April DL Symposium Program Launched!

A newsletter from a pan-Canadian e-learning organization.

Canadian eLearning Network

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2020 Digital Learning Symposium

April 19 – 21, 2020 — Vancouver, British Columbia

Trevor MacKenzie #InquiryMindset – Both Sunday & Monday!

Mandatory eLearning ~ How? Why? Lessons from abroad

BC’s New Education Funding Model ~ Implications for DL Schools

• Senior leaders from government, post-sec, and K-12

• Structured dialogue, networking, and discussion

• Hands-on learning and cutting edge tech tool demos

• Emergent practices – high energy closing Demo Slam

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Register now! ~ Groups/Members $445

https://events.eply.com/DLsymp20

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• 2020 DL Symposium registration includes Sunday afternoon and evening Pre-Symposium keynote & social!

• In-depth workshops on skills, one-on-one with Trevor

Check out the program at https://2020dlsymp.sched.com/

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Can’t come Monday/Tuesday?  Register at $95 for Sunday only!

https://canelearn.net/symposium20/

• Join over 400 educators, technology coordinators, developers and administrators, K-12 & post-sec!

Register today!  More information at

https://canelearn.net/symposium20/

Featured PD Events

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Digital Learning Collaborative Annual Conference

February 24-26, 2020 – Austin TX

Delivering on the real promise of online, blended, and digital learning

https://www.deelac.com/

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2020 BOLTT (Bringing Online Teachers Together)

April 2-3, 2020 in Toronto

Evening keynote address // Full day skill building event

More info at http://www.boltt.ca/toronto-fall-conference/

Archived keynote from BOLTT Ottawa 2019 available here

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2020 Digital Learning Symposium

https://canelearn.net/symposium20/

April 19-21 in Vancouver (see above)

PD Calendar

News & Events

Archives

Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL) Symposium 2020

• Check out the shift in the organization and its new focus keynotes posted here

Joe Sisco’s Keynote from blendED Alberta

• @CANeLearn Youtube channel here
• Link to shared resources

See all CANeLearn archives here (members only)

CANeLearn Leadership Summit

• Recorded keynote & discussion
• Archives here

Archives of DLsymp19

• Pictures, sessions, video recordings
• Links to all here

Stay Connected!

• Use #CANeLearn to stream specific items of interest to members. Join the conversation!
• Follow @CANeLearn, “like” us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Check out our Members’ Site
• Join CANeLearn – only $50 for associate membership!

Join today!

The Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn) is a Canadian registered not-for-profit society with a vision to be the leading voice in Canada for learner success in K-12 online and blended learning.  CANeLearn provides members with networking, collaboration, and research opportunities..

CANeLearn promotes effective practice in online and blended learning; fosters community and facilitates interaction among online and blended learning educators; and connects educators to online and blended learning organizations.

CANeLearn
9269 Truman Road
Halfmoon Bay, BC  V0N 1Y2
Canada

You are receiving this because you either attended an event or signed up from our website at http://canelearn.net.

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Reflecting On Our Mid-Year Staff Retreat

A newsletter from a US-based blended learning organization.

Highlander Institute

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Join the conversation as we partner with communities to design and implement school-based change.

In This Week’s Issue

• Reflecting on our mid-year retreat, focused on DEI with Facilitate Change
• Join Malika Ali at LearnLaunch Across Boundaries 2020
• New Fuse MA blog post features Cohort 1 Alumna Julie Lowerre
• 2 weeks left of early bird pricing for Personalization 2020 conference
• Diversity Talks is hiring!
• Apply now for The New York Times Teaching Project

Reflecting on Our Mid-Year Retreat

Our Highlander Institute team has been engaging in dialogue around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion throughout the scope of our work. In the past year, we’ve increased our commitment to having regular internal dialogue on these topics through a partnership with Facilitate Change, a small consultancy group based in RI. We’ve been participating in monthly staff meetings and held a longer mid-year retreat this past Monday focused on team building and exploring how race and racism impact our workplace. We strongly believe that a large part of our work is focusing inward, to better understand how we can build meaningful relationships across difference with our partners, students and their families, and teachers. We look forward to continuing to challenge each others’ thinking and learn in the process.

