E-lert for April 21, 2011

NCVPS Community

New Items for This Week's E-lert
>Summer EOCs - All will be tested this summer.
>Closings and Delays - see notes below. Teachers will accommodate all students who have access issues.
>CMS e-learning Academy - see the link immediate below on Charlotte's new e-learning academy!
>Last transfer date: April 29.
>Peer Tutoring

Essential Links
Click here for the online District and School Checklist for Summer 2011.
Click here for the online Student Information & Checklist for Summer 2011.
Follow this link to SchoolTube to watch a short video on the registration process.

NCVPS in the News
GREAT Article on CMS e-Learning Academy: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/14/2224198/welcome-to-virtual-high.html

Be Empowered - Know the Trends in E-learning
Experts think the iPad for Kindergarteners is a great idea!

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 850 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

Read the items below for this week's e-lert. Be sure to check out the reminders at the end for important information from previous e-lerts. Contact your virtual learning consultant if you have any questions!

Learn and Earn Online Drops [E-lert for April 21]

This is the last week students may withdraw from a Learn and Earn Online course. Students remaining in a LEO course after the drop date will earn a grade in the course.

Check with iSchool or your Community College for the course drop date.

Deborah Pedersen

deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

Summer EOCs [E-lert for April 21]

Please note that all EOC courses will be test this summer. Districts will have to arrange for that testing during the testing window. Please be sure to contact your testing coordinator.

Closings and Delays [E-lert for April 21]

As you know NC was devastated with severe weather over the weekend. The NCVPS staff send thoughts and prayers to all of those who were affected by these powerful storms. As we survey damage, the School Support Division would like to know if there are any closures, outages, delays, or other circumstances that may affect students/teachers of NCVPS online classes. Please let me know so that we can respond and make sure that instruction isn't affected and more importantly that students who need additional assistance can be handled. Please let me know school names, student names, etc. as soon as possible.

Peer Tutoring [E-lert for April 21]

Check out the latest NCVPS peer tutoring article from Jenn Stephenson:

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.” ~Zig Ziglar

What does this quote mean to you? In an online class, it should be something along the lines of applying yourself and putting forth the most effort you can. There are certain things you need to do to be successful in this environment.

Keep reading . . . .

For more on our peer tutoring program, click here.

Calendars [E-lert for April 21]

Early Calendar
April 20 Week 14 Progress Reports posted.
Friday, April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 12 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses.
May 16 Final Grades posted.

Traditional Calendar
April 20 Week 12 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 11 Week 14 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Holiday
May 31 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
May 31 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses
June 1 End of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
June 3 Grades sent from NCVPS to LEAs/DLAs

Current Enrollment Options [E-lert for April 21]

Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

March 15: Registration Opens for Traditional, Early Calendar, and Credit Recovery Courses.
April 5: Registration Opens for OCS Blended Learning

Traditional and Credit Recovery Courses
If there is a waitlist for a course, go ahead and add your student to the waitlist. We will open new sections each Monday until classes begin.

Find our course catalogs by clicking here.

For course descriptions and textbooks, technology, and material requirements, click here

OCS Blended Learning
To find more details here for the OCS Blended Learning registration process, click here! The process is new, so all schools and districts should review this. There are also important details concerning the OCS Blended Learning registration within the NCVPS registration site. The waitlists for the OCS Blended Learning will be addressed weekly based on the capacity to pair additional classroom teachers with the NCVPS content teachers.

Art Department
The NCVPS Art Department has made many exciting new changes. To see a full description of the new courses and rewritten courses, click here!

SAS Computer Programming - Fall 2011
For more details on enrolling into the SAS Computer Programming course, click here!

Summer and Fall 2011 Enrollment - Health Education Course
The health education courses are 1/2 credit courses, and classes begin at the beginning of the semester and at mid-semester. Typically registration is heavy for the classes that begin at the start of the semester. NCVPS will balance that enrollment starting in Summer 2011. Please click this link for details.

Spring 2011

New Enrollments
No students may be added to new courses at this time for Spring 2011 traditional courses. See Transfers and Credit Recovery for more options.

