Below are some frequently asked questions for students.

Please click on the question to view the related answer.

Access

You should have received a userID and password from the e-Learning Advisor (ELA) at your school. The ELA is the person that signed you up for the course, typically a guidance counselor or media specialist. If this person didn't give you a userID or password, then you need to check back with them to verify you are enrolled in the correct online course and ask them for your userID and password.
The Canvas website will ask you for a userID and password that you should have received from your e-Learning Advisor at your school. Using that userID and password, you can log in and begin your class. If you didn't receive a userID and/or password please contact your ELA to get that information.

Be sure to use the NCVPS Canvas site to log into your NCVPS courses. Your school may have its own Canvas login site. NCVPS usernames and passwords will not work at your school's site.

Are you having difficulty logging in? Here are the solutions:

  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 has its own Canvas login web address. Be sure to use the NCVPS Canvas site to log into your courses.
  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 at this link. Be sure to include your name, PowerSchool ID number, school, and course that you’re trying to log in to.
  7. If you have forgotten your password, use the “Forgot Password” feature on the login page. This will work if you have your correct email address identified in the course settings.

Registration

NCVPS registration opens by March for all of the academic year and remains open until the start of each semester (summer, fall, and spring).  Specific dates can be found by visiting the Calendar link on the NCVPS website:. Registration is done through the school, so you should also check back with your school to find out specific processes and policies your school follows for registration, as they may have additional scheduling calendars.
Because we are a supplement to the school system, registration for NCVPS courses is done through your local school. You will need to contact the e-Learning Advisor (ELA) at the local public school your child attends to get more information about registration. That ELA is most likely a counselor, tech person or media specialist.
Only your ELA can drop you from a course or add you to a course. If you do not login during the first seven days, NCVPS will administratively drop you from your course.
NCVPS will issue grades to all students after the tenth day of the course unless the school withdraws them from the course.

Communication

In Canvas, you will find your teacher contact information on the homepage of your course. You will see your teacher's email address, office hours, and phone number.
Communication with your instructor(s) will be through email, telephone, the messaging system within Canvas. Instructors will have scheduled office hours. This is a set time where your instructor(s) will be available to help you. You will find the days and hours in which your instructor is available for office hours posted in your course.
NVCPS will not provide you with an email account. Most of the time you will use the messaging system in Canvas to communicate with your instructor. Initial contact may be done with your personal email account, though. You can get free email accounts from Gaggle, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and Hotmail.

Courses

The NCVPS Course Catalogue is posted on our website under the Course Info tab
Upon completing the registration process with your E-learning Advisor (ELA) at your school, you will be given a username/id and password. This username/id and password gets you into your NCVPS course, which is in a platform called Canvas.

Watch this short video to see how an NCVPS course works.  You can also take a tour of Canvas at this link.
NCVPS has 18-week block courses, yearlong courses, and 9-week summer courses.

Students are expected to work each day. Our classes are real classes, with real work, and real grades.

Summer School: 3-5 hours of work each day (depending on the course), Monday through Friday. You must have daily access to the Internet for the duration of summer school. There are no exceptions made for students who attend camps or go on vacations where they do not have access to the Internet.

Fall and spring block courses: 90 minutes of work each day (depending on the course), Monday through Friday.

Yearlong courses: 50-60 minutes of work each day (depending on the course), Monday through Friday.

Weekends: That’s right! Just like in traditional school, you may have homework over the weekend. We don’t have any due dates on weekends, but you may need to study for a test, read your novel, or work on a project.
Ask your ELA what textbooks and materials are required for your course. Only our Advanced Placement courses need textbooks, but a few courses need materials, like headphones, microphones, lab materials, etc. Ask your ELA if you need any textbooks or materials for your NCVPS course. Do this before class begins so that you are ready the first day. You can also view what textbooks and materials are needed.

Grades

Your instructor will maintain an online grade book in your course. Look for a gradebook tab in your course.
Your final grade will be sent to your school's ELA. It will also be posted in your gradebook in Canvas, and it will appear on your school's report card and transcripts.
No, you will not be penalized for the system's downtime.  Teachers are aware of the downtime and will take that into consideration when grading. Teachers are being notified by the technology team on the outage situation, and they will work with students submitting assignments and taking tests during this time.  Please let your teacher know by email (or another trackable means of communication) that you were directly impacted by  the outage, so they are aware of your specific situation. Also, note:  It is the student's responsibility to continue to refresh your page to see when the system is back up and running and to continue working after the problem has been resolved.

