NCVPS E-lert for Feb.27, 2015

From today’s inbox…

Districts and Charter Schools, Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district’s and school’s e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you may view it as a web page here. February 27, 2015 – In This Issue: Current E-lert News For Your Information In The Loop Calendar Check 2015 February 26 – Progress reports posted in the registration system. March 6 – End of early calendar 1st 9-Weeks. March 9 – Beginning of early calendar 2nd 9-Weeks. March 12 – 1st 9-week grades for early calendar posted in the registration system. March 12 – Progress reports for traditional calendar and yearlong courses posted in the registration system. NCVPS Celebrations Districts and Schools, tell us about your success stories. Let us hear about individual student successes, increased virtual enrollment, outstanding lab facilitators, or virtual support processes that your school or district has in place. We would love to promote these stories. Click here to tell us about your successes. E-lert Subscription If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name toour list here. Current E-lert News NCVPS 2015 Teacher of the Year Progress Reports Posted Feb. 26 See how your students are progressing!   A progress report was posted in the registration system on Feb. 26. The report is titled “Spring 2015 Traditional, EC, Block, YL, CR Progress Report Due Feb. 24th, 2015″ This is an unweighted progress report.   The following fields are on this report:   Progress Grade = All courses (except credit recovery and OCS) will have a numeric grade reported here.   Comment = All instructors will leave a comment.   Number of Modules  = This field is used for CR only.   Status = This field is used for CR only.   Sample Progress Report Progress Report Details:   1. All standard classes will report a progress grade, and teachers will leave a comment for each student.   2. We do not report grades for OCS classes. Classroom teachers determine OCS grades.   3. We do not report grades for credit recovery classes. See the comments section to determine if the student is on pace or not.   4. Even if a student is supposed to be dropped, we will report a grade until the school withdraws the student.   Follow this link to see how to run a grade report.   Follow this link to see our Quick Reference Guide on Grades. Supporting Students – Intervention Time Be sure to check the latest progress report to see how your students are progressing. If you have students who are low-performing, under-performing, or at-risk for any reason, NCVPS has a number of intervention strategies for districts and schools to help.   Follow this link to see our intervention strategies. AP Test for NCVPS Courses Please forward this message to your school’s AP testing coordinator.   Be sure to input the NCVPS code (045) into the “Online Provider Code” found on page 1, item G of the student’s AP answer sheet during administration of the exam.   This will allow NCVPS to receive a copy of the student’s May 2015 test scores for our records.   These scores are needed as part of the accountability piece for NCVPS. SAR Data School data managers will find the NCVPS SAR data in the NCVPS enrollment reports and grade reports.  E-learning advisors at the school will be able to help the data managers access the enrollment reports.   Data managers will need to manually enter the NCVPS teacher SAR data into PowerSchool.   Schools will use the PowerSchool UID for NCVPS teachers instead of their social security numbers.   Enrollment reports and grade reports will open into an Excel spreadsheet. Scroll to the right of the spreadsheet to access the SAR data (see below). Please note that most HQ errors are due to a data input error or a spreadsheet sorting error on the school’s end.  Please confirm that the correct UID has been used.  In addition, sometimes a school will misread the spreadsheet and enter the wrong teacher for a course.  If you accidentally enter the Latin teacher’s data for an English course, it will naturally come back as non-HQ. Chromebook Issues NCVPS leadership would like to remind school-based technologists that Chromebooks are not on our list of supported hardware specifications.  Students will struggle to successfully complete NCVPS courses with a Chromebook as their primary technology resource.  