The LearnLaunch Across Boundaries Conference is only 2 weeks away! Our Director of Pedagogy, Malika Ali, will be in attendance as a featured panelist for the session “Moving to Personalized Teacher Professional Development – How?” on Friday, January 31st.

How should we train and support educators to work with innovative platforms to deliver learning? Panelists will describe how districts are personalizing teacher PD, in particular what solutions they are using. Are these moves related to key initiatives like teaching CS in all grades, adding more STEAM to the curriculum, adopting  universal design for learning, or moving to personalized learning? How might CEUs/PDPs and additional salary be used? What about the role of unions, or teacher leader groups?

Participants will:

• Investigate how innovating districts are addressing the move to personalizing teacher PD to support key initiatives and teacher career development
• Explore which tech platforms are assisting them to make the move
• Understand how blended learning, train-the-trainer approaches, coaching models, and other strategies are used
• Review major challenges, and how they might be overcome

Click below for more information about the conference, including full agenda, keynote speakers, and details about the Learning Innovation Showcase – always a crowd favorite.

More Information

Alumni Spotlight: Julie Lowerre of Fuse MA

In Massachusetts, our Fuse MA partnership with The Education Cooperative keeps educators from over 10 districts connecting, sharing strategies, and pushing each other’s practice as both coaches and teachers. In this new blog post, Cohort 1 Fellow and Dedham 5th grade teacher Ken Toomey talks with Cohort 1 Alumna and Medfield Innovation Integration Specialist Julie Lowerre about pivotal moments in the fellowship and how her role as an educator has transformed since she participated in Fuse.

Read More

Early Bird Pricing Ends in 2 Weeks

Personalization 2020 includes 3 days of programming on April 2-4, 2020 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. You can find the agenda here. Thursday features school site visit opportunities to see classrooms in action and community site visits to hear about the complementary work of local organizations. Friday features half day workshops. Saturday features a more traditional conference symposium, offering over 40 sessions focused on supporting and delivering high-quality, personalized instruction. We hope you can join us in the Ocean State! Group discounts are available and early bird pricing ends on February 1. Click below for more information and to register.

Learn More

From Other Organizations

Seeking: Program Coordinator & Director of Strategic Partnerships

Founded in July 2017, Diversity Talks specializes in increasing the cultural competence of educators by providing student-led professional development grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We partner with schools and businesses to create unique educational contexts where adults are learners and young people are the facilitators of learning. We believe that we will achieve lasting impact if we focus our efforts on increasing the cultural competence of adults and concurrently create a platform for youth voice.

Do you know someone who is…
Committed to uplifting youth voice?
Down to dismantle oppressive systems?
Not afraid to identify and confront racism?

We are seeking a full-time Program Coordinator and a full-time Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Learn More

Image source: The New York Times

Application Now Open for The New York Times Teaching Project

Apply now for a new program that will bring together a select group of educators who teach with The Times. This opportunity begins with a three-day summer institute in New York City, travel and lodging included. The program will continue through the 2020-21 school year as participants continue to work on their curriculum projects, collaborate virtually, share ideas with their individual school communities and have opportunities to work with the Learning Network community as a whole. Applications are due by February 25, 2020.

Learn More

Highlander Institute thanks our Mission Sponsors for their generous support:

Highlander Institute
www.highlanderinstitute.org
Providence, RI

Please feel free to contact us directly, visit our website, or connect with us on social media!

Choose From 25 Online Dual Enrollment Courses

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

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Dual enrollment for all.

