E-lert for Dec. 9, 2010

NCVPS Community

Be Empowered
Is your school already using social media? Here are some thought-provoking questions.

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
Are you into networking and social media? Come join over 750 other educators who have fanned us on Facebook. Find our fan page at Facebook/ncvps

Follow the virtual learning consultants on Twitter at Twitter/MyVLC

This Week's E-lert

1) Open Registration

2) OCS Face-2-Face Teacher Training

3) Inclement Weather

4) New Help Desk Information

5) NCVPS Final Exams

6) Speak Up Survey

7) Course Catalogs Available

8) LEO Career and College

9) Lock Sessions

10) Reminders

Registration Is Still Open [E-lert for Dec. 9]

We have over 14,000 students registered for spring, and we are looking at another record enrollment!

Be sure to register your students early to ensure a seat in class! If a course has a waitlist, go ahead and place your student on the waitlist. We are opening new sections every Monday!

OCS Face to Face Teacher Training for Spring [E-lert for Dec. 9]

Reminder for all schools that are registered for OCS courses this spring:

All OCS face to face (f2f) teachers will need to go through an approximate two hour online training prior to the Spring semester start on January 24, 2011. Teachers will be able to decide when they want to complete the training but all f2f teachers will need to complete this training prior to the start of Spring semester. The training is available here: http://ncvps.org/courses/ocs/training.html

Inclement Weather [E-lert for Dec. 9]

Numerous districts have had inclement weather closings this past week. Please have your students (or DLAs) notify the instructors that your schools have been closed, especially if you have students working from a lab setting.

New Help Desk Information [E-lert for Dec. 9]

The Presidium Help Desk has two procedures to help students who have forgotten their passwords or are having difficulties with Blackboard. Follow this link to see these procedures.

When students are having problems with content in the course, they should always contact their instructors.

NCVPS Final Exams [E-lert of Dec. 9]

All students must take their NCVPS final exams. Some districts may exempt students from final exams (usually based on grades and/or attendance). This local policy does not apply to students' NCVPS courses, though.

This, also, does not apply to EOC or VOCATS courses. Those exams will be administered by the local schools.

Speak Up! Survey - Your Reponse is Needed! [E-lert for Dec. 9]

Please participate by visiting - http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2010/.

The password is "ncvps". Locate the North Carolina Virtual Public School in the list of schools. Thank you for participating in the 2010 Speak Up! survey.

Speak Up, a national online research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow®, gives individuals the opportunity to share their viewpoints about key educational issues. Each year, findings are summarized and shared with national and state policy makers. Participating
schools and districts can access their data online, free-of-charge.

Course Catalogs Available for 2011 - 2012 [E-lert for Dec. 9]

Our course catalogs are now available for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Registration is not yet open for those courses, but you can include the course listings in any catalogs that your district is publishing.

Follow this link to see the available catalogs.

LEO: Career & College [E-lert for Dec. 9]

The LEO registration is open for spring courses. iSchool and participating Community Colleges have many courses meeting STEM requirements. STEM has opened many courses leading to career certification for students wanting to get into the work force.

Contact your participating Community College, iSchool, or me for more information.

Is your school system interested in getting more students involved in Learn and Earn Online but you have more questions/concerns than answers? I'll be happy to visit, answer questions, discuss policy implications, anything I can do to assist.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Deborah Pedersen

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

LOCK Sessions [E-lert for Dec. 9]

LOCK Session Webinars - Upcoming Schedule

NCVPS LOCK session webinars are scheduled each Tuesday through Dec. These sessions are mini-webinars hosted for DLA and DLC knowledge gain and mini-training. The sessions are intended to be an opportunity for statewide DLAs and DLCs to collaborate on various topics that pertain to the responsibilities of the role. The sessions are hosted in the DLA online Wimba Classroom in the Blackboard DLA Spa (Virtual Office tab). Archive files to recent former session(s) follows the green highlight. The next LOCK scheduled is highlighted in yellow.

TIME: 11:00 AM (unless otherwise specified)

UPCOMING WEBINARS:

Dec 14 - "No Zero Policy" - Presenter: Dr. Tracy Weeks, NCVPS Chief Academic Officer

Reminders [E-lert for Dec. 9]

COURSE REGISTRATION

> OCS Courses for Spring 11. Click here for details on how to register!