The collaborative tools, java content, pull down menus and submission of assessments can all be problematic and/or non-functional in NCVPS courses. While we realize it can be a challenge for districts to supply technology resources for students, allowing students to attempt their coursework on a Chromebook will have a major impact on student success. This negative impact is seen by NCVPS on a regular basis. Please take a look at NCVPS technology requirements (see below) to gain further information on system resources students will need to be successful in NCVPS courses. Tech Updates Below are some tips and reminders to help you have a wonderful school year! Opening a Ticket   When opening a ticket with the virtual support center, please always include the following: Students first & last name ID number (This will help to insure we have the correct student) Course name – including specific section ex: CourseSec01Spring15. Replying to a Support Center Ticket   Reply back to a ticket by clicking on the link provided at the bottom of a help reply email will keep all students information secure and will attach your information directly to the ticket. See image: http://screencast.com/t/ZdciZ55coU4 Blackboard Instant Messaging (BBIM)   Students will need to click on the BBIM link in their class and create an ID and password that they will remember. NCVPS does not issue BBIM logins nor do we store this information. Student Email Confirmations in Moodle and Blackboard   If a student’s e-mail is missing or shows pleaseadd@ncvps – the student will not receive important e-mails from their teachers. Please have students confirm/update their email information by following these steps: In Moodle: Navigate to Administration My Profile settings Edit Profile Verify or update e-mail Scroll to bottom and “Update Profile” In Blackboard: Click on students name in the upper right side of your BB course Click on setting Click on Personal Information Click on Edit Personal Information to update e-mail Scroll to bottom and Submit  Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages   Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:   Moodle: http://moodle.ncvps.org/   Blackboard:  https://ncvps.blackboard.com/   In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:   Registration System: http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/user/login/   Virtual Support Center: http://www.help.ncvps.org/   Password Reset    If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket in your email account to access the new password or click “Forgot Password” on the Moodle or Blackboard login pages. Tech Requirements    For additional information please see our Tech Requirements: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/technology-requirements/ Approved eLearning Courses for NC NCVPS Courses NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. Check out our 150+ list of courses here. Vendor Approved Courses In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here. Here are the newest approved vendor courses: (Course Title – Vendor) AP FrenchMiddlebury – Interactive Languages Biology – Apex Learning Biology – OdysseyWare NCVPS Professional Learning Shattering the Myths of Online and Blended Learning, a 6 Week, facilitator-led, professional learning course, is now available through North Carolina Virtual Public School.  Have you ever questioned the relevance and rigor of online and blended courses in comparison to brick-and-mortar courses? Do you believe that online courses create an environment where learners simply read content and click “next”? Do you believe that online courses produce an environment where relationships cannot be developed and connected to the learning?  Then, you will not want to miss out on this learning experience.   Join North Carolina Virtual Public School as we shatter nine myths of online and blended learning, in this newly launched 6-week professional learning course.   The cost is $165.00/individual.   For registration details, visit http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/ncvps-professional-learning/.   Contact Don Lourcey for questions or comments: don.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov Middle School Art Adventures NCVPS is pleased to announce that it will offer an arts course specifically designed for middle school students in the Spring 2015 semester. Please check out our Middle School Art Adventures course below! (click image for larger view) See more details about the Middle School Art Adventures course here.   View our full course catalog here. North Carolina Virtual Public School 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone:  919-513-8550   |  Fax:  919-513-2557  | http://www.ncvps.org STAY CONNECTED