For the 54% of Michigan counties that don’t have colleges within their geographic borders, online learning is the only way students can access dual enrollment opportunities.   Last semester, however, many students with colleges located 10 minutes down the road still chose to enroll in our online dual enrollment courses instead.   Why? Because online dual enrollment offer students the opportunity to: Stay in their school building while taking college courses Avoid transportation issues that often arise with dual enrollment (e.g., safety concerns during bad weather) Fit dual enrollment in their busy schedules without giving up another class they want to take We recently doubled our catalog of online dual enrollment courses available through St. Clair Community College. There are now 25 college courses in our catalog that Michigan high school students can take online to earn college credit.   Even better news:   Students can now meet Michigan Transfer Agreement requirements using only the online dual enrollment courses available in our catalog.   Of course, it takes some planning and scheduling to help them get all 30 credits before graduation, but it’s now possible to do entirely online.   You can see the breakdown of how our online courses align to the MTA requirements here.   Most of our dual enrollment courses begin on February 10 with enrollment closing on February 14*

Check Out Our New Courses

*Exceptions include BUS 150 and CIS 110, which have special calendars. View our calendar for more details.

Choose from 25 dual enrollment courses in 13 disciplines, including:

Art

Biology

Business

Computer Information Systems

Criminal Justice

English

Geography

Health Education

History

Math

Political Science

Psychology

Sociology

View All Courses

Michigan Virtual, 920 Municipal Way, Lansing, Michigan 48917

LEARN News | January – 2020, A New Year, New Decade And LEARN’s 15th Anniversary!

A newsletter from a Canadian-based K-12 e-learning program.

