come join over 500 other educators here: http://www.facebook.com/ncvps

New Passwords Starting this Summer for All Students [E-lert for April 28]

Starting in summer, all students will begin using their NCWise numbers for their usernames. Old usernames and passwords from previous semesters will no longer work.

Please remember that you will have to issue usernames and passwords. Many students will already know there NCWise numbers, so that's a plus.

Here are two ways to find a student's username and password in the registration system.

Run Your Enrollment Report
1) Click on the Enrollment button.
2) Look for the "export enrollments to excel" link. It is at the top of the screen above the course titles.
3) Select the semester for the report that you want to run. Your options are Summer 2010, Academic Year 2010 - 2011 (yearlong courses), and Fall 2010.
4) Click the "export" button.
5) An excel spreadsheet will open. You will see on the spreadsheet that there are columns for username and password.

Print Individual Student Information
1) Click the Students button. (Do not click "Export to Excel" from the Students button. This will open a spreadsheet with all information for all students at the school.)
2) Click on the student's NCWise number next to the student's name.
3) You can print this sheet for your student. It has the student's username and password on it.

Central Office Access to the Registration System [E-lert for April 28]

Here's a short video on SchoolTube that shows the features of central office access to the registration system.

If you plan on having one summer DLA contact for your entire district, you may want to share the central office access with that person.

New Process and Guidelines for Health and Physical Education [E-lert for April 28]

Beginning in summer 2010, the Health Education and Physical Education courses are going to be offered as 2 separate courses. Both courses are .5 credit courses. For the summer each course will be 4-weeks long. Physical Education will be offered ONLY during the first 4-weeks of the summer session and will begin on June 14^th and end on July 12^th.

The Health Education course will ONLY be offered the last 4 weeks of the 8 week summer session and will begin on July 13^th and end on August 9th.

In fall 2010, the Health Education and Physical Education courses are going to be offered as 2 separate courses and will be a 9 week .5 credit course. Physical Education will be offered ONLY during the first 9-weeks of the fall semester. The Early Calendar P.E. course will begin Aug 5th and the traditional calendar P.E. course will begin on Aug 25^th.

The Health Education course will ONLY be offered the last 9-weeks in the fall semester. The Early Calendar Health course will begin Oct. 11^th and the traditional calendar Health course will begin on Nov 1st.

Please note that DLAs will no longer need to provide a copy of the Health Education permission form to the NCVPS office. Instead each school will be responsible for getting the permission form(s) from parents/legal guardians and keeping the form(s) on file at the school in accordance with the G.S. 115C-81(e1) (7). A permission form is not required for the P.E. course.

The registration system has a new feature for enrolling students in the Health Education course. You will select a radio button indicating that you have a copy of the permission form(s) already on file. If you check yes, you will be able to proceed with registration for the Health Education course. If you check no, the system will not allow you to register the student in the Health Education course. You are not in compliance with G.S. 115C-81(e1) (7) if you enroll students without the permission form on file at the school.

For questions, please contact your Virtual Learning Consultant (VLC)

Students at Risk of Failing

As the completion of week 12 in this semester has passed, there is still time in the semester for students at risk of failing to communicate with their NCVPS teacher, get assignments submitted, and succeed. DLCs are asked to push out an LEA plan for DLAs to promote and encourage students to rise above and succeed. The VLCs have witnessed testimonies whereas the DLA's slightest coaching to students inspires them to fulfill their potential. Don't miss out on the opportunity to make a substantial difference in student's academic success.

Time for 1 More Course! [E-lert for April 28]

Community Colleges participating in LEO allow high school students to take a course from mid-May through mid-June for summer school credit.

This allows LEO students, whose courses end in early May, to earn another credit prior to the end of the school year.

Students who have successfully completed a LEO course are perfect candidates.

Registration is open now, don't delay. Classes start in a couple of weeks, dependent upon the Community College schedule.

Deborah Pedersen
deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

DLA & Student Checklists for Summer [E-lert for April 28]

Here are the links to the summer checklists:

DLA Checklist for Summer 2010

Student Checklist for Summer 2010 (Please copy and paste this into a Word document and add your own expectations for students! Your school and districts should have their own expectations for online students.)