Transfers for Spring 2011
The last day to transfer into an NCVPS course is April 29th! Students may still transfer into NCVPS courses. To transfer in, a student MUST be enrolled in the course with a face-to-face instructor, and the student MUST have a passing grade to transfer into the course. Contact your VLC to request a transfer. Students can transfer in until the beginning of the last quarter of the course.

CTE Field Tests [E-lert for April 21]

Accounting I, Personal Finance and Principles of Business and Finance Field Test

As new or revised courses, Accounting I, Personal Finance and Principles of Business and Finance will be field tested for the school year 2010-2011. What does that mean for you and our students? Students are required to take a two part field test for the course this semester. The first part will be administered at the midpoint of the semester and cover the first half of the course content. The second part will be administered at the end of the course and cover the second half of the course content. Both parts are to be administered at the face-to face-school. This is a state required exam, NOT an NCVPS exam and should be treated as any EOC and VoCats exam. Your testing coordinator or your CDC (Career Development Coordinator) will be able to provide the field test exams to you.

District policy should be followed in terms of using the field test scores to calculate an exam score; district policies regarding field tests vary greatly. If your district requires that a teacher made final exam be given, simply let the course instructor know. There is one ready in the course to be given to all students that require it.

AP Urgent Reminder for Students [E-lert for April 21]

Please remember that during the administration of your AP exams to input the NCVPS code (045) into the ‘Online Provider Code’ found on page 1, item G of the student’s AP answer sheet for NCVPS to receive a copy of your May 2011 test scores for our records.

LOCK Sessions [E-lert for April 21]

Mark Your Calendars - LOCK (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) sessions are typically hosted on scheduled Tuesdays, 11:00 AM unless listed differently in the schedule posted in this article. LOCKs are hosted in the DLA Spa, Wimba Classroom. Instructions for how to access the classroom are provided in a QRG which can also be viewed in the DLA Spa, "DLA e-Lerts" tab. These sessions are specifically planned for DLCs and DLAs to keep abreast of the NCVPS operations, and provide excellent Professional Development opportunities. NOTE: Attendance is being recorded to provide CEUs in June for those who wish to gain the credits.

See previous session on SchoolTube here:

LOCK Session for March 1: NCVPS Semester Overview

LOCK Session for March 8: Registration for Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

LOCK Session for March 22: Best Practices from Wayne County with John Martindale

LOCK Session for April 5: Opening a New School with NCVPS - Presented by Kelley Townsend

Thanks for your participation and interest to key information provided in the LOCK presentations.

Reminders [E-lert for April 21]

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

> Find our course catalogues here: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/courses/catalogue/

> If plan to enroll home school or private schools students into NCVPS courses through your districts, be sure to read this link first: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/parents/homeprivate-school/

> 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!

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


STUDENT SUPPORT

> Checklists: Follow these two links to our spring checklists:

DLA Checklist for Spring 2011: https://docs.google.com/View?id=df9w57c6_26hjzx23f9 Student Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Hiyou-5PJKKeAQMtE6p6Oo-efAGaTK7a_LfPhbXbR10

> Help Desk Information: 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.

> 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 April 14, 2011

New Items for This Week's E-lert
>District and Student Checklists for Summer 2011
>Registration Video
>AP Exam Codes

NCVPS Community

Be Empowered
Check out Kindle Kid's Corner on Facebook!

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 850 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

District and Student Checklists [E-lert for April 14]

Click here for the online District and School Checklist for Summer 2011.

Click here for the online Student Information & Checklist for Summer 2011.

You can also find MS Word versions of each checklist in the DLA SPA. They have also been emailed to your central office distance learning coordinator.

Registration Video [E-lert for April 14]

Follow this link to SchoolTube to watch a short video on the registration process.

Calendars [E-lert for April 14]

Early Calendar
April 6 Week 12 Progress Reports posted.
April 20 Week 14 Progress Reports posted.
Friday, April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 12 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses.
May 16 Final Grades posted.

