NCVPS Community: E-lert for July 30

Be Empowered

No-Keys Virtual Keyboard: Those who have difficulty using a traditional keyboard should check out this great virtual keyboard as an alternative.

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!

Professional Networking

Join NCVPS on Facebook. Are you into networking and social media? Come join over 650 other educators here: http://www.facebook.com/ncvps

Follow the virtual learning consultants on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MyVLC

Tutorial

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

Student Checklist for Fall 2010 [E-lert for July 30]

Follow this link to the Student Checklist for Fall 2010.

Schools and districts should use this as a guide and add their own expectations for the students to the checklist.

Courses Closed for Fall [E-lert for July 30]

The following courses are closed to enrollments for the 2010-2011 year. If you have any students that are currently on the waitlist in any of these courses, they will not be able to move from the waitlist to enrolled status for this upcoming year. Therefore, please remove any student listed on the waitlist from these courses.

AP Micro/Macro Economics Early Calendar AP Micro/Macro Economics
AP Physics Early Calendar AP Physics

The following Early Calendar courses are closed to enrollments for the fall 2010 semester. If you have any students that are currently on the waitlist in any of these courses, please remove them and place them into the traditional block courses so that they may be served.

Early Calendar Courses to Close for fall 2010
African-American Studies
Algebra 1
Algebra 2
Algebra 2 Honors
Anatomy Honors
AP Art History
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer Science A
AP Environmental Science
AP European History
AP German
AP Government and Politics
AP Human Geography
AP Language and Comp
AP Latin
AP Literature and Comp
AP Music Theory
AP Psychology
AP Statistics
AP US History
AP World History
Biology
Calculus
Civics and Economics
Civics and Economics Honors
Computerized Accounting I
Computer Programming I
eCommerce 1 Honors
eCommerce 2 Honors
English I Honors
French 3
French 4
Geometry
Geometry Honors
German 3
German 4
Integrated Math 1
Integrated Math 2
Latin 3
Medieval Studies
Personal Finance
Principles of Business
Spanish 3
Spanish 4
United States History
United States History Honors
World History
World Languages, Music, Art courses

At this time, World Language, Music, and Art courses have limited availability at this time, so it is possible that students currently on the waitlists will not be accommodated for fall courses.

LEO Courses Meeting New Legislation [E-lert for July 30]

Community College courses with the prefixes below will meet the new LEO requirements:

AST

BIO

CHM

CIS

GEL

IMS

MAT

PHS

PHY

SCI

If your Community College has offered to absorb tuition for students previously registered for courses not covered by LEO be aware that LEO funds may NOT be used for fees & textbooks.

High Schools students enrolled in LEO courses through iSchool received a letter last week stating, "On Friday, July 30, all of our current fall courses will be cancelled. This will affect 1553 students in 170 high schools, accounting for 2025 enrollments. The cancellation will take place from our end and no further action will be required of you or your students."

iSchool is working on courses to meet the new legislated requirement that all LEO courses must be in the areas of math, science, or technology.

LEO funding has not been changed, there is plenty of funding for science, technology, and math courses.

Early and Middle College high schools are exempt from this legislation.

Please contact me if you have questions,

Deborah Pedersen

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

Credit Recovery Updates [E-lert for July 28]

1. Last Day to Submit Work:
The last day of the semester is almost here! We are encouraging our students to submit work in Credit Recovery courses by Friday, August 6th. August 9th is the final day of courses for NCVPS. Those students who are close to finishing on August 6th will be extended until August 9th. Please encourage students to work with their teacher on a plan for completing the course by the final date.

2. Final Grade Reports
This is just a reminder that final grades will be provided for those students who master the entire course on August 12th. This is the final grade report for all NCVPS courses, and will appear in the REPORTS section in the NCVPS registration system.

To recap previously stated information, only students who master the entire course will receive a final grade. NCVPS does not provide grades for students who do not master the entire course. We are a mastery learning model, and while we provide a final course grade to schools for students who master the course material, we cannot provide grades for students who do not finish the course. Since the course is self-paced, we do not have an accurate grade to provide unless the entire course is mastered. One assignment could equal a 100 while the student has done no more work. This would be misleading and inaccurate to all. This is why we will provide a NonMastery for those students who do not finish the course on the final grade report.

3. Students unable to move 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! While Jeff is out today and tomorrow, contact the teacher first and if you cannot contact the teacher send your concerns to me.

