Updated November 7, 2011
Welcome to the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program!
Registration for the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program for SPRING 2012 will open on at 8am on November 14, 2011 in the NCVPS registration system. There have not been any SPRING 2012 enrollments prior to this date, so all enrollments for Spring 2012 can begin on November 14, 2011. Please read the information below.
General Information
The NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program is a collaborative effort between the NCVPS teacher and the face-to-face (f2f) OCS teacher to teach OCS courses. This is a true partnership in teaching!
On this website, you will find information to explain the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program, to provide information on how to register for courses, and the teacher training each face-to-face classroom OCS teacher will need to complete prior to the start of the semester.
This exciting and unique program is proving to be a tremendous success for students across North Carolina who are involved in the blended teaching of these courses. NCVPS is excited to offer six courses to all OCS students and OCS teachers of North Carolina as part of the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program.
The courses available are OCS Blended English I, OCS Blended English II, OCS Blended Algebra I, OCS Blended Biology, OCS Blended Applied Science, and our new course, OCS Blended Intro to Math.
Testimonials
So what are our OCS classroom teachers and students saying about the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program? Click here to read more!
Click here to watch Union County’s Cuthbertson High School student, Colin, discuss his experience in the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program! Colin’s classroom teacher at Cuthertson is Sarah Keziah and his NCVPS teachers were Gena Barnhart (OCS Biology), Tammy Bates (OCS English II), and Heather Ott (OCS Algebra I). Also, click here to read Ms. Keziah’s reflections on her semester, her students’ successes, and the power of blended teaching.
Click here to listen to two East Rowan High School students, Cordell and Ashley, who were part of the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning English I course! Their East Rowan classroom teacher is Barbara Marshall-Cassel and their NCVPS teacher is Sivonne Stone. Cordell and Ashley will talk about their experiences in the blended learning environment!
Watch this video to meet Ms. Donna Yount, OCS teacher at Maiden High School in Catawba County, and her NCVPS OCS Blended Learning students in English II and Biology! Their NCVPS partner teachers are Leslie Fetzer and Heather Ribar. Ms. Yount and her students discuss their learning this semester through the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program and how that learning resulted in a letter to a major company!
Click here to view a video made by two outstanding OCS classroom teachers from West Montgomery High School, Jan Ray and Rick Peters, along with three of their OCS students to talk about the power and effectiveness of the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program!
Click here to see learning in action! Catherine Schronce, outstanding OCS classroom teacher from Rosenwald High School in Catawba County, shows her OCS Biology students working on Punnett Squares!
Partner Teacher Newsletters
How does the OCS Blended Learning Program work?
Many of you have questions about how the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program works. Please read these Frequently Asked Questions about the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning Program.
IEP Guidelines for OCS classroom teachers and NCVPS partner teachers
Registration Information
All registration for the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program for Spring 2012 will happen in the NCVPS registration system beginning on November 14, 2011.
Before a school registers students, the school and teachers should be willing to teach the courses in the Blended Learning environment.
The NCPVS OCS Blending Learning courses require a true co-teaching experience where the f2f teacher is driving the instructional decisions while working daily with the NCVPS content teacher. The NCVPS teacher will help the classroom teacher individualize and differentiate the instruction for each student but the NCVPS teacher does not deliver the instruction real time to the students. The f2f teacher does this but she will have planned using the online content, her own resources, and the NCVPS teacher to determine the best way to teach the content to the students.
Schools must be willing to participate in the courses as a blended learning program. This means that a classroom OCS teacher for each subject registered must be willing to work daily with an NCVPS content teacher. The f2 teacher must also complete the online training as described on the main webpage. If the f2f teacher has taught in the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program before, no additional training is necessary although the teacher is welcome to go through the training if desired.
This partner teaching is the most critical piece for schools to understand. The NCVPS teacher will not be providing daily direct instruction; this responsibility rests with the classroom OCS teacher. The online content provides archived teaching sessions that can be used, but the daily instructional decisions are driven by the classroom teacher who plans daily, through an asynchronous document, with her partner NC VPS teacher. This concept is explained further on this webpage through the Classroom Teacher Blended Learning Training.
By registering students into the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program, schools and their teachers are agreeing to teach the courses in the Blended Learning environment.
On November 14, school Distance Learning Advisors (DLAs) may enroll students into the OCS Blended Learning courses. DLAs will see the six courses listed in the registrations system, beginning with the OCS prefix. It is important that DLAs look for the OCS prefix.
DLAs will then register students into the course. The registration will automatically place the student into the correct course section for their school and the information will be identified such as this: OCSBlendedCourse and a section named: DynamicforYourSchool.
School registrations will not be official until schools provide NCVPS with the names of their classroom OCS teachers who will partner with the NCVPS teacher. School DLAs will be asked to provide the name of the OCS classroom teacher for each course before January 2012. School DLAs will be contacted by email in order to provide this information.
OCS Classroom Teacher Training for the Blended Learning Program
All OCS f2f teachers will need to go through an approximate two hour online training prior to the Spring semester start on January 23, 2012. Teachers will be able to decide when they want to complete the training but all OCS f2f teachers will need to complete this training prior to the start of their first semester partnering with NCVPS in the OCS Blended Learning program.
The training can be found here.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program, please contact Michelle Lourcey (michelle.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov) Curriculum and Instruction Division Director.