Technical Course Questions

Absolutely yes if you are taking the class outside of school. You must have regular, daily access to a computer and the Internet. Some of you will be working in your school computer lab; in this setting your time to complete assignments will be limited unless you can have access to the computer lab before and after school.  Some of you will try to access your NCVPS online course from a public library. You may find that the public library limits the amount of time you can use a computer. Public libraries limit the time one can use a computer in order to make the library’s computers available to all. You will be more successful if you have a computer with Internet access at home in addition to using a computer in your school lab or at the public library.  Labs at schools may be closed for various reasons, so it is important to have a backup plan for those days. Visit our tech page for more technical requirements.
This can be a number of issues.

1. Make sure that your login session hasn't timed out or that you are still connect to the network.

2. Make sure the file was saved properly with a valid extension that is compatible with Canvas. ( i.e. Wrong= "assignment.doc.docx",  Correct = "assignment.doc" or "assignment.docx")

3.  If you are using Mozzila Firefox on a MAC, it will insert the file name without the extension in some cases which Canvas will treat as an invalid file type. If you still have problems, submit a help ticket here:http://www.help.ncvps.org/
Contact your instructor or the Virtual Support Center

The following are directions on how to troubleshoot attaching a file: Make sure the file was saved properly with a valid extension that is compatible with Canvas. i.e. Wrong= "assignment.doc.docx", Correct = "assignment.doc" or "assignment.docx"

If you continue to have problems, contact your instructor or the Virtual Support Center

General Knowledge

Be sure that you have a copy of our our Getting Started Checklist for NCVPS Students.
Yes, we do!  It’s important that you are familiar with our conduct policies that cover everything from online behavior to cheating and plagiarism.  
  • To be successful taking an online course, one needs to have good reading and comprehension skills, solid communication skills and excellent time management skills. Although we do not expect you to be computer experts, we do expect that you have basic computer skills: sending emails and attaching files to emails. And yes, we do expect you to have a computer with Internet access.
  • Whether you take an online course through NCVPS from home or from a computer lab at your school, you will need to know the requirements of the course(s) you are taking. You will find a syllabus in each course; print out this syllabus. Keep a calendar of the due dates. Use your weekends to get ahead. Stay current in submitting your assignments. Communicate with your teacher.
  • Teachers realize emergencies happen: computers crash; you are hospitalized; a death in your family occurs. We all have or will experience these situations in life; just let your teacher know. Your teacher will work with you. Make sure you have your teacher’s phone number and email address copied down on paper, posted near your computer….just in case you should need it. If you can’t call, have your parents/guardians call your teacher. Please do not remain silent.
  • Your teacher will have office hours. If you are struggling with an assignment, contact your teacher during these office hours. Some of you may have to get a tutor (or a friend) to help you. But we do expect you to do your own work.
  • You will need to keep in touch with your E-Learning Advisor (ELA) at your school. Let your ELA know how things are going for you. Your ELA will also assist you in getting textbooks and materials (if needed) and will be responsible for scheduling you to take state mandated EOC tests for courses that require them. So drop in on your ELA occasionally to make sure you stay informed.
  • We do expect you to have read and to adhere to the NCVPS policies and procedures.

Each school has a E-learning Advisor (ELA). This individual helps students at their school register to take an online NCVPS course(s). Your ELA could be an assistant principal, a guidance counselor, or even a media center specialist. You will need to ask. The ELA is important in the registration process; he or she will help you make the right decisions in selecting an online course(s). Also, your grades will be sent to the ELA at your school. Your ELA will also assist in the administering of any state mandated End-of-Course tests (EOCs). Your ELA is the only person who can drop you from a course or add you to a course. Make sure you are aware of the dates in which you can add or drop a course from NCVPS. There are no drops after the 10th day of class.

Make sure you understand who is responsible for answering which questions
Your ELA can help with the following:

  • Register you to take a NCVPS online course(s)
  • Drop or withdraw you from a course(s)
  • Inform you of dates for EOCs and VOCATS testing
  • Help you contact your instructor

Your instructor can help with the following:

  • Answers questions about the content in the course
  • Help arrange tutoring in our peer tutoring program
  • Resets tests and quizzes
  • Fixes dead links
  • Answers questions about grades

The NCVPS Virtual Support Center can do the following:

  • Fixes glitches and technical problems in your course
  • Resets usernames and passwords
  • Assists in how to perform a task in Blackboard or Moodle, for example, post to a discussion forum.
  • Help you contact your instructor
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FAQs