4. Mastery Charts and Status Reports

As mentioned before, mastery charts are messaged to the students within Blackboard and emailed to parents and DLAs on Mondays. You will receive a mastery chart email this Monday, August 2nd. A status report will be available in the registration system on Wednesday, August 4th.

NCVPS Community [E-lert for July 22]

Be Empowered: DO-IT Internet Lessons in Math: Washington University provides these online lessons that are designed to help those who have a disability that impairs their ability to do math or who are simply struggling with the material.

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

2010 Pass Rates

Click here to see how your district is performing!

The Why, What, & How of the NCVPS Funding Formula [E-lert for July 22]

Recently, questions have stemmed from the outcome of the debate with the House, Senate and Governor with regard to the NCVPS funding formula. Dr. Bryan Setser, NCVPS Executive Director, met with superintendents on Friday, July 16 via webinar to provide key thoughts on "The Why, What, & How of the funding formula. The presentation was captured in an archive file; it is approximately 30 minutes in duration and is available here:

http://www.thevlc.org/2010/07/ncvps-funding-formula-why-what-and-how.html

The presentation can also be accessed at www.thevlc.org scrolling to find topic, "NCVPS Funding Formula: The Why, What, and How for NC School Districts".

Running Reports: Grade Reports & Enrollment Reports [E-lert for July 22]

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

Here's a quick tutorial on how to access your enrollment report.

Roster Updated from YET [E-lert for July 22]

Your 2010-2011 School Year Rosters - Now Imported in Your NCVPS Registration System Account

For the first time, the new school year's student rosters have been imported from the YET process. The records are now available in your NCVPS Registration System Account. NOTE: All students at your school are listed in the NCVPS Registration System. DLAs are advised to review your accounts to verify you have your school's registered students. If you find any discrepancies, please report to your assigned VLC (Adam Renfro, Connie Joyner, J Bell, or Melissa Davis).

Additionally, it is strongly advised for DLAs to run the "Export to Excel" report of school enrollments and check your enrolled student's records to verify your enrollment data hasn't been affected by your new school roster import. (NOTE: The article in this e-Lert on "Running Reports - Grade Reports and Enrollment Reports" provides a demo on how to run your enrollment report.)

LOCK Sessions Scheduled July-August [E-lert for July 22]

Generally, LOCK sessions (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) are scheduled the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 11:00 AM. However, summer LOCK session schedules have been altered. The scheduled July-August sessions are outlined below. Post these dates on your calendar and make it a priority for both DLAs and DLCs to engage in these professional development opportunities. (The sessions are hosted in the "Virtual Office" (tab) in the DLA Spa.)

NOTE: July 20 Archive link is posted.

July 27 - "From the Boom Generation to the Digital Generation" -- a treat you don't want to miss to hear the perspectives from retired DLAs and DLCs as of the summer, 2010.

Aug 03 - "Tips on Textbook Strategies and the Impact with NC WISE" -- presented by DLC Joe Baisley (Currituck)

Aug 10 - 9:00 - "Training for DLCs" -- presented by the NCVPS Division for School Services Support (Adam, Connie, Dave, J, & Melissa)

Aug 17 - "Tips on Grade Reporting & Closing out Summer Semester" -- presented by DLC and the NCVPS School Services Support Team.

Aug 24 - "An Overview of Training for 2010-2011 School Year DLAs and DLCs" -- presented by the NCVPS School Services Support Team.

LEO Changes [E-lert for July 22]

Effective immediately only science, technology, and mathematics online college courses will be covered by LEO. Participating Community Colleges offer many courses which meet this criteria. At this time no iSchool courses qualify. iSchool is working on this situation for spring semester. If you have students registered for iSchool courses they will be in touch with you.

LEO funding has not been changed, there is plenty of funding for science, technology, and math courses.

Early and Middle College high schools are exempt from this legislation.

More information will be forthcoming to DLCs and Superintendents.

If you work with one primary Community College for delivery of LEO courses contact them for availability of courses covered by the new LEO legislation.

Please contact me if you have questions,

Deborah Pedersen

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

Students with IEPs and 504s [E-lert for July 22]

Please be aware as you are registering students for NCVPS courses that if the student has on file an IEP or 504, you will need to check the IEP box in the registration process. This designation will then alert our NCVPS teacher that the student has an IEP or 504 and the teacher can contact the DLA to discuss this information.

If you have already enrolled students for the summer or fall sessions who have IEPs or 504s but did not check the box, please go back into the registration system to input this information.

NCVPS "PE Course" [E-lert for July 22]

A proposed legislation that was passed and signed by the Governor on June 31, 2010 regarding the NCVPS online PE course. The legislation reads: SECTION 7.4.(d) NCVPS shall provide only high school courses and shall not provide any courses in physical education.