Traditional Calendar
April 6 Week 10 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 20 Week 12 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 11 Week 14 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Holiday
May 31 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
May 31 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses
June 1 End of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
June 3 Grades sent from NCVPS to LEAs/DLAs

Current Enrollment Options [E-lert for April 14]

Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

March 15: Registration Opens for Traditional, Early Calendar, and Credit Recovery Courses.
April 5: Registration Opens for OCS Blended Learning

Traditional and Credit Recovery Courses
If there is a waitlist for a course, go ahead and add your student to the waitlist. We will open new sections each Monday until classes begin.

Find our course catalogs by clicking here.

For course descriptions and textbooks, technology, and material requirements, click here

OCS Blended Learning
To find more details here for the OCS Blended Learning registration process, click here! The process is new, so all schools and districts should review this. There are also important details concerning the OCS Blended Learning registration within the NCVPS registration site. The waitlists for the OCS Blended Learning will be addressed weekly based on the capacity to pair additional classroom teachers with the NCVPS content teachers.

Art Department
The NCVPS Art Department has made many exciting new changes. To see a full description of the new courses and rewritten courses, click here!

SAS Computer Programming - Fall 2011
For more details on enrolling into the SAS Computer Programming course, click here!

Summer and Fall 2011 Enrollment - Health Education Course
The health education courses are 1/2 credit courses, and classes begin at the beginning of the semester and at mid-semester. Typically registration is heavy for the classes that begin at the start of the semester. NCVPS will balance that enrollment starting in Summer 2011. Please click this link for details.

Accounting I, Personal Finance and Principles of Business and Finance Field Test [E-lert for April 14]

As new or revised courses, Accounting I, Personal Finance and Principles of Business and Finance will be field tested for the school year 2010-2011. What does that mean for you and our students? Students are required to take a two part field test for the course this semester. The first part will be administered at the midpoint of the semester and cover the first half of the course content. The second part will be administered at the end of the course and cover the second half of the course content. Both parts are to be administered at the face-to face-school. This is a state required exam, NOT an NCVPS exam and should be treated as any EOC and VoCats exam. Your testing coordinator or your CDC (Career Development Coordinator) will be able to provide the field test exams to you.

District policy should be followed in terms of using the field test scores to calculate an exam score; district policies regarding field tests vary greatly. If your district requires that a teacher made final exam be given, simply let the course instructor know. There is one ready in the course to be given to all students that require it.

AP Urgent Reminder for Students [E-lert for April 14]

Please remember that during the administration of your AP exams to input the NCVPS code (045) into the ‘Online Provider Code’ found on page 1, item G of the student’s AP answer sheet for NCVPS to receive a copy of your May 2011 test scores for our records.

LOCK Sessions [E-lert for April 14]

Mark Your Calendars - LOCK (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) sessions are typically hosted on scheduled Tuesdays, 11:00 AM unless listed differently in the schedule posted in this article. LOCKs are hosted in the DLA Spa, Wimba Classroom. Instructions for how to access the classroom are provided in a QRG which can also be viewed in the DLA Spa, "DLA e-Lerts" tab. These sessions are specifically planned for DLCs and DLAs to keep abreast of the NCVPS operations, and provide excellent Professional Development opportunities. NOTE: Attendance is being recorded to provide CEUs in June for those who wish to gain the credits.

See previous session on SchoolTube here:

LOCK Session for March 1: NCVPS Semester Overview

LOCK Session for March 8: Registration for Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

LOCK Session for March 22: Best Practices from Wayne County with John Martindale

LOCK Session for April 5: Opening a New School with NCVPS - Presented by Kelley Townsend

Thanks for your participation and interest to key information provided in the LOCK presentations.

Reminders [E-lert for April 14, 2011]

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

> Find our course catalogues here: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/courses/catalogue/

> If plan to enroll home school or private schools students into NCVPS courses through your districts, be sure to read this link first: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/parents/homeprivate-school/

> 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!

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


STUDENT SUPPORT

> Checklists: Follow these two links to our spring checklists:

DLA Checklist for Spring 2011: https://docs.google.com/View?id=df9w57c6_26hjzx23f9 Student Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Hiyou-5PJKKeAQMtE6p6Oo-efAGaTK7a_LfPhbXbR10

> Help Desk Information: 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.