Adam Renfro
Outreach and Support Coordinator
North Carolina Virtual Public School
910.644.0757

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., 

SUITE 3900 | Raleigh | NC | 27606
adam.renfro@ncpublicschools.gov
NCVPS Virtual Support Center:  http://www.help.ncvps.org/

NCVPS E-lert for Feb.12, 2015

Also from today’s inbox…

Districts and Charter Schools, Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district’s and school’s e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you may view it as a web page here. February 12, 2015 – In This Issue: Current E-lert News For Your Information In The Loop Calendar Check 2015 February 12 – Progress reports posted in the registration system. February 26 – Progress reports posted in the registration system. NCVPS Celebrations Districts and Schools, tell us about your success stories. Let us hear about individual student successes, increased virtual enrollment, outstanding lab facilitators, or virtual support processes that your school or district has in place. We would love to promote these stories. Click here to tell us about your successes. E-lert Subscription If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name toour list here. Current E-lert News Spring 2015 Updates Registration System Maintenance    NCVPS is migrating its registration system to a new server. We will have a registration system outage on Monday, Feb. 16 to complete the migration. The new server will provide greater stability for the registration system.   IEP Phone Conference (Action Required)   If a student with an IEP or 504 plan is enrolled in an NCVPS course, it is the responsibility of the local school system to ensure that all requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IEP) Act and Section 504 are met.   NCVPS will follow all modifications and accommodations documented on the IEP or 504 plan as appropriate. There are some instances in which accommodations listed in the IEP or 504 plan are not conducive to the online environment and may not be provided. In this case, the local school system will be responsible for providing such accommodations in order to help the student to be successful in the online course.   When a student enrolls in a NCVPS course, the accommodations or modifications from the IEP or 504 plan are shared via a phone conference between the local school district liaison and the NCVPS Virtual Teacher for the course. No IEP or 504 plans are shared via email.  NCVPS and the school system must discuss the accommodations and modifications in the student’s IEP or 504 plan each semester the student enrolls in a NCVPS course.   For more on our IEP guidelines, please follow this link.   Enrollment Options   We have passed our late add date to register students. We cannot enroll students who are new a course, but we do have these enrollment options:   1. OCS – We cannot create new OCS sections, but schools may add students to their already established NCVPS OCS sections throughout the semester. You may enroll into your existing OCS sections in the NCVPS registration system.   2. Credit Recovery – Schools may enroll students in credit recovery until April 17 as long as seats are available in the course. You can enroll into credit recovery sections in our registration system.   3. Transfer Students – NCVPS is now accepting transfer students. Transfer students must already be enrolled in the face-2-face version of the course, have seat time in front of an instructor, and have a grade to transfer in with. Students new to the course cannot transfer in.  NCVPS will accept transfer through April 17, 2015. Open a ticket with the virtual support center to get started on the transfer process.   4. Health – Enrollment for the 2nd 9-weeks health courses is still open. You may register for the health sections in the registration system. Progress Reports Posted Feb. 12 See how your students are progressing!   A progress report was posted in the registration system on Feb. 12. The report is titled “Spring 2015 Traditional, EC, Block, YL, CR Progress Report Due Feb. 10th, 2015.” This is an unweighted progress report.   The following fields are on this report:   Progress Grade = All courses (except credit recovery and OCS) will have a numeric grade reported here.   Comment = All instructors will leave a comment.   Number of Modules  = This field is used for CR only.   Status = This field is used for CR only.   Sample Progress Report Progress Report Details:   1. All standard classes will report a progress grade, and teachers will leave a comment for each student.   2. We do not report grades for OCS classes. Classroom teachers determine OCS grades.   3. We do not report grades for credit recovery classes. See the comments section to determine if the student is on pace or not.   4. Even if a student is supposed to be dropped, we will report a grade until the school withdraws the student.   Follow this link to see how to run a grade report.   Follow this link to see our Quick Reference Guide on Grades. SAR Data School data managers will find the NCVPS SAR data in the NCVPSenrollment reports and grade reports.  E-learning advisors at the school will be able to help the data managers access the enrollment reports.   Data managers will need to manually enter the NCVPS teacher SAR data into PowerSchool.   Schools will use the PowerSchool UID for NCVPS teachers instead of their social security numbers.   