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.
August 13, 2015 - In This Issue:
Calendar Check
2015

August 7 - Summer Session 2015 ends.

August 10 - Early calendar courses begin.

August 13 - Final summer grades posted in the registration system.

August 13 - Early Calendar Day 3 Status Report posted in the registration system.

August 19 - Early Calendar Day 7 Status Report posted in the registration system.

August 21 - Last day to add or drop early calendar classes.

August 24 - Traditional and Yearlong courses begin.

August 27 - Day 3 Status Report posted in the registration system.

Sept. 2 - Day 7 Status Report posted in the registration system.

Sept. 4 - Last day to drop or add students into traditional calendar block and yearlong classes.
Essential Links






Celebrate & Connect

Connect with us on Twitter! Find us here. Tweet to us on Twitter at @ncvps or with the hashtag #ncvps.
E-lert Subscription
If you are not on the E-lert subscription list, but would like to be, please add your name to our list here. 
Current E-lert News
What's New?
what's new picGreetings, North Carolina districts and schools!

Check out this week's important updates:

New This Week



Important From Last Week!




NCAA Eligibility Center  


In addition, be sure to check out all of our tips and reminders in this week's e-lert.
EndingSummerSummer 2015: It's a WWWrap!

Summer Session 2015 has ended and grades post today, August 13, in the registration system.

 

We have a few tips for schools to help close out the summer session.  Following these steps will help with the success of your students and help you have grades prepared for your final report cards.

 

Grades


Our final grade report for summer will show one weighted marking period grades (75% ) and the final exam grade (25%) and final grade.  EOC and CTE courses will only show the one marking period grades. Schools will need to calculate in the EOC and CTE exam grades. 

 

NCVPS Grading Policies 

 

You will want to be aware of our grading policy and how we weight grades, especially for EOC courses where you will need to calculate the final grade once you receive your test scores. Follow this link to see our Grades Quick Reference Guide and how we calculate grades.

 

Report Cards and Transcripts

Schools must enter grades into PowerSchool.  Be sure the data manager has access to the grade report and understands our grade calculations. Be sure to examine the spreadsheet closely to find the final grade. This will be essential when your data manage enters NCVPS grades into PowerSchool to avoid data entry errors.

 

Middle School Reporting

 

Middle schools should ensure that they use the NCVPS course codes so that their students can receive high school credit for the courses that they take with us. You can find courses codes in our catalogues here or in the second column of any grade report. 

 

Grade Questions

If you have questions about a student's grade, you should send those directly to the student's teacher or submit a help ticket to the Virtual Support Center.

 

Extensions
 

If you have technical issues at your school on the last days of class or if a student is ill, you may request a short (1-2 day) extension directly from the teacher.   If you need a longer extension for a student, see our full guidelines here.

 

We hope these procedures help you successfully close out your semester. Thank you for enrolling your students with NCVPS! We look forward to serving you in the future. 
LabGuideNew NCVPS Lab Facilitators Guide
We have a newly developed NCVPS Lab Facilitator's Guide. Please check it out here:

http://www.ncvps.org/index.php/ncvps-lab-facilitator-guide/

The guide is designed to provide an understanding of the basic processes and procedures that successful online facilitators use to support students. We reached out to North Carolina public schools and our partner schools in the Virtual Schools Leadership Alliance to pull together the most fundamental elements of facilitating online learning.

We have a downloadable and printable version at this link.

Please take this guide and adapt it into your district or school's own version. What works well in one district may not work well in another. What works well in one home may not be suitable in another. So tear this guide apart and put your stamp on it.

We hope this helps all the great lab facilitators in the state who, in turn, help NCVPS students every day!
NewELAsFor New ELCs, ELAs, and Lab Facilitators.

Are you a new district e-learning coordinator, school e-learning advisor, or lab facilitator?  If so, welcome to your new role!

 

We would like to help each of you. Please complete the short survey at this link, and we will reach out to you with some valuable resources.

 

ELCs, please forward this survey to your new school contacts.

 

Thank you!
PreppingFallPrepping for Fall 2015

Getting Started 

 

If you are new to the e-Learning advisor role or if it has been awhile since you registered students with us, please visit our Getting Started for Schools web page. You will find valuable insights and tips for registering and having a successful e-learning program at your school. 