> 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 April 7, 2011

NCVPS Community

New Items for This Week's E-lert
>Blackboard maintenance scheduled. See below.
>New LOCK Session. See how NCVPS benefitted Cleveland High School in its first year.
>Data Entry - Be sure to double check your data entry of SAR data.

Be Empowered
Need foreign language help? Check this out!

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 850 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

Read the items below for this week's e-lert. Be sure to check out the reminders at the end for important information from previous e-lerts. Contact your virtual learning consultant if you have any questions!

Calendars [E-lert for April 7]

Early Calendar
March 23 Week 10 Progress Reports posted.
April 6 Week 12 Progress Reports posted.
April 20 Week 14 Progress Reports posted.
Friday, April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 12 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses.
May 16 Final Grades posted.

Traditional Calendar
March 23 Week 8 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
March 25 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
March 25 End of the First Grading Period for Block Courses (45 Days) and End of Third Quarter for Year-Long Courses
March 28 Start of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
March 30 Grades posted.
April 6 Week 10 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 20 Week 12 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 11 Week 14 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Holiday
May 31 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
May 31 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses
June 1 End of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
June 3 Grades sent from NCVPS to LEAs/DLAs

Current Enrollment Options [E-lert for April 7]

Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

March 15: Registration Opens for Traditional, Early Calendar, and Credit Recovery Courses.
April 5: Registration Opens for OCS Blended Learning

Traditional and Credit Recovery Courses
If there is a waitlist for a course, go ahead and add your student to the waitlist. We will open new sections each Monday until classes begin.

Find our course catalogs by clicking here.

For course descriptions and textbooks, technology, and material requirements, click here

OCS Blended Learning
To find more details here for the OCS Blended Learning registration process, click here! The process is new, so all schools and districts should review this. There are also important details concerning the OCS Blended Learning registration within the NCVPS registration site. The waitlists for the OCS Blended Learning will be addressed weekly based on the capacity to pair additional classroom teachers with the NCVPS content teachers.

Art Department
The NCVPS Art Department has made many exciting new changes. To see a full description of the new courses and rewritten courses, click here!

SAS Computer Programming - Fall 2011
For more details on enrolling into the SAS Computer Programming course, click here!

Summer and Fall 2011 Enrollment - Health Education Course
The health education courses are 1/2 credit courses, and classes begin at the beginning of the semester and at mid-semester. Typically registration is heavy for the classes that begin at the start of the semester. NCVPS will balance that enrollment starting in Summer 2011. Please click this link for details.

Spring 2011

New Enrollments
No students may be added to new courses at this time for Spring 2011 traditional courses. See Transfers and Credit Recovery for more options.

Transfers for Spring 2011
Students may still transfer into NCVPS courses. To transfer in, a student MUST be enrolled in the course with a face-to-face instructor, and the student MUST have a passing grade to transfer into the course. Contact your VLC to request a transfer. Students can transfer in until the beginning of the last quarter of the course.

Teach for NCVPS [E-lert for April 7]

Follow this link to learn more about teaching for NCVPS!

Career & College Promise [E-lert for April 7]

This link will give you some idea what is being discussed, though no legislation has been passed.

It is difficult for Community Colleges to commit to a program which has not yet been finalized but these Community Colleges plan to participate:
AB Tech CC
Cleveland CC
Gaston College
Lenior CC


I'll be adding to this list as I hear from other Community Colleges.

For fall registration plan to register students for STEM courses only, until signed legislation tells us otherwise.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions...I may not have the answers but I can try to find the answer,
Deborah Pedersen
deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

LOCK Sessions [E-lert for April 7]

Mark Your Calendars - LOCK (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) sessions are typically hosted on scheduled Tuesdays, 11:00 AM unless listed differently in the schedule posted in this article. LOCKs are hosted in the DLA Spa, Wimba Classroom. Instructions for how to access the classroom are provided in a QRG which can also be viewed in the DLA Spa, "DLA e-Lerts" tab. These sessions are specifically planned for DLCs and DLAs to keep abreast of the NCVPS operations, and provide excellent Professional Development opportunities. NOTE: Attendance is being recorded to provide CEUs in June for those who wish to gain the credits.