Enrollment reports and grade reports will open into an Excel spreadsheet. Scroll to the right of the spreadsheet to access the SAR data (see below). Please note that most HQ errors are due to a data input error or a spreadsheet sorting error on the school’s end.  Please confirm that the correct UID has been used.  In addition, sometimes a school will misread the spreadsheet and enter the wrong teacher for a course.  If you accidentally enter the Latin teacher’s data for an English course, it will naturally come back as non-HQ. Chromebook Issues NCVPS leadership would like to remind school-based technologists that Chromebooks are not on our list of supported hardware specifications.  Students will struggle to successfully complete NCVPS courses with a Chromebook as their primary technology resource.  The collaborative tools, java content, pull down menus and submission of assessments can all be problematic and/or non-functional in NCVPS courses. While we realize it can be a challenge for districts to supply technology resources for students, allowing students to attempt their coursework on a Chromebook will have a major impact on student success. This negative impact is seen by NCVPS on a regular basis. Please take a look at NCVPS technology requirements (see below) to gain further information on system resources students will need to be successful in NCVPS courses. Tech Updates Below are some tips and reminders to help you have a wonderful school year! Opening a Ticket   When opening a ticket with the virtual support center, please always include the following: Students first & last name ID number (This will help to insure we have the correct student) Course name – including specific section ex: CourseSec01Spring15. Replying to a Support Center Ticket   Reply back to a ticket by clicking on the link provided at the bottom of a help reply email will keep all students information secure and will attach your information directly to the ticket. See image: http://screencast.com/t/ZdciZ55coU4 Blackboard Instant Messaging (BBIM)   Students will need to click on the BBIM link in their class and create an ID and password that they will remember. NCVPS does not issue BBIM logins nor do we store this information. Student Email Confirmations in Moodle and Blackboard   If a student’s e-mail is missing or shows pleaseadd@ncvps – the student will not receive important e-mails from their teachers. Please have students confirm/update their email information by following these steps: In Moodle: Navigate to Administration My Profile settings Edit Profile Verify or update e-mail Scroll to bottom and “Update Profile” In Blackboard: Click on students name in the upper right side of your BB course Click on setting Click on Personal Information Click on Edit Personal Information to update e-mail Scroll to bottom and Submit  Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages   Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:   Moodle: http://moodle.ncvps.org/   Blackboard:  https://ncvps.blackboard.com/   In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:   Registration System: http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/user/login/   Virtual Support Center: http://www.help.ncvps.org/   Password Reset    If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket in your email account to access the new password or click “Forgot Password” on the Moodle or Blackboard login pages. Tech Requirements    For additional information please see our Tech Requirements: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/technology-requirements/ Approved eLearning Courses for NC NCVPS Courses NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. Check out our 150+ list of courses here. Vendor Approved Courses In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here. Here are the newest approved vendor courses: (Course Title – Vendor) AP FrenchMiddlebury – Interactive Languages Biology – Apex Learning Biology – OdysseyWare NCVPS Professional Learning Shattering the Myths of Online and Blended Learning, a 6 Week, facilitator-led, professional learning course, is now available through North Carolina Virtual Public School.  Have you ever questioned the relevance and rigor of online and blended courses in comparison to brick-and-mortar courses? Do you believe that online courses create an environment where learners simply read content and click “next”? Do you believe that online courses produce an environment where relationships cannot be developed and connected to the learning?  Then, you will not want to miss out on this learning experience.   Join North Carolina Virtual Public School as we shatter nine myths of online and blended learning, in this newly launched 6-week professional learning course.   The cost is $165.00/individual.   For registration details, visit http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/ncvps-professional-learning/.   Contact Don Lourcey for questions or comments: don.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov Middle School Art Adventures NCVPS is pleased to announce that it will offer an arts course specifically designed for middle school students in the Spring 2015 semester. Please check out our Middle School Art Adventures course below! (click image for larger view) See more details about the Middle School Art Adventures course here.   View our full course catalog here. North Carolina Virtual Public School 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone:  919-513-8550   |  Fax:  919-513-2557  | http://www.ncvps.org STAY CONNECTED

