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.
NCVPS E-lert - Jan. 18, 2018 - Fall Edition XVII (Fall Closing - Spring Opening)
CalendarCheck
Calendar Check
Fall 2017 Dates

See our calendar for progress report dates. We post updates every two weeks throughout the semester. 
Essential Links





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Current E-lert News
Greetings!
Four NCVPS OCS math courses have reached their maximum section capacity. We can no longer open new sections in these four courses:

OCS Math 1
OCS LDME
OCS Intro to Math
OCS Financial Management

If you already have a section created with students in it, you can continue to add students to your section. 

However, if you do not already have a section, then p lease plan on enrolling students for those courses in the Fall 2018 semester. 
 
If you have a special student circumstance, please complete a Help Desk ticket at www.help.ncvps.org.

If drops in course enrollments occur, we may be able to enroll a student if we can accommodate. 

We are very sorry for any inconvenience.

In other registration news, we have been able to increase the capacity in our Japanese courses. Currently, both J apanese 1 and 2 have open enrollments and with no waitlists.  We have Japanese 3 in development right now, and we hope to have that open by Fall 2018.

New Updates

Important Information






Thank you, and have a wonderful week!
SpringUpdatesSpring 2018 Updates

Registration remains open for Spring 2018 block courses.


If you need access, contact our  Virtual Support Center here

Please remember that there is only one login per school.  If your school already has access, you will need to share the login username and password.

If you are new to the NCVPS registration system or need a refresher, visit our Registration System User's Guide here


Be sure to see our  Course Capacity List  for courses that are closed, at capacity, or nearing capacity.


Remember to give students their usernames and passwords. NCVPS does not send login details to students. You can access login details for students by running an enrollment report in our registration system.  

Registered students will be able to log to NCVPS Canvas on Wednesday, Jan. 24. This will be access to Canvas, not their courses.  Students will be able to access their courses on the first day of class, Monday, Jan. 29. 

If a student's login does not work on the first day of class, here are the troubleshooting steps for students:
  1. Be sure that you have your correct username and password. Your school will issue you this login information. NCVPS does not issue usernames and passwords.
  2. NCVPS uses Canvas for its learning management system. Many schools and districts also use Canvas. NCVPS has its own Canvas login web address. Be sure you are logging in to your NCVPS courses at this link: https://ncvps.instructure.com/login/canvas/
  3. If this is your first time logging in, confirm with your e-learning advisor (ELA) that you are enrolled and not waitlisted.
  4. If you were just registered today, it will take 24 hours to get access.
  5. If you had an NCVPS class before in Canvas, and you changed your password, then that is the password that you will need to use.
  6. If you still cannot log in, open a ticket with our  Virtual Support Center. Be sure to include your name, PowerSchool ID number, school, and course that you're trying to log in to.
  7. If your password has worked before, but you have forgotten it, use the "Forgot Password" feature on the Canvas login page. This will work if you have your correct email address identified in the course settings.


If you have students who are ready to get a jump start, check out our Pre-Instruction Resources.  We have something for every class. Also, send students to our Canvas Orientation to get acquainted with our learning management system before classes begin.   


Print our Student Quick Start Guide for your students. You will need to add some details, but it's a paper copy to give to students. Or you can email the guide to them. Copy and paste the document into your own file email or download the document by selecting "File" and then "Download as."


Jan. 29 - Classes Begin
Feb. 1 - Day 3 Student Status Report Posted in the Registration System
Feb. 7 - Day 7 Student Status Report Posted in the Registration System
Feb. 9 - Last Day to Drop or Add Students

NCVPS OCS Math Courses Closed as of 1/17/18

The following OCS Math Courses are now closed due to teacher capacity for enrollments. No new sections may be created for schools at this time. 

OCS Math 1
OCS LDME
OCS Intro to Math
OCS Financial Management

Music Appreciation and Music Business and Recording

NCVPS has closed its sections of Music Appreciation and Music Business & Recording for Spring 2018. Each course is in need or revisions. After reviewing the necessary revisions, we have decided to pull both courses from our spring catalog. We greatly apologize for this inconvenience.  
If you are looking for electives, we do have our visual arts courses. We hope your students may be interested in one of those offerings. You can see our catalog here:    https://ncvps.org/ncvps-course-catalog.

French 3 and French 4 Chromebook Issues

In the spring of 2018, Chromebooks will no longer support Flash content of any kind. It's anticipated that there will be no workaround solution. This is a problem for two NCVPS courses: French III and French IV. Both courses rely heavily on Flash content. We recommend that students enrolled in French III and IV have access to full desktop or laptop computers and not just Chromebooks or mobile devices. 