See previous session on SchoolTube here:

LOCK Session for March 1: NCVPS Semester Overview

LOCK Session for March 8: Registration for Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

LOCK Session for March 22: Best Practices from Wayne County with John Martindale

LOCK Session for April 5: Opening a New School with NCVPS - Presented by Kelley Townsend

Thanks for your participation and interest to key information provided in the LOCK presentations.

Data entry of VTIN & other manual entries [E-lert for April 7]

REMINDER: Double check and double check again with the school data manager if your SAR kicks out an audit exception regarding NCVPS teachers not being Highly Qualified (HQ). NCVPS requires teachers to be HQ before hiring. There are a number of steps that involve manual data entry to derive at the final outcome exported from the SAR. It is easy to misread a line of transaction and misinterpret a teacher's VTIN from another on the enrollment report. Much appreciation for the obvious rapport developed among DLAs and DMs. Continue to work together and proof your entries from NCVPS to NC WISE to eliminate initial audit exceptions on the SAR.

Reminders [E-lert for April 7]

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

> Find our course catalogues here: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/courses/catalogue/

> If plan to enroll home school or private schools students into NCVPS courses through your districts, be sure to read this link first: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/parents/homeprivate-school/

> 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!

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


STUDENT SUPPORT

> Checklists: Follow these two links to our spring checklists:

DLA Checklist for Spring 2011: https://docs.google.com/View?id=df9w57c6_26hjzx23f9 Student Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Hiyou-5PJKKeAQMtE6p6Oo-efAGaTK7a_LfPhbXbR10

> Help Desk Information: 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.

> 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 March 31, 2011

NCVPS Community

New Items for This Week's E-lert
>Calendars for spring semester are now posted in the E-lert.
>See inforation about the new Art Dept. Courses in the "Current Enrollment Options" section.
>Teach for NCVPS. See the link below!
>Dr. Setser's announcement. See below!
>Grades are posted. See below.

Be Empowered
Need foreign language help? Check this out!

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 850 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

Read the items below for this week's e-lert. Be sure to check out the reminders at the end for important information from previous e-lerts. Contact your virtual learning consultant if you have any questions!

Congratulations to Dr. Setser! [E-lert for March 31]

Dr. Bryan Setser, the NCVPS Executive Director has accepted a position with OpenEd Solutions, a national e-learning and blended learning consulting firm effective April 15, 2011. We are excited that he has been given this opportunity to grow and continue to advocate blended and online learning on a national scale after leading NCVPS to become the 2nd largest state virtual school in the nation. The chief officers at NCVPS have met with senior leadership at DPI, the State Board of Education and we are confident there will be a smooth transition until a new Executive Director is hired. NCVPS is positioned well in the budget and will continue to grow and support you and the students of North Carolina with the high level of service and quality we have demonstrated thusfar. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact David Edwards at david.edwards@ncpublicschools.gov. Thank you for your continued support of NCVPS!

Calendars [E-lert for March 31]

Early Calendar
March 23 Week 10 Progress Reports posted.
April 6 Week 12 Progress Reports posted.
April 20 Week 14 Progress Reports posted.
Friday, April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 12 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses.
May 16 Final Grades posted.

Traditional Calendar
March 23 Week 8 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
March 25 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
March 25 End of the First Grading Period for Block Courses (45 Days) and End of Third Quarter for Year-Long Courses
March 28 Start of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
March 30 Grades posted.
April 6 Week 10 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 20 Week 12 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
April 22 Good Friday Holiday
May 11 Week 14 Progress Reports and/or Mastery Charts posted.
Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Holiday
May 31 End of the First Nine Weeks Health Education Course
May 31 End of the Second Grading Period and Semester for Block Courses and End of Fourth Quarter and First Semester for Year-Long Courses
June 1 End of the Second Nine Weeks Health Education Course
June 3 Grades sent from NCVPS to LEAs/DLAs

Current Enrollment Options

Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

March 15: Registration Opens for Traditional, Early Calendar, and Credit Recovery Courses.
April 5: Registration Opens for OCS Blended Learning

Traditional and Credit Recovery Courses
If there is a waitlist for a course, go ahead and add your student to the waitlist. We will open new sections each Monday until classes begin.