Adam Renfro
Outreach and Support Coordinator
North Carolina Virtual Public School
910.644.0757

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., 

SUITE 3900 | Raleigh | NC | 27606
adam.renfro@ncpublicschools.gov
NCVPS Virtual Support Center:  http://www.help.ncvps.org/

NCVPS E-lert for Feb. 5, 2015

Also from yesterday’s inbox…

Districts and Charter Schools, Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district’s and school’s e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you may view it as a web page here. February 5, 2015 – In This Issue: Current E-lert News For Your Information In The Loop Calendar Check 2015 February 2 – Last day to drop EOC or CTE courses. February 4 – Last day to add or drop traditional calendar classes. February 12 – Progress reports posted in the registration system. February 26 – Progress reports posted in the registration system. NCVPS Celebrations Districts and Schools, tell us about your success stories. Let us hear about individual student successes, increased virtual enrollment, outstanding lab facilitators, or virtual support processes that your school or district has in place. We would love to promote these stories. Click here to tell us about your successes. E-lert Subscription If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name toour list here. Current E-lert News Spring 2015 Updates Thank You!   NCVPS would like to thank North Carolina schools and districts for their tremendous enrollments this semester. We would also like to thank everyone for their patience with our sluggish registration system. We will eventually be integrated into PowerSchool, and that will make the enrollment process much easier for everyone.   We do have some important notes to share. Please have a look:   E-learning Advisor Training   Are you new to the role of ELA? If so, we are offering some short training sessions that will provide a basic overview of NCVPS processes, procedures and helpful pointers. We have two sessions scheduled for next week.   Register here.   IEP Phone Conference (Action Required)   If a student with an IEP or 504 plan is enrolled in an NCVPS course, it is the responsibility of the local school system to ensure that all requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IEP) Act and Section 504 are met.   NCVPS will follow all modifications and accommodations documented on the IEP or 504 plan as appropriate. There are some instances in which accommodations listed in the IEP or 504 plan are not conducive to the online environment and may not be provided. In this case, the local school system will be responsible for providing such accommodations in order to help the student to be successful in the online course.   When a student enrolls in a NCVPS course, the accommodations or modifications from the IEP or 504 plan are shared via a phone conference between the local school district liaison and the NCVPS Virtual Teacher for the course. No IEP or 504 plans are shared via email.  NCVPS and the school system must discuss the accommodations and modifications in the student’s IEP or 504 plan each semester the student enrolls in a NCVPS course.   For more on our IEP guidelines, please follow this link .   ELA Contact Information (Action Required)    Does your school have students enrolled with us?  We must have contact information for someone at the school.  This can be the advisor, lab facilitator, assistant principal, etc.   This link shows how to update your contact information.   District advisors, if you run an enrollment report, you can see the ELA contact information for your schools.  Please ensure that each school has up-to-date contact information.   This link shows how to run an enrollment report.   You can also find school contact information in the grade reports.   Enrollment Options   We have passed our late add date to register students. We cannot enroll students who are new a course, but we do have these enrollment options:   1. OCS – We cannot create new OCS sections, but schools may add students to their already established NCVPS OCS sections throughout the semester. You may enroll into your existing OCS sections in the NCVPS registration system.   2. Credit Recovery – Schools may enroll students in credit recovery until April 17 as long as seats are available in the course. You can enroll into credit recovery sections in our registration system.   3. Transfer Students – NCVPS is now accepting transfer students. Transfer students must already be enrolled in the face-2-face version of the course, have seat time in front of an instructor, and have a grade to transfer in with. Students new to the course cannot transfer in.  NCVPS will accept transfer through April 17. Open a ticket with the virtual support center to get started on the transfer process.   4. Health – Enrollment for the 2nd 9-weeks health courses is still open. You may register for the health sections in the registration system. Happy National School Counseling Week! Feb. 2 – 6 is National School Counseling Week, and we would like to send a BIG shout out to all the school counselors in North Carolina. We certainly can’t do what we do without you, and your students wouldn’t enjoy their same levels of success without you!   