JANUARY 2020 View Online WELCOME TO A NEW DECADE OF LEARNING! Dr. Michael J. Canuel CEO, LEARN Let’s LEARN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS NETWORK STORIES EARLY CHILDHOOD SYMPOSIUM Strengthening Collaborations WHEN: FEBRUARY 11-12, 2020 WHERE: PALACE CONVENTION CENTRE IN LAVAL LEARN has been supporting early childhood initiatives through its network of community schools (CLCs) for over 12 years. This year, Community and Education will come together to share knowledge and build stronger relationships in support of Early Childhood Education for the English-Speaking Community of Quebec. LEARN’s PRT is co-designing the symposium and it promises to be informative, interactive and offer opportunities for intersectoral collaboration and networking. Register for Free TEACHING TOOLS OPEN CREATIVE SPACE DAYS Come Explore LEARN’s OCS Days LEARN‘s PED Services team is inviting all educators to experience firsthand our Open Creative Space! Join us for this is all-day, hands-on experience, free of charge to all educators (and a pizza lunch will be provided). We only ask that you register in advance – see our upcoming dates below. February 21st, 2020 April 24th, 2020 May 22nd, 2020 Register for OCS Today THEMATIC WORKSHOP DAYS LEARN By Doing Is Our Motto It is hard to keep up with new technologies. On our thematic OCS days, we focus on one theme or technology that is of notable interest to the community. The workshops will be hands-on, discovery learning with expert support. Upcoming Thematic Dates: February 7, 2020 – Scratch Day 2020 March 20, 2020 – Microcontrollers Day Register Today for Thematic Workshops MATH, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Mining Matters Workshop January 31st, 2020 9:30 to 3 PM (Lunch provided) at LEARN in Laval. LEARN is excited to collaborate with Mining Matters in offering this free full-day workshop on rocks and minerals for Grade 4 to 6 science teachers. Register for Mining Matters Workshop HISTORY OF QUEBEC & CANADA RESOURCES New LEARN Document Collections, Evaluation Tools and Gaming Activities LEARN and its partners have posted many web-based resources and activities in line with the Quebec Social Sciences programs. Browse what’s new this month for Secondary Cycles 1, Cycle 2, on Cartograf, and for Elementary Cycle 1. Discover the LEARN Social Sciences Section VIRTUAL CAMPUS – STUDENT SUPPORT LEARN TUTORING Make Your New Year’s Resolution Today! Happy New Year! January is the perfect time to plan for school success and many students are making academic achievement one of their resolutions for 2020. LEARN tutoring offers general homework help, in addition to subject-specific support, at no charge, to students from grades 2 to 11. Our winter session runs from January 6 to Feb 27, 2020. Registration for our spring session opens March 30. Tutoring resumes on April 6 and continues until the end of June exams. Make a Request Today for Tutoring LEARN TUTORING TESTIMONIALS Virtual Campus Success Stories Read More Success Stories ONLINE & BLENDED COURSES Planning Ahead for Fall 2020 In the spring, LEARN sends a needs assessment survey to all high schools that are part of Quebec’s English School Boards. To prepare secondary schools for thinking about the survey, this month we will be sharing more information about our 2020-2021 course offerings via email. Stay tuned! LEARN More About Online Courses LEARN HOW-TO’S – COMMENT FAIRE Tools to Help Prepare for Mid-Term Exams How-To’s provide step-by-step descriptions of common tasks for students. Mid-term exams are around the corner. Interpreting pictures is an essential technique in the social sciences. Discover this How-To video on how to interpret a picture. HOW TO INTERPRET A PICTURE Discover More How-To’s NEXTSCHOOL BLOG Pockets with No Pants There are many pockets of excellence in many schools – pockets of wonderful student-teacher relationships; pockets of collaborative, deep learning; pockets of engaged students making meaningful changes in their community or in the world. But there are not many pants – yet. Read More about Pockets with No Pants ONLINE RESOURCES LEARNING LANDSCAPES JOURNAL Reflections on Some Dangers to Childhood Creativity Renowned author and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi shares some important and perhaps surprising insights about childhood creativity. Continue Reading PARTNERS MAKING AN IMPACT VANIER ZOOM SESSIONS Demystifying the CEGEP Experience Are there Sec 4/5 students in your school community that would benefit from talking to real students about their experience transitioning to CEGEP? Vanier College, in partnership with LEARN, will be hosting a virtual information session for secondary 4-5 students on February 5th from 12:00PM to 1:30PM.  The session is intended to support transitions to CEGEP by demystifying the experience. You must register to confirm your school’s participation – space is limited! Students can participate individually or in a group.  A computer or tablet with access to ZOOM is required. Register Today ARTISTS INSPIRE GRANTS New Applications Deadline Extended: January 31st, 2020 Connecting With Qualified Artists Artists Inspire Grants (AIG) – an ELAN/LEARN partnership to provide students in English communities with hands-on creative experiences, funded by the Government of Canada’s Action Plan for Official Languages. Annual funding from 2019-2023:  $1500/English public school (elementary/secondary) to connect with qualified artists from Quebec’s English-speaking Communities to facilitate creative experiences during the school day (plus travel costs for rural/remote schools) that take place before March 31st in each of the 4 years.   ELAN’s ArtEd Team wants to support your school in getting the maximum benefit from your Artistslnspire Grant. They are ready to help, any teacher is welcome to call ELAN and they will help them to connect with an Artist to develop an inspiring hands-on creative experience with students. This year’s projects need to be completed by March 31st. – For all the details and how to apply download the AIG brochure here Connect with ELAN’s Art Ed Team to learn more and plan your creative experiences:  artistsinspiregrants@quebec-elan.org 438-979-1171 Folllow ELANArtEd on Facebook for inspiration and updates. Hurry and Apply for this School Year NEWS | ALL ABOUT LEARN TEACHER RECOGNITION Félicitations Julie Paré! Prix hommage Ghislaine-Coutu-Vaillancourt (Ghislaine-Coutu-Vaillancourt Lifetime Achievement Award) L’Association québécoise des enseignants de français langue seconde (AQEFLS) est fière de remettre le prix hommage Ghislaine-Coutu-Vaillancourt à Julie Paré, conseillère pédagogique à LEARN. Ce prix est décerné annuellement à un membre de la communauté de français langue seconde au Québec qui s’est démarqué par son implication au sein de l’AQEFLS et par sa contribution exceptionnelle à l’enseignement du français langue seconde au Québec. Le prix lui sera remis le 16 avril 2020 lors du vin d’honneur dans le cadre du 39e congrès de l’AQEFLS. Bravo Julie! Share Tweet Forward