> LEO Spring 2011 Registration - click here for details.

> SAS Computer Programming - new pilot course - click here for details.

DLA & SCHOOL MAINTENANCE

> DLA Contact Information - Be sure to update your contact information in the registration system. Follow this link to see how to update your contact information.

> Central Office Distance Learning Coordinator: Follow this link to watch a short video that shows how to check your district's enrollment, check grades, and enroll and drop students at the school level.


DISTRICT INFORMATION

> To learn more about our OCS blended learning opportunities, please watch the follow two videos:
1) http://www.schooltube.com/video/71262ea7f4aecc0552ad/OCS-Part-1
2) http://www.schooltube.com/video/3e275d869bea24e5424f/OCS-Part-2

> NCVPS is seeking GO LIVE districts. With customized training and support, the GO LIVE initiative helps leaders develop solutions for e-learning and e-leadership. Click here for more details!

> Watch our Curriculum and Instruction presentation to see an over of online offerings and e-learning strategies. Click here to view!

> If your district is enrolling home-schooled students, follow this link to see the new process: http://www.ncvps.org/parentstudent/homeschool/index.html

> For funding formula information, follow this link: http://www.thevlc.org/2010/07/ncvps-funding-formula-why-what-and-how.html

STUDENT SUPPORT

> Follow this link to see a full list of assistive technologies that are beneficial for a variety of student disabilities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Am5iphYrw8o_gwzsWHvO3RhhhPop81tLyhfiB-WK4g8/edit?hl=en&authkey=COv327YI&pli=1#

> If your students need tutoring help, be sure to check out our Peer Tutoring Center by following this link.

E-lert for Dec. 2, 2010

The NCVPS Community

Be Empowered

Does your district have an approach to promote digital citizenship and prevent cyberbullying? Check out these two articles to begin or continue your discussion in your distirct: Digital Citizenship: Our Passport to the Modern World and Youth Risk Online.

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

Are you into networking and social media? Come join over 750 other educators who have fanned us on Facebook. Find our fan page at Facebook/ncvps

Follow the virtual learning consultants on Twitter at Twitter/MyVLC

This Week's E-lert

1) Registration Is in Full Swing

2) Speak Up Survey

3) Modular Learning

4) DLA and Student Checklists

5) World Language Tour

6) LEO Updates

7) Upcoming LOCK Sessions

8) Reminders

Registration Is in Full Swing [E-lert for Dec. 2]

We have over 12,000 students registered for spring, and we are looking at another record enrollment!

Be sure to register your students early to ensure a seat in class! If a course has a waitlist, go ahead and place your student on the waitlist. We are opening new sections every Monday!

Speak Up! Survey - Your Reponse is Needed! [E-lert for Dec. 2]

Please participate by visiting - http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2010/.

The password is "ncvps". Locate the North Carolina Virtual Public School in the list of schools. Thank you for participating in the 2010 Speak Up! survey.

Speak Up, a national online research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow®, gives individuals the opportunity to share their viewpoints about key educational issues. Each year, findings are summarized and shared with national and state policy makers. Participating
schools and districts can access their data online, free-of-charge.

Modular Learning Courses [E-lert for Dec. 2]

The modular learning concept was born from this question: "Why should we wait until a students fail a course to offer them credit recovery help?" Now when students fall behind in a course, schools can now enroll them into any one of our 24 modules from English, math, digital communications, and science courses. Students will have the opportunity to master the module's concept (usually over a 1-2 week period) and catch back up with their peers in class.

Right now modular courses are open just to pilot districts, but they will be offered statewide in Spring 2011.

For more information on our modular learning opportunities, follow the link below:

http://www.thevlc.org/2010/11/modular-learning.html

Thanks to Jennifer Nobles, one of our modular learning specialists, for the great overview!

Student and DLA Checklists for Spring 2011 [E-lert for Dec. 2]

Click on the links above to download the documents or follow the links below for the web version.