Thank you for everything you do! Chromebook Issues NCVPS leadership would like to remind school-based technologists that Chromebooks are not on our list of supported hardware specifications.  Students will struggle to successfully complete NCVPS courses with a Chromebook as their primary technology resource.  The collaborative tools, java content, pull down menus and submission of assessments can all be problematic and/or non-functional in NCVPS courses. While we realize it can be a challenge for districts to supply technology resources for students, allowing students to attempt their coursework on a Chromebook will have a major impact on student success. This negative impact is seen by NCVPS on a regular basis. Please take a look at NCVPS technology requirements (see below) to gain further information on system resources students will need to be successful in NCVPS courses. Tech Updates We had another record breaking week with almost 900 tickets coming across the help desk. We thank you for your patience during this busy time.   Below are some tips and reminders to help you have a wonderful school year! Opening a Ticket   When opening a ticket with the virtual support center, please always include the following: Students first & last name ID number (This will help to insure we have the correct student) Course name – including specific section ex: CourseSec01Spring15. Replying to a Support Center Ticket   Reply back to a ticket by clicking on the link provided at the bottom of a help reply email will keep all students information secure and will attach your information directly to the ticket. See image: http://screencast.com/t/ZdciZ55coU4 Blackboard Instant Messaging (BBIM)   Students will need to click on the BBIM link in their class and create an ID and password that they will remember. NCVPS does not issue BBIM logins nor do we store this information. Student Email Confirmations in Moodle and Blackboard   If a student’s e-mail is missing or shows pleaseadd@ncvps – the student will not receive important e-mails from their teachers. Please have students confirm/update their email information by following these steps: In Moodle: Navigate to Administration My Profile settings Edit Profile Verify or update e-mail Scroll to bottom and “Update Profile” In Blackboard: Click on students name in the upper right side of your BB course Click on setting Click on Personal Information Click on Edit Personal Information to update e-mail Scroll to bottom and Submit  Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages   Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:   Moodle: http://moodle.ncvps.org/   Blackboard:  https://ncvps.blackboard.com/   In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:   Registration System: http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/user/login/   Virtual Support Center: http://www.help.ncvps.org/   Password Reset    If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket in your email account to access the new password or click “Forgot Password” on the Moodle or Blackboard login pages. Tech Requirements    For additional information please see our Tech Requirements: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/technology-requirements/ Approved eLearning Courses for NC NCVPS Courses NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. Check out our 150+ list of courses here. Vendor Approved Courses In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here. Here are the newest approved vendor courses: (Course Title – Vendor) AP FrenchMiddlebury – Interactive Languages Biology – Apex Learning Biology – OdysseyWare NCVPS Professional Learning Shattering the Myths of Online and Blended Learning, a 6 Week, facilitator-led, professional learning course, is now available through North Carolina Virtual Public School.  Have you ever questioned the relevance and rigor of online and blended courses in comparison to brick-and-mortar courses? Do you believe that online courses create an environment where learners simply read content and click “next”? Do you believe that online courses produce an environment where relationships cannot be developed and connected to the learning?  Then, you will not want to miss out on this learning experience.   Join North Carolina Virtual Public School as we shatter nine myths of online and blended learning, in this newly launched 6-week professional learning course.   The cost is $165.00/individual.   For registration details, visit http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/ncvps-professional-learning/.   Contact Don Lourcey for questions or comments: don.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov Middle School Art Adventures NCVPS is pleased to announce that it will offer an arts course specifically designed for middle school students in the Spring 2015 semester. Please check out our Middle School Art Adventures course below! (click image for larger view) See more details about the Middle School Art Adventures course here.   View our full course catalog here. North Carolina Virtual Public School 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone:  919-513-8550   |  Fax:  919-513-2557  | http://www.ncvps.org STAY CONNECTED