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NCVirtual E-lert for Jan. 16, 2020

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

Jan. 16, 2020 Greetings, everyone! Final grades for fall block courses are posted in our registration system. Spring Early Start classes have already begun, and traditional calendar classes start on Jan. 27. Please direct all enrolled students to our Getting Started as NCVPS Student page. Take note of our Day-3 and Day-7 No-Show reports for the spring term. Our no-show reports will help you clean up your rosters and ensure students have a great start. See the details in the “Spring 2020 Kick-off” section. Remember that you can follow live e-lert updates on our NCVPS Now page. You can also find the page linked at the top of our website: We have a lot of good start-up information this week. Please see all the details below, and please forward this e-lert to your school-level stakeholders. News New Virtual Support Center We launched our new Virtual Support Center on Jan. 5, 2020. It is linked on our homepage at the top and on various support pages. It will have several new features, and it’s intuitive and easy to use. Here are some new features: Each user will create an account. This will help you better track the tickets you submit. You can see the progress of your ticket in real time. Because you have your own account, you will no longer receive a confirmation ticket when you first submit a ticket, but you will get an email when you review a response. Users can view all of their previous tickets. Here a short video overview, and be sure to bookmark the new site. Early Start Students in Traditional Calendar Courses We know a number of schools on an early calendar register in our traditional calendar courses, and that’s absolutely fine! Contact the NC Virtual teachers at the start of the semester and let them know when your students need to finish their courses. Our teachers will adjust the pacing guide for your students, but they need to be aware of this early in the semester. They can’t make that adjustment late in the semester. Spring 2020 Kick-off Spring 2020 Class Start Dates Early Start classes begin on Jan. 6, and Traditional Calendar classes begin on Jan. 27. Here are the important dates to remember: Early Start Jan. 6: Early Start Classes Begin Jan. 9: Early Start Day-3 No-Show Report Posted Jan. 15: Early Start Day-7 No-Show Report Posted Jan. 17: Last Day to Drop/Add Early Start Courses May 6: Early Start Classes End May 14: Early Start Final Grades Posted Traditional Start Jan. 27: Traditional Calendar Classes Begin Jan. 30: Traditional Calendar Day-3 No-Show Report Posted Feb. 5: Traditional Calendar Day-7 No-Show Report Posted Feb. 7: Last Day to Drop/Add Traditional Calendar Courses May 27: Traditional Calendar Classes End June 4: Traditional Calendar Final Grades Posted Weeks 1 & 2 Access Check Schools have a few important checks during the first two weeks of class: verify rosters review status reports ensure students have logged in be aware of enrollment opportunities See our Weeks 1 & 2 Access Check and Enrollment Options page for all the details. Day-3 and Day-7 No-Show Reports Each semester, we post a Day-3 and Day-7 Student Status Report in our registration system. (See our Guide for Accessing Grade Reports.) These reports are early warning notifications that identify students who have not logged into their courses during the first week of classes. We realize some students are registered the same day we generate the report, and they’ve not had a chance to log in yet. That’s not an issue. Other reasons can be problematic, however. If students fail to log in for any of the following reasons, the school should take action: Do not know their username/password Unsure how to log in Unaware they are registered Do not intend to take the course Registered by mistake Please make contact with students (and their parents) who have not logged in. Determine the next steps for them. Sometimes, students need help getting started, and then they are good from there. If you confirm that the student is not going to take the course, please drop them from the course in the registration system. This will help other students move off the waitlist. If students need help getting started, we have lots of help for them and for facilitators and parents, too! Visit our Printable Guides page for details. Spring Registration Details Registration is open for Spring 2020. See the 2019-2020 Academic Year tab on our NCVPS Now page for full details on how to register and what to expect once classes begin. Reserve Funds Did you know that if your district or charter school uses all its allotted funds, you