Follow this link to the DLA Checklist for Spring 2011: https://docs.google.com/View?id=df9w57c6_26hjzx23f9

Follow this link to the Student Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Hiyou-5PJKKeAQMtE6p6Oo-efAGaTK7a_LfPhbXbR10

Around the World in One Hour: A World Language Tour with NCVPS [E-lert for Dec. 2]

NCVPS will be presenting a webinar to give parents and schools a primer on what NCVPS offers, why world languages are critical to 21^st century future-ready students, and why NCVPS is a leader in online world languages.

DATE:

Thursday, December 9 at 8:00 pm

LOG ON INFO:

Access via the web at - http://ncvpsclassroom.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=_ncvps_s__4100_1_883357

PIN number for conference – 15007821

Call In Access – (201) 549-7595
* Use same PIN number for phone access.

LEO: Career & College [E-lert for Dec. 2]

The LEO STEM requirements have had an unintended consequence of opening opportunities for career-ready as well as college-bound students. Community Colleges include in the STEM courses, career certificates such as Child Care, Law Enforcement, Forestry, and many others. Talk with your participating Community College about LEO career certificate options for your students.

Is your school system interested in getting more students involved in Learn and Earn Online but you have more questions/concerns than answers? I'll be happy to visit, answer questions, discuss policy implications, anything I can do to assist.

Email is the fastest way,

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

Both iSchool and Community Colleges are registering for spring courses. Visit the iSchool web site or contact the Community College with which you work.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Deborah Pedersen

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

LOCK Session Webinars - Upcoming Schedule [E-lert Dec. 2]

NCVPS LOCK session webinars are scheduled each Tuesday through Dec. These sessions are mini-webinars hosted for DLA and DLC knowledge gain and mini-training. The sessions are intended to be an opportunity for statewide DLAs and DLCs to collaborate on various topics that pertain to the responsibilities of the role. The sessions are hosted in the DLA online Wimba Classroom in the Blackboard DLA Spa (Virtual Office tab). Archive files to recent former session(s) follows the green highlight. The next LOCK scheduled is highlighted in yellow.

TIME: 11:00 AM (unless otherwise specified)

UPCOMING WEBINARS:

Dec 7 - "Funding Formula Update" - Presenter: Dr. John Brim, Assistant Director, NCVPS

Dec 14 - "No Zero Policy" - Presenter: Dr. Tracy Weeks, NCVPS Chief Academic Officer

Reminders [E-lert for Dec. 2]

COURSE REGISTRATION

> OCS Courses for Spring 11. Click here for details on how to register!

> LEO Spring 2011 Registration - click here for details.

> SAS Computer Programming - new pilot course - click here for details.

DLA & SCHOOL MAINTENANCE

> DLA Contact Information - Be sure to update your contact information in the registration system. Follow this link to see how to update your contact information.

> Central Office Distance Learning Coordinator: Follow this link to watch a short video that shows how to check your district's enrollment, check grades, and enroll and drop students at the school level.

> Fall 2010 VTINs list here.


DISTRICT INFORMATION

> To learn more about our OCS blended learning opportunities, please watch the follow two videos:
1) http://www.schooltube.com/video/71262ea7f4aecc0552ad/OCS-Part-1
2) http://www.schooltube.com/video/3e275d869bea24e5424f/OCS-Part-2

> NCVPS is seeking GO LIVE districts. With customized training and support, the GO LIVE initiative helps leaders develop solutions for e-learning and e-leadership. Click here for more details!

> Watch our Curriculum and Instruction presentation to see an over of online offerings and e-learning strategies. Click here to view!

> If your district is enrolling home-schooled students, follow this link to see the new process: http://www.ncvps.org/parentstudent/homeschool/index.html

> For funding formula information, follow this link: http://www.thevlc.org/2010/07/ncvps-funding-formula-why-what-and-how.html

STUDENT SUPPORT

> Follow this link to see a full list of assistive technologies that are beneficial for a variety of student disabilities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Am5iphYrw8o_gwzsWHvO3RhhhPop81tLyhfiB-WK4g8/edit?hl=en&authkey=COv327YI&pli=1#

> If your students need tutoring help, be sure to check out our Peer Tutoring Center by following this link.