Here's the link to all of our Quick Reference Guides.

Mark Your Calendar for "LOCK & Key" Sessions! [E-lert for April 28]

Starting Tuesday, May 4^th, 11:00-Noon, NCPVS School Services will host “LOCK” sessions,

“Live Online Connecting Knowledge”. These sessions will be hosted on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The sessions will be a time for Distance Learning Coordinators (DLCs) and school DLAs to discuss “Key” topics, share ideas, tips, best practices, and simply LOCK in knowledge among our NCVPS community of distance learning professionals. We will typically have no more than 15-30 minutes of presentation time and reserve the remainder of the hour for interactive exchange of thoughts and feedback from participants. It is STRONGLY recommended for DLCs, especially, to attend these sessions as we start to lean more heavily on those in the DLC role.

The LOCK sessions will be held in the “Live Classroom” (tab) in the DLA Spa. If you need instructions on how to access the DLA Live Classroom, directions are provided in a separate article in this E-lert, and also available as a QRG (Quick Reference Guide) in the DLA Spa. Sessions will be archived, though we need your “live” participation if your schedules permit. Be on watch in next week's E-lert for the "Key" topic(s) to cover in the May 4th session.

Instructions on how to access the DLA “Live Classroom” in Blackboard [E-lert for April 28]

Follow this link for detailed instructions on how to access the Live Classroom in the DLA Spa.

Summer DLC & DLA Contact Information [E-lert for April 28]

The Virtual Learning Consultants, (Adam, Connie, J & Mel) will be soliciting summer contact information over the next three weeks. The DLCs (Distance Learning Coordinators - central point of contact person) will be asked to coordinate contact information and report for their county assignment. If your county does not plan to enroll students in the NCVPS summer semester, we also need to know that. Be prepared to provide DLC & DLA contact information per your VLCs request by May 14th.

NCVPS Needs Your Help Acquiring AP Scores [E-lert for April 28]

Advanced Placement tests will begin next week at your f2f schools from Monday, May 3 through Friday, May 14. In the past, NCVPS has not consistently received the test results for students that took our AP courses, but take the AP exams at your f2f schools. Your students will be completing their AP answer sheets on the day of their tests in which they will automatically put your school code on their AP answer sheet to receive their scores. Therefore, I am asking if you could please remind your students one last time to add the NCVPS College Board Code onto their AP answer sheet in addition to their school code so that NCVPS will receive this year’s scores more accurately. Students will have to input the NCVPS code (045) into the ‘Online Provider Code’ found on page 1, item G of their answer sheet for NCVPS to receive a copy of their test scores for our records.

With access to students AP scores, NCVPS can determine if changes need to be made to our courses during the revision process to ensure that your students are getting the best possible instruction. Also, please pass this information onto the AP Testing Coordinator at your school so that they will know of our request. Thanks in advance for all that you are doing for your students and NCVPS. We appreciate all of your hard work and commitment!

Marcia Simmons, Division Director marcia.simmons@ncpublicschools.gov

Japanese I Pilot Course FULL

NCVPS is piloting Japanese I this fall. Currently, the pilot is FULL and NCVPS is no longer taking enrollments. Students that are on the waitlist will only get into the course if there is a student who drops. Please inform your waitlisted students. Thank you.

Change in Enrollment Status of NCVPS Students [E-lert for April 28]

We have recently encountered a few instances of NCVPS students who have either transferred out of a school or have been suspended without reporting this information to the NCVPS teacher. While it is up to the local school to determine how to handle such reporting, we ask that you immediately notify the NCVPS teacher(s) of any change in enrollment status of NCVPS students.

You may refer to the QRG on Transfer Students on how to handle these types of changes. As far as suspensions, it will be up to the local school to determine if the student can remain in his/her online course with NCVPS. Thank you for your cooperation!

Students Missing in the Registration System [E-lert for April 28]

If you have students who are in your NCWise database but are not in the NCVPS registration system, please email the student's name and NCWise number to your VLC. If the student transferred into your school include the school from which the student transferred in the email, too