We are rewriting the French III and IV courses to replace the flash content.  The newly revised French III course is tentatively set to be released in Fall 2018, and the newly revised French IV course is tentatively set to be released in Fall 2019.

OCS Math Near Capacity

Please be aware that ALL NCVPS OCS Math Courses are already very close to meeting teacher capacity for enrollments.

 We are monitoring the enrollment numbers and teacher assignments very closely, but please know that once teacher capacity is reached, courses will be closed.  Schools will need to make other arrangements for their students such as enrolling in the specific course for the Fall 2018 semester.  We are terribly sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and will post course closure announcements as soon as they occur. 

Japanese 1, 2, and 3

We have been able to increase the capacity in our Japanese courses. Both Japanese 1 and 2 have open enrollments and with no waitlists on January 18, 2018.  We have Japanese 3 in development right now, and we hope to have that open by Fall 2018.
GradesGrade Reporting
 
  CurrentPostedGrades What Grades Are Currently Posted?

December 21 : Final Grades Posted for Early Calendar Courrses

December 21:  Progress Report with Expected/Anticipated CTE Grades and Anticipated EOC Scores Posted in the Registration  System


January 25Fall Block Courses Final Grades Posted in the NCVPS Registration System

January 25Yearlong Progress Reports Posted in the NCVPS Registration System


Reporting Overview

 
See how your students are progressing! We post progress reports every two weeks in the registration system. These are unweighted grades.



Only our final grade report is a weighted grade report. 



NCVPS posts student status reports after the third and seventh days of class. These reports indicate if students have logged in or not to their NCVPS courses. These reports are early warning indicators for schools.


FlexReportingFlex Learning Grade Reporting
Flex Learning teachers update the same progress reports as traditional teachers. Progress reports show Flex Learning in the title of the report like this:  


Flex Learning, however, has its own final grade report.  Once a student has finished his or her Flex Learning course, the teacher will update the progress report with a comment that student is done with the course.  The teacher will also notify the ELA that the student has finished the course. 

However, Flex Learning has its own final grade report. Flex Learning will use one final grade report for the academic school year, and it will be updated every two weeks as students complete their Flex Learning courses.  The Final Flex Learning report will look like this in our registration system:


The NCVPS teacher cannot send the final grade by email. After the teacher notifies the ELA that the student has completed the course, the ELA can wait for next Flex Learning final grade report to be posted (within two weeks) or open a help ticket with our Virtual Support Center.  In the ticket, the ELA should indicate that the NCVPS teacher said the Flex student has finished his or her course, and the school needs the final grade. Be sure to include the student's name, PowerSchool ID number, course, teacher, and your school's name. We can send grades back to you through the secured support center.  
SpringTransfersSpring Transfers and Flex Enrollments
For Spring 2018, NCVPS will begin to limit the number of enrollments into its FLEX Learning program and students who transfer into NCVPS courses.


In February each year, NCVPS provides enrollment numbers to DPI Financial and Business Services (FBS) to "sure-up" the funding for each district and charter. Any enrollment after the sure-up is paid out of available NCVPS instructional funding.  FLEX Learning and transfer student enrollments often occur after after "sure-up" and will be limited for Spring 2108 due to funding constraints.  


FLEX Learning is for those students who need a flexible working time. FLEX Learning is not for early calendar enrollments.   NCVPS provides a Pre-Learning document for students to use while waiting on NCVPS courses to begin. Once the enrollment period for the traditional calendar courses ends, on February 9, 2018 , the only enrollments for FLEX Learning will be those special situations as only limited completion time will be available since the Spring semester ends on June 1, 2018 .    


Transfer students are those that are already enrolled in a traditional instructor-led course at their base school and have a grade to transfer into their NCVPS course.   Because of the limitations of funding after "sure-up", only seniors and students enrolled in the Occupational Course of Study program will be considered for transfers.  

We encourage our schools to look at students who may need NCVPS courses and to enroll these students into the Spring semester that begins on January 29, 2018 . If students need to end courses early because of specific school calendars, NCVPS teachers will work with those students.