Adam Renfro
Outreach and Support Coordinator
North Carolina Virtual Public School
910.644.0757

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., 

SUITE 3900 | Raleigh | NC | 27606
adam.renfro@ncpublicschools.gov
NCVPS Virtual Support Center:  http://www.help.ncvps.org/

NCVPS E-lert For Jan. 29, 2015

From yesterday’s inbox…

Districts and Charter Schools, Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district’s and school’s e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you can view it as a web page here. January 29, 2015 – In This Issue: Current E-lert News For Your Information In The Loop Calendar Check 2015 January 20 – First day of class for traditional calendar Spring 2015 block courses. January 23 – Day 3 Status Report for traditional calendar classes posted in the registration system. January 29 – Day 7 Status Report for traditional calendar classes posted in the registration system. February 2 – Last day to drop EOC or CTE courses. February 4 – Last day to add or drop traditional calendar classes. NCVPS Celebrations Districts and Schools, tell us about your success stories. Let us hear about individual student successes, increased virtual enrollment, outstanding lab facilitators, or virtual support processes that your school or district has in place. We would love to promote these stories. Click here to tell us about your successes. E-lert Subscription If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name toour list here. Current E-lert News Enrollment for Spring 2015 Last Day to Drop / Add Extended   The last day to drop or add students into traditional calendar courses has been extended to Wednesday, Feb. 4 except for all CTE and EOC courses (Math I, Biology, English II).   Schools can still add to CTE and EOC courses, but they will not be able to drop after the tenth day. Day 7 No-Show Report The Day 7 No-Show Report has been posted in the registration system. Please look at the report carefully. The report will show your entire NCVPS spring enrollment. Scroll to the far right of the report, and look for these columns:   If a student has been reported as a “no show,” confirm that the student is actually going to take the course.  If the student is not going to take the course, please drop the student in our registration system right away. This will allow waitlisted students to be enrolled in the course.   Capacity Issues We will be contacting districts who have inactive students in courses that are at capacity. We are looking at a way to remove inactive students in those courses so that waitlisted students can be enrolled. Only districts that have inactive students in the at-capacity courses will receive the message. You can see the list of courses that are at capacity here.   Enrollment Reports Click here to see how to access your spring enrollment report if you would like to view which students you already have enrolled for spring. Be sure to select “Spring 2015.”   Funding If your district uses its total allotments for NCVPS, the district coordinator can request access to our reserve funds.  Here’s the link for that request. Using our reserve funds will not cost your district or charter school anything this year; although, you will likely see an increase in your allotment totals in next year’s budget. Tech Updates We have some important tips from our tech team. These tips help ensure smooth operations.     Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:   Moodle: http://moodle.ncvps.org/   Blackboard:  https://ncvps.blackboard.com/   In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:   Registration System: http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/user/login/   Virtual Support Center: http://www.help.ncvps.org/     Help Desk Tickets – Verify Your Email Address Before submitting a help desk ticket please verify your e-mail address is correct. For instance, all NCVPS email addresses end in .gov and not .org. Use @ncpublicschools.gov to avoid delay in response time. Password Reset If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket in your email account to access the new password or click “Forgot Password” on the Moodle or Blackboard login pages. Course Issues When requesting help regarding a course, it is always easier for tech support to respond quickly if we have the specific section name, for example CourseSec01Spring15. Student Email Confirmations in Moodle and Blackboard Please have students confirm/update their e-mail In Moodle: * Navigate to Administration * My Profile settings * Edit Profile * Verify or update e-mail * Scroll to bottom and “Update Profile” In Blackboard: * Click on students name in the upper right side of your BB course * Click on setting * Click on Personal Information * Click on Edit Personal Information to update e-mail * Scroll to bottom and Submit Help Desk Ticketing Tips To answer your tickets faster and more efficiently we ask for the following when opening a ticket with the Virtual Support Center: Students first & last name PowerSchool ID number Course enrolled (example CourseSec01Fall14) Please specify if course is: AP Honors Early Calendar CR OCS This will help to ensure we have the correct student. Tech Requirements  For additional information please see our Tech Requirements: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/technology-requirements/ Approved eLearning Courses for NC NCVPS Courses NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. Check out our 150+ list of courses here. Vendor Approved Courses In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here. Here are the newest approved vendor courses: (Course Title – Vendor) AP FrenchMiddlebury – Interactive Languages Biology – Apex Learning Biology – OdysseyWare NCVPS is pleased to announce that it will offer an arts course specifically designed for middle school students in the Spring 2015 semester. Please check out our Middle School Art Adventures course below! (click image for larger view) See more details about the Middle School Art Adventures course here.   View our full course catalog here. North Carolina Virtual Public School 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone:  919-513-8550   |  Fax:  919-513-2557  | http://www.ncvps.org STAY CONNECTED

Adam Renfro
Outreach and Support Coordinator
North Carolina Virtual Public School
910.644.0757

North Carolina Virtual Public School | 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., 

SUITE 3900 | Raleigh | NC | 27606
adam.renfro@ncpublicschools.gov
NCVPS Virtual Support Center:  http://www.help.ncvps.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NCVPS E-lert for Jan. 22, 2015

From yesterday’s inbox…

Districts and Charter Schools, Please forward this E-lert to your school-level stakeholders. We often have enrollment information for counselors, grades for data managers, tips for lab facilitators, announcements for testing coordinators, and strategies for school leaders, all of whom support your district’s and school’s e-learning efforts. If you are having difficulty viewing this email, you may view it as a web page here.