can continue to enroll using NCVPS reserve funds? Contact us as you near the end of your allotment. We have a short request form for your district e-learning coordinator or charter principal to complete. Spring Calendar Adjustments NCVPS is adjusting its Spring 2020 calendar to meet the Office of State Human Resources requirements for NCVPS teachers. Our teachers must take a mandatory 31-day break in service from NCVPS annually to align with NC General Statute § 126-6.3(b). During the mandatory break in service, our teachers are not allowed to complete any tasks (paid or unpaid) for NCVPS. To meet those requirements, we are ending our Spring 2020 semester two days early, shortening our spring course extension period, and pushing back the start of our summer school. Here are the adjustments to our calendar: Spring Block and Yearlong Classes End Dates Early Start Original: May 8, 2020 Early Start Adjusted: May 6, 2020 Traditional Original: May 29, 2020 Traditional Adjusted: May 27, 2020 Spring Course Extensions We will have a two-day extension period for Spring 2020 courses. Schools will not submit extension requests via the HelpDesk. Instead, they will work directly with the NCVPS teacher, and the teacher will grant the 2-day extension. Final Grades Posted Our dates for posting final grades have not changed: Early Start: May 14, 2020 Traditional: June 4, 2020 Extension grades will be entered on the final grade report (not a reopened grade report). Summer School Moving forward, we will have a shortened summer session. Summer school for 2020 will begin on July 7 and end on August 18. We will work with districts that need grades earlier than that. We will share more details when we finalize our 2020-2021 calendar. Fall Wrap-up End of Semester Tips and Reminders Please see our End of Semester web page for details! You will find information on exams, final grades, course extensions, and much more! Current Reporting What Grades Are Currently Posted? Jan. 9 – Early Start Day-3 No-Show Report Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Jan. 15 – Early Start Calendar Day-7 No-Show Report Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Jan. 16 – Traditional Calendar Fall Block Final Grades Report Posted in the NCVPS Registration System Jan. 16 – Traditional Calendar Yearlong Progress Report Posted in the NCVPS Registration System What’s Next on the Schedule? Jan. 30 – Early Start Progress Reports Posted in the NCVPS Registration System. Jan. 30 – Traditional Calendar Day-3 No-Show Report Posted in the NCVPS Registration System. Reporting Overview See our Grades and Testing Quick Reference Guide for an overview of our reporting. We have details on our Student Status (No-Show) Reports, Progress Reports, Final Grade Reports, and how we calculate grades. See details below on action steps you can take with your progress reports. NC Virtual Cafe Sessions We have a lot of great webinars coming up! Please share with our staff and students. Visit our NC Virtual Cafe page for details on how to join the sessions. Previous News Parent Contact Information NCVPS tasks its teachers to have regular communications with the parents or guardians of their students. However, our teachers often find the contact information in PowerSchool is not accurate. Please help our teachers find update-to-date parent contact information. Our teachers will be reaching out to you, as we rely on schools to provide that information. We are sure your school will need current parent contact information, as well! IEPs and 504s If you have students with IEPs or 504s, please communicate the modifications to the students’ NCVPS teachers. The modifications are a shared responsibility between NCVPS and student’s school. Semester Success with NCVPS Visit our Semester Success with NCVPS page for details on how to get the most out of your semester. The page includes registration, grade, and student support details. 2019-2020 Academic Year Visit our NCVPS Now page for full details on registration, grade reporting, and student supports. Click on the 2019-2020 Academic Year tab. Reminders Request for Sections If your school needs a yearlong or early start section that we do not currently offer, open a ticket with our Virtual Support Center. We will see if we can make it happen! NCVPS Now You no longer have to wait for the e-lert to see the latest NCVPS updates. Just visit our new NCVPS Now page where we bring you live updates on the state’s virtual school. Bookmark the page or find NCVPS Now at the top of our website: View as Webpage | Subscribe THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work!  ‌  ‌

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606