As a result of this legistlation, all fall semester PE course registrations have been dropped. No further Registration System action is necessary by DLAs.

NCVPS regrets this change has occured in legislation; we apologize for the inconvenience.

NCVPS Community: E-lert for July 2

Be Empowered: pwWebSpeak: Users who need to access the Web in a non-visual manner or with audio assistance can use this browser and screen reader to get the help they need.

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

OSU German Course HELP DESK Number [E-lert for July 2]

Please note that all HELP DESK requests for OSU's German courses should be directed to the following number.

1-800-423-6493

Running Reports: Grade Reports & Enrollment Reports [E-lert for July 2]

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

Here's a quick tutorial on how to access your enrollment report.

NC WISE Data Imports to NCVPS Registration System [E-lert for July 2]

The NCVPS student demographic information as it appears in the NCVPS Registration System is imported from NC WISE eSIS records. The NCVPS school rosters will be updated with student's 2010-2011 school year assignments after the NC WISE "YET" (Year End Transition) process, in which generally occurs the week of July 4th. NCVPS records are projected to be updated on July 22. Rising 9^th graders will be assigned their high school, and graduated seniors will no longer be in view on school rosters. New schools will also be populated.

The data that is imported from NC WISE depends on what gets populated in NC WISE eSIS before the shutdown for YET, (which will be 5:00 on Wednesday, June 30, 2010). A second import is anticipated closer to the fall semester or shortly afterwards. Parent email and phone number are available fields in eSIS; so coordinating with the school data manager to get these fields of data input would be beneficial for DLAs.

Weekly Grade Reports [E-lert for July 2]

REMINDER - This week's progress report is now availalble behind the "Reports" tab in your NCVPS Registration System account. DLAs and DLCs are expected to review the weekly progress reports and follow up with students based on teacher notes and grade marks. When a student is noted to be behind, please provide assistance to the student, whether it's a phone call or email if the student is not in a lab setting at the school; or if the school offers lab settings, speak and meet with the student to offer assistance and to review the student's grade report together.

Calling all DLC and DLA Retirees! [E-lert for July 2]

If you are a DLC or DLA planning to retire this summer, or you know of one who has already retired in the 2009-2010 school year, please notify
VLC, Connie Joyner at connie.joyner@ncpublicschools.gov or call 919.218.7582.

July LOCK Sessions [E-lert for July 2]

Generally, LOCK (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) sessions are scheduled the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 11:00 AM. However, since the first Tuesday falls directly behind the July 4th holiday, July LOCK sessions will change. The first session will be hosted on the 2nd Tuesday, July 13. The topic will be "Summer Support & Lessons Learned in Summer Semester Startup". Please mark your calendar and make it a mandatory meeting for both DLCs and DLAs. The 2nd July LOCK session schedule is TBD. Be on watch in the next couple E-lerts for an update.

Students with IEPs and 504s [E-lert for July 2]

Please be aware as you are registering students for NCVPS courses that if the student has on file an IEP or 504, you will need to check the IEP box in the registration process. This designation will then alert our NCVPS teacher that the student has an IEP or 504 and the teacher can contact the DLA to discuss this information.

If you have already enrolled students for the summer or fall sessions who have IEPs or 504s but did not check the box, please go back into the registration system to input this information.

Conversation Coaching Sessions [E-lert for July 2]

Critical Languages courses (Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Japanese) have a very unique feature – conversation sessions. Students meet synchronously online with a Conversation Coach twice a week for 45 minutes in a Wimba Classroom – safe virtual environment. The conversation session times are available from 8am till 10pm. This allows students to pick times that work best for them.

Conversation coaches are proficient in the target language. They help students with pronunciation, grammar, reading, writing, dialogue speech; provide additional practice as well as help students with any language related questions. Conversation sessions encourage development of communication and speaking skills and provide opportunities for learning about the culture of the country behind the language they are studying. Coaches also provide suggestions and comments on how to improve the language learning skills in order to increase language proficency.

Conversation sessions allow us to provide the best of both worlds: flexibility of a virtual environment, as well as a “face to face” experience with an expert in the target language (Conversation Coach) alongside of your virtual classmates.

If your student is signed up for one of these courses in the Fall then the student, parent, and DLA will be contacted by the assigned teacher to collect coaching times in order to begin this invaluable service as soon as the semester begins. If you have any questions please contact, Kateryna Decker at kateryna.decker@ncpublicschools.gov.