Find our course catalogs by clicking here.

For course descriptions and textbooks, technology, and material requirements, click here

OCS Blended Learning
To find more details here for the OCS Blended Learning registration process, click here! The process is new, so all schools and districts should review this.

Art Department
The NCVPS Art Department has made many exciting new changes. To see a full description of the new courses and rewritten courses, click here!

SAS Computer Programming - Fall 2011
For more details on enrolling into the SAS Computer Programming course, click here!

Summer and Fall 2011 Enrollment - Health Education Course
The health education courses are 1/2 credit courses, and classes begin at the beginning of the semester and at mid-semester. Typically registration is heavy for the classes that begin at the start of the semester. NCVPS will balance that enrollment starting in Summer 2011. Please click this link for details.

Spring 2011

New Enrollments
No students may be added to new courses at this time for Spring 2011 traditional courses. See Transfers and Credit Recovery for more options.

Transfers for Spring 2011
Students may still transfer into NCVPS courses. To transfer in, a student MUST be enrolled in the course with a face-to-face instructor, and the student MUST have a passing grade to transfer into the course. Contact your VLC to request a transfer. Students can transfer in until the beginning of the last quarter of the course.

Grades Are Posted for Block and Yearlong [E-lert for March 31]

Grades for block courses (1st Quarter) and yearlong courses (3rd Quarter) were posted in the registraiton system on March 30. Remember that OSU and Florida Virtual courses are reported separately. CR mastery charts are not included on this grade report.

Teach for NCVPS [E-lert for March 31]

Follow this link to learn more about teaching for NCVPS!

LOCK Sessions [E-lert for March 31]

Mark Your Calendars - LOCK (Linked Online Connecting Knowledge) sessions are on Tuesdays, 11:00 AM unless listed differently in the schedule posted here. LOCKs are hosted in the DLA Spa, Wimba Classroom. Instructions for how to access the classroom are provided in a QRG which can also be viewed in the DLA Spa, "DLA e-Lerts" tab. These sessions are specifically planned for DLCs and DLAs to keep abreast of the NCVPS operations, and provide excellent Professional Development opportunities. NOTE: Attendance is being recorded to provide CEUs in June for those who wish to gain the credits.

See previous session on SchoolTube here:

LOCK Session for March 1: NCVPS Semester Overview

LOCK Session for March 8: Registration for Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

LOCK Session for March 22: Best Practices from Wayne County with John Martindale

Thanks for your participation and interest to key information provided in the LOCK presentations.

Career & College Promise [E-lert for March 31]

This link will give you some idea what is being discussed, though no legislation has been passed.

It is difficult for Community Colleges to commit to a program which has not yet been finalized but these Community Colleges plan to participate:
AB Tech CC
Cleveland CC
Gaston College
Lenior CC


I'll be adding to this list as I hear from other Community Colleges.

For fall registration plan to register students for STEM courses only, until signed legislation tells us otherwise.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions...I may not have the answers but I can try to find the answer,
Deborah Pedersen
deborah.pedersen@ncpublicschools.gov

Reminders [E-lert for March 31]

Reminders

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

> Find our course catalogues here: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/courses/catalogue/

> If plan to enroll home school or private schools students into NCVPS courses through your districts, be sure to read this link first: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/parents/homeprivate-school/

> 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!

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


STUDENT SUPPORT

> Checklists: Follow these two links to our spring checklists:

DLA Checklist for Spring 2011: https://docs.google.com/View?id=df9w57c6_26hjzx23f9 Student Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Hiyou-5PJKKeAQMtE6p6Oo-efAGaTK7a_LfPhbXbR10

> Help Desk Information: 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.

> 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.