January 22, 2015 – In This Issue: Current E-lert News For Your Information In The Loop Calendar Check 2015 January 20 – Last day to drop or add to early calendar courses. January 20 – First day of class for traditional calendar Spring 2015 block courses. January 23 – Day 3 Status Report for traditional calendar classes posted in the registration system. January 29 – Day 7 Status Report for traditional calendar classes posted in the registration system. February 2 – Last day to add or drop traditional calendar classes. NCVPS Celebrations Districts and Schools, tell us about your success stories. Let us hear about individual student successes, increased virtual enrollment, outstanding lab facilitators, or virtual support processes that your school or district has in place. We would love to promote these stories.Click here to tell us about your successes. E-lert Subscription If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name toour list here. Current E-lert News Enrollment for Spring 2015 Spring classes started on January 20, and registration will remain open through Monday, February 2. Please take a moment to read the important messages below. No-Show Reports We are cancelling our Day 3 No-Show Report. Our registration system has been very sluggish due to the large amount of activity in the system. This has caused registration delays and prevented students from getting their usernames and passwords from their schools.   Additionally, a number of schools have reported to us that they are having delays in starting their spring semesters due to inclement weather and extended days for fall semester testing.   The intention of the no-show report is to give e-learning advisors an early alert for students who have not logged in to their courses, but we do not believe the data collected for the Day 3 no-show report will be very useful because of the registration system delays, inclement weather issues, and fall testing. Therefore, we are cancelling the Day 3 No-Show Report.   We will still issue the Day 7 No-Show Report on Thursday, January 29. Look for that report in the registration system.   Thank you for your patience, and please be aware that our technology team is working on the registration system issues. Capacity Issues We are in our late add period, and a number of classes have reached capacity. See the list of courses at capacity here.  Contact Information E-learning Advisors, please update your contact information in the registration system. Click on the “My Info” button to do that. There are four fields to update:     This link has a step-by-step guide if you need assistance. Semester Prep Please visit our “District and School Semester Prep” page to see what you need to do to prepare for the spring semester.   Enrollment Reports Click here to see how to access your spring enrollment report if you would like to view which students you already have enrolled for spring. Be sure to select “Spring 2015.”   Funding If your district uses its total allotments for NCVPS, the district coordinator can request access to our reserve funds.  Here’s the link for that request. Using our reserve funds will not cost your district or charter school anything this year; although, you will likely see an increase in your allotment totals in next year’s budget. Tech Updates We have some important tips from our tech team. These tips help ensure smooth operations.    Bookmark NCVPS Login Pages Many students visit our homepage to log in to their courses. It is a best practice to bookmark the actual login pages for both Moodle and and Blackboard. Please have students and lab facilitators bookmark the following pages:   Moodle: http://moodle.ncvps.org/   Blackboard:  https://ncvps.blackboard.com/   In addition, many school administrators visit our homepage to log in to our registration system or Virtual Support Center. Please bookmark both of these pages in your web browser:   Registration System: http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/user/login/   Virtual Support Center: http://www.help.ncvps.org/     Help Desk Tickets – Verify Your Email Address Before submitting a help desk ticket please verify your e-mail address is correct. For instance, all NCVPS email addresses end in .gov and not .org. Use @ncpublicschools.gov to avoid delay in response time.Password Reset If you have had your password reset, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it. If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket in your email account to access the new password or click “Forgot Password” on the Moodle or Blackboard login pages. Course Issues When requesting help regarding a course, it is always easier for tech support to respond quickly if we have the specific section name, for example CourseSec01Spring15. Student Email Confirmations in Moodle and Blackboard Please have students confirm/update their e-mail In Moodle: * Navigate to Administration * My Profile settings * Edit Profile * Verify or update e-mail * Scroll to bottom and “Update Profile” In Blackboard: * Click on students name in the upper right side of your BB course * Click on setting * Click on Personal Information * Click on Edit Personal Information to update e-mail * Scroll to bottom and Submit Help Desk Ticketing Tips To answer your tickets faster and more efficiently we ask for the following when opening a ticket with the Virtual Support Center: Students first & last name PowerSchool ID number Course enrolled (example CourseSec01Fall14) Please specify if course is: AP Honors Early Calendar CR OCS This will help to ensure we have the correct student. Tech Requirements  For additional information please see our Tech Requirements: http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/technology-requirements/ Approved eLearning Courses for NC NCVPS Courses NCVPS offers over 150 different courses, including advanced placement, electives, traditional, honors, core, STEM, occupational course of study, and credit recovery courses. Check out our 150+ list of courses here. Vendor Approved Courses In addition to NCVPS courses, North Carolina public schools also have a list of approved third-party vendor courses that they may choose from for virtual classes. Please follow this link to see the list of approved vendor courses. More on the vendor approval process can be found here. Here are the newest approved vendor courses: (Course Title – Vendor) AP FrenchMiddlebury – Interactive Languages Biology – Apex Learning Biology – OdysseyWare NCVPS is pleased to announce that it will offer an arts course specifically designed for middle school students in the Spring 2015 semester. Please check out our Middle School Art Adventures course below! (click image for larger view) See more details about the Middle School Art Adventures course here.   View our full course catalog here. 1017 Main Campus Drive, Partners I Bldg., SUITE 3900, Raleigh, NC 27606 Phone:  919-513-8550   |  Fax:  919-513-2557  | http://www.ncvps.org STAY CONNECTED