Policies and Procedures Guide for Online Students Olathe Public Schools eacademy 2014 2015 http://eacademy.olatheschools.com
General Information Students within the Olathe District attendance boundaries in grades 9 12 may have the opportunity to take an online course through the Olathe District Schools eacademy program. Many students will enroll in an online course in addition to their seven hour schedule, and complete the course from home. Some students may get to include an online course as one of their seven hours and complete their work in a computer lab during the school day; these students are called elearning students. eacademy may also enroll students who are home schooled or in long term medical homebound situations. The courses, texts, and other materials are identical regardless of the mode of enrollment. All eacademy courses are accredited through District Coordinators who match curriculum to district and state curriculum standards, and courses are taught by experienced Olathe teachers licensed in the content area by the Kansas State Department of Education. eacademy courses use Moodle on the Internet as the learning management system for course delivery. This interface allows course content and assignments to be accessed at any time by the student. In addition Moodle allows teachers and students to communicate through message forwarding and discussion boards (Forums). Courses can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using any computer with Internet access. eacademy is a program within the Olathe Public Schools that provides supplemental courses to Olathe students. eacademy is not a diploma granting school. All students will be enrolled in the high school of their attendance area or their transfer school and complete their high school diploma through that school. Polices All students such are subject to the Olathe School District Code of Student Conduct and other policies that might apply. The eacademy Code of Student Conduct outlines additional requirements and expectations that students must agree to in order to be enrolled in the eacademy program. Additionally, parents must agree to the Parent Contract. Each course will have its own set of expectations, outlined in the course syllabus. Students and parents will learn about these policies in the required online Orientation. Enrollment and Counseling All students will be enrolled in the high school of their attendance area or their transfer school. Counseling and other services are provided through the counseling department of their high school of attendance. Orientation The state of Kansas requires that both students and parents complete an orientation to any virtual learning program in which they enroll. Olathe online students, with a parent, are therefore required to complete a brief online orientation mini course in Moodle. The time required is approximately 1 ½ hours. After enrollment students log in to Moodle to find their list of courses and the eacademy Orientation. The information needed to complete the Orientation is included in this guide and in Moodle. Students and parents will demonstrate completion by taking the Student Quiz and Parent Quiz, online, at the conclusion of the Orientation. 2
Program Calendars eacademy follows the published calendar of the Olathe Public Schools for all items except our start date which is usually delayed a few days. Additional deadlines are set for completing the Orientation and for dropping online courses, each semester. These dates are clearly published in the Orientation course. Within each course, instructors will have a published set of deadlines that must be adhered to in order to stay current with course progress. Grade penalties may be assessed for late work. Probationary Status All students are admitted to the eacademy program on a probationary basis. After a specified period of time approximately two to three weeks a Probationary Review of student progress is conducted. Students who have failing grades or who are significantly behind in course work are generally dismissed from the online program and counseled into more appropriate options for obtaining credit, on a case by case basis. Grading eacademy follows the Olathe Public Schools secondary grading guidelines. All online courses are graded using the standard scale 100 90% = A; 89 80% = B; 79 70% = C; 69 60% = D; an F will be transcribed for students who achieve below 60% or fail to complete their online course. Online Attendance eacademy courses are asynchronous meaning that there are no live broadcasts or chats that must be attended at a given time. Students may log in any time day or night to access course work. Although assignments and reading may be completed offline it is expected that students will log in to Moodle daily to check for announcements and new information in the course. The Kansas Compulsory Attendance law requires students to complete a minimum total of five hours of instruction daily (or a total of 25 hours per week). Students who are full time virtual must meet this minimum requirement using online and/or offline hours. Communication Student email accounts are used to communicate in the eacademy program and students are expected to check their student email daily. Instructors are unlikely to extend deadlines and make other allowances when students fail to check their course and email for current information. (Student email accounts are disabled in the summer. Students must provide a personal email address at enrollment in order to receive email communication in the summer.) Hardware and Software Students are expected to have a computer with Internet access. Most all recent computer configurations are adequate for eacademy courses. Students may check the eacademy website for specific details. Students working on Apple computers generally have been able to complete eacademy courses with the installation of proper browsers and plug ins. Moodle apps on smart devices may allow students to access Moodle but assignment completion may not be possible. 3
Students are required to use Microsoft OFFICE software version 2007 or later. Instructors are not expected to convert files to the correct format to be opened; students must send the file in the correct Microsoft format. The Computer Applications course requires Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access applications, version 2007 or 2010. As an alternative to Microsoft Office, we have found that the free Open Office suite is compatible in our program. This software can be downloaded for free at http://openoffice.org. Moodle is accessible using the most recent updated versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari browsers. If students are having difficulty accessing any Moodle features we suggest updating their browser or trying an alternate browser. Texts, CDs and Other Course Materials The instructional materials used in our online program vary from course to course. Some courses may not have a text at all and others will have a print text. Some may have a text online, text on CD, or any combination. Video and software CDs may also accompany a course. Instructional materials are provided by eacademy or may be provided by the student s home school of attendance. Students will be instructed within their course as to how they are to obtain needed materials. Texts are to be returned when taking the final course assessment to avoid being billed replacement cost. Special Services Students with special service plans such as an IEP or 504 will be provided services through staff at their high school of enrollment. Students with special services plans are required to disclose this to eacademy staff when enrolling. State Assessments If a State Assessment is part of a particular grade level or course offered by eacademy, students are required to complete that assessment. This is done at the high school of the student s enrollment. eacademy Testing Each eacademy course contains secure online chapter or unit quizzes and tests throughout the course, which are taken by the student as they complete each group of assignments. These can be taken online at home or school. Semester length courses may have a closed book, closed note mid term that must be taken in a supervised setting. Instructions are provided in the course if this is the case. The State of Kansas requires that a face to face, proctored final assessment be given in each course. These are closed book, closed note assessments that must be taken at a designated testing center (usually the Instructional Resource Center or a high school) in a supervised setting. State Count Day Students who are more than half time virtual (more than half of their courses online) must complete two (2) Virtual Activity Logs for State Count Day, one each on the two dates specified by eacademy. Students 4
who do not complete this requirement by the deadline will be locked out of their courses and may be unenrolled from the eacademy program. Technical Support and Contacts Questions regarding your course are to be directed to your instructor. Instructor contact information can be found in each course in the Staff Information/Contacts area, and in the syllabus. The eacademy website has a great deal of information including software help on the page called Technical. Before starting your course it is recommended that you update your Java and Flash, and that you have the most recent browser. See our website for links to complete these updates. For general information, enrollment questions, and program assistance you may contact Randy Warner, eacademy Facilitator, or Cindy Cherry, eacademy Administrative Assistant. Contact information is on the eacademy website and in the eacademy Orientation. Proceeding Once course access is granted the first step is completing the online Orientation. Documents in the Orientation will provide access to the answers to complete the required quizzes at the end of the Orientation mini course. The quizzes do not count for points or grades, but are required to demonstrate that you have completed the Orientation; you will be dropped from the eacademy program for failure to complete these quizzes. Students who have taken other eacademy courses recently may simply skim through the orientation materials and retake the quizzes (with their parent), but the quizzes must be repeated. Good luck in your course, and have a great semester! Randy Warner, eacademy Facilitator Instructional Resource Center 14090 Black Bob Road Olathe, Kansas 66602 913 780 7110 rwarnerirc@olatheschools.org http://eacademy.olatheschools.com 5