We appreciate your partnership in expanding the educational opportunities for the students of North Carolina. If you have questions or need assistance,  please call the main office at 919-513-8550 or submit a support ticket to the NCVPS Support Center, www.help.ncvps.org .
OCSFieldOCS Identification Added to Required Fields for Registration 
On Tuesday, Jan. 16, we will release an update to the NCVPS registration system. The OCS box will become one of the required fields for registration. This will help our teachers identify OCS students who are registered in non-OCS classes.
If you already have OCS students registered in non-OCS classes for Spring 2018, you can update a student's profile if you did not mark "yes" for OCS when you registered the student. This would only be necessary if you registered the OCS student in a non-OCS course. Here's a short screencast on how to update student information in our registration system.
TestingEOC, CTE, and NCFE Testing
Please remember that schools must test NCVPS students enrolled in EOC, CTE, and NCFE testing.  

For those courses, our final grade report will only show the 80% classwork grades. Schools must test those students and average in the test results to get their final grades.

NCVPS tests students online for all courses that do not have a state test. For those courses, our final grade report will show the 80% classwork grade, 20% exam/project grade, and final grade.  

See our Grades Quick Reference Guide for further details.  

We've recently had a number of questions about the CTE final exam. Students enrolled in a Career Technical Education (CTE) course are required to take a final state assessment.  NCVPS does not administer this final assessment.  The school of record is responsible for administering the CTE final state assessment. If you have questions about obtaining the final state assessment, contact Stephen Kelley, DPI/CTE Consultant, at  Stephen.Kelley@dpi.nc.gov   or  919-807-3880 .
EndSemesterEnd of Semester Tips and Reminders
Traditional calendar courses end on Friday, January 19, 2018.  Grades will be posted on Thursday, January 25. 

Be sure to check our webpage  End of Semester Tips and Reminders for the end of semester timeline, testing information, grade reporting, extension requests, and more.  


Instructional Directors will begin reviewing extension requests on Tuesday, January 16th.  The reason for this is there is still time left for students to work, and extensions are for those students who need just a little more time to finish the course.  If large portions of the course are missing, an extension won't help the student.  

Extensions will only be granted for two weeks,  Please review our Course Extension Reference Guide for details on extensions and the extension process. 
 
Of course, we will work with student situations as we get closer to the end of the semester.  We want our students to be successful!  What we need now is for the student to work steadily and make progress in the course.  

If course extensions are only needed for one to two days for technology issues, illness, and similar reasons at the close of a semester,  those requests should be arranged directly with the NCVPS teacher from the ELA. 

Please submit a course extension request through the Virtual Support Center on January 8th.  Directions are found on the link above.
DownloadAppDownload the NCVPS App!
NCVPS has a new free app developed by  School Info App, which is recognized by District Administration Magazine as one of the Top 100 school applications in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Download the app in the Google Play and iTunes stores. Search for "NCVPS" to find the app in either store.

Current app features allow users to do the following:
  • Receive calendar and news notifications
  • Have quick access to course catalogs, online learning tools, and important documents
  • Translate messages to 30+ languages
  • See NCVPS social media posts
  • Follow specific teacher announcements
The app is not required for students or teachers. However, some of our teachers will be using the app as an additional way to contact students. We already have a few early adopters.  iKeepSafe has certified the app for COPPA, CSPC, and FERPA compliance; although, no account is necessary to receive announcements or notifications from teachers or the staff.

New features and additional capacity will be added throughout the year.

We hope to see you in the app and look forward to your feedback!
NCVPS Resources
CultureCafeNCVPS Culture Cafe




Check back for January dates!

TechUpdatesTech Updates
HelpDeskEmailIssuesHelp Desk Issues with Certain Emails


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Password Reset

If you have had your password reset through the Virtual Support Center, the new password will not expire unless you have reset it again. Occasionally, multiple people will request a student's password to be reset (i.e. the student, ELA, lab facilitator, and/or parent), so the password is reset multiple times. This, of course, causes confusion.  It's always best if only one person requests a password reset for a student. 

If you have forgotten what your password was reset to, you can look up the help desk ticket to access the new password or click on "Forgot Password" on the course login page.

Students should make sure that NCVPS teachers have their correct email addresses, and those email addresses should be confirmed in our Canvas learning management system. This will allow students to receive messages from their teachers and peers in the course forum.

Here's how to confirm student email addresses in Canvas:

Click on "settings" on your name in the upper right side of your course.
Click on "Add Email Address" under Ways to Contact on the right of screen.
Add your correct email if Canvas is not displaying your correct email.  
Click on "Register email."
Click the star next to your correct email address. 
 
 
For additional information, please see our Tech Requirements:
http://ncvps.org/technology-requirements 
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  |