 

Courses Nearing Capacity

 

coursecapacityWe already have a few courses that are approaching capacity for Fall 2015. Courses that are "At Capacity" will not have any new sections opened. The only way that students will move off the waitlist is if a student who is already enrolled in the course drops. See our list of courses that are at capacity and near capacity here.
PLShatteringProfessional Learning with NCVPS

 

The NCVPS professional learning team is pleased to offer its next round of the "Shattering the Myths of the Online and Blended Learning" course. This course will explore the history, the trends, and the benefits of online and blended teaching while shattering the long established yet incorrect myths that seem to orbit online and blended learning.

 

The next class starts on September 14. Please check out this link for details.

 

Visit our new LEAD ED page for details on our professional learning program.
NCAAThe NCAA Eligibility Center

A number recent high graduates who had taken courses with NCVPS have contact us about their NCAA eligibility. Their colleges are requesting more information about their online courses. When colleges need more information for the NCAA to clear a student, it usually indicates that the NCVPS course was not recorded correctly onto the student's transcript.

 

A transcript should indicate NCVPS courses like this:

 

Math I - NCVPS

Math I CR - NCVPS (for the credit recovery classes)

 

Versions of this are incorrect: 


 

Math I - ONLINE

Math I CR - ONLINE

 

Transcripts may also reflect the course title like this:

 

algebraIsec04spr11 - NCVPS

 

This is how the NCAA needs to see NCVPS courses on student transcripts. This will allow the student to clear the NCAA Eligibility Center.
healthpeHealth & PE Course Updates
We are offering three versions of our health and/or physical education courses. These are the course titles that you will find in the registration system:

Health Education: .5 credit 
Fitness-Physical Education: .5 credit 
HPE - Health and Physical Education: 1 credit 

We are piloting the Fitness-Physical Education and HPE - Health and Physical Education courses this fall. They will be available for open registration in the Spring 2016 semester.

If you are interested in piloting the courses this fall, please email Karen Creech at  [email protected]. 
GradeReportingGrade Reporting

What's on the Schedule? 

Progress reports will be posted each week during the summer session in the NCVPS registration system. The only weighted grade report will be the final grade report posted on August 13.

 

Grade Reports

Our grade reports are weighted grades similar to school report cards.

 

Follow this link to see the details on the latest grade report. 

 

Progress Reports

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

 

Follow this link to see the details on this progress report.

 

Student Status (No-Show) Reports

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.

 

Follow this link to see the details on student status (no-show) reports. 

 

Additional Resources 

Follow this link to see how to run a grade report.

 

Follow this link to see our Quick Reference Guide on Grades. 
Course Catalogues
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. 

VendorApprovedUpdatesVendor 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) 

Courses - Vendor

  • AP Biology - Edmentum
  • AP Calculus AB - Edmentum
  • AP Chemistry - Apex Learning
  • AP Chemistry - Edmentum
  • AP French - Edmentum
  • AP US History - Edmentum
  • ChemistryApex - Learning
  • Spanish 2 - Florida Virtual
  • Spanish 3 Honors - Florida Virtual
Tech Updates

JavaUpdateJAVA and Flash Updates


Please update your Java to Version Java 8, Update 51. Go to the link below and follow the instructions there.

 

http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Please go to the following link to update Adobe Flash Player to the latest Version 18.0.0.209 http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
 


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 ensure 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 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/  
Middle School Creative Writing

(Click on image for a larger view.)

 

creativewritingNCVPS is looking for middle school writers!

 

Our Middle School Creative Writing course introduces students to short and long fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. While emphasis is on production, students will also read samples of great writing as they learn the tools that creative writers use.

 

Students will create a writing portfolio that showcases their work.

 

This is a great opportunity for young writers! Enrollment is now open.
Sharepoint Added to Catalogue

NCVPS is please to offer SharePoint next year! Check out our catalogue for details!

 

View our full course catalog here. 
NCVPS Middle School Courses

The NCVPS catalog is growing. We will offer four middle school courses next year. Check out our catalog for details.

 

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  |