This site is intended to be the main communications channel between markers and staff involved with the Summer 2002 FLEX-ED program. When there are important announcements, I will email everyone with a link to this site. Please note there is a calendar above and a timeline below which will have Flex-Ed related events and deadlines, and meetings.

The Flex-Ed program is going quite well, still a number of operational improvements needed but we are making progress thanks to the excellent Flex-Ed team! We have more than 500 students registered and about 700 courses, a significant increase from last year. The internal staff involved with Flex-Ed had a Flex-Ed update meeting today, focused more on the operational issues but some of the markers may find the info useful as well. Also, if any markers have feedback, please send to me. We will have a debriefing meeting in September but please keep a list of your comments now while they are fresh.

Here is the update: July 25th Flex-Ed update

FYI, Franca's Math 8,9, and 10 courses have been transfered to Richard Kaufman. I will update the course list on this site shortly to reflect this change. Thanks to Richard for taking on this with short notice and catching up on paper backlog so quickly.

A big thank you to Barb, Harsher, Jas, Merrilee and the team here at GVDES for keeping the Flex-Ed project running smoothly while I was away on vacation in early July. They took care of a number of loose ends and found ways of solving difficult challenges.
End of posting.

Posted June 30, 2002

The Flex-Ed Program is underway and we have had about 150 students register (mainly this past week) with about 200 courses in total so far. Most registrations have been online with some people still walking in with their registration and a handful registering by phone. Thanks to Jas for all her hard work in handling the new registration system, especially since the system was just launched and we have to work through some of the glitches.

Harsher and Barb have also done an excellent job with the student portal site which is now live and located at gvdes.ucourses.com. Markers can log in as Firstname.LastName as username and password. You should change your password after your first login. Barb will be coordinating marker training with more details to follow. The main thing markers will use the site for is to respond to student email. We will enter the grades at the GVDES so markers won't need to go online for that. There is a slighly revised comment sheet that you will start seeing with your student submissions.

I will be away on vacation from Tuesday, July 2nd, to Tuesday, July 9th (returning on July 10th). If you have any Flex-Ed general questions, you can call Jas at 604-713-5555, if you have technical or student portal/training questions, you can contact Barb Assonitis

Thanks to the whole Flex-Ed team for doing such a great job in putting together an exciting program in such a short time

Cyri

Posted June 19th

Flex-Ed Marker Meeting Postponed

Please note that the Flex-Ed marker meeting originally scheduled for today has been postponed due to delays in setting up the platform which the markers were going to be trained on. We tried reaching everyone by email, phone or both so hopefully everyone received this message okay (we only had two markers that RSVPed for the original date). I will contact the markers when the system is ready and we are ready for the marker training. It should only take an hour or two.

Things have been moving quickly so wanted to update everyone on the progress of the Flex-Ed program. We have been getting a number of Flex-Ed registrants both onsite and online.

Items Completed since last update on June 10th

• CAPP & PE format finalized (Barb, Charlene, Cindy)
• FAQ sheet for counselors and principals completed (Jas, Cyri)
• Phone and online registration open - still getting a lot of onsite registrations as well (Jas, Sylvia and the other registration clerks)
• Materials for all courses except CAPP & PE scanned into PDF format (thanks Donna B.!)
• Research into uploading self-assessment quizzes into Desire2Learn (Richard Kaufman)
• Fulfillment process setup (Cynthia, Jas, Cyri)
• Welcome package including student FAQs, tutoring schedule and promo, instructions for completing a course (Jas, Cyri)
• New comment sheet (Jas, Cyri)
• Preliminary advertising plan (Rod, Cyri, Cynthia)
• Flex-Ed website completed and online registration process revised -- www.gvdes.com/flexed (Harsher, Cyri, Jas)
New Flex-Ed covers printed (Merrilee, Cynthia, Cyri) Flex-Ed materials printed (Rod, Cynthia, Cyri)

Items Remaining

• CAPP & PE content revised and printed (Barb, Jas)
• CAPP & PE online courses uploaded to Desire2Learn (Barb)
• CAPP & PE promo content uploaded to Flex-Ed website (Cyri, Barb)
• Desire2Learn course website template finalized (Barb)
• Desire2Learn courses setup and markers enrolled (Barb, Harsher)
• Students enrolled in Desire2Learn (Jas)
• Email to students announcing opening of Desire2Learn (Cyri)
• Entering of course assignments into Word format (most are just in PDF format now)
• Demo account to Desire2Learn so potential students can see our course website environment
• Self-assessment quizzes
• Training of Cindy J. and Charlene on Illuminate tutoring software
• Finalize advertising plan
• Training of markers for Desire2Learn platform (it will just be learning basic functionality like checking email, we will be uploading grades online from GVDES)
• Training of Dianne on uploading grades into Desire2Learn

We're aiming to get as much of the Desire2Learn platform ready by this Friday (June 21st) and opening that to students. There are also some items like coordinating end of program testing and certificate generation so we will start working on these items (we have a bit of breathing room though).

As you can see there's still quite a lot to do but most of the critical Flex-Ed tasks have been completed and students have all they need to complete their courses. Most of the additional work relates to the course websites which are an enhancement to all the courses, not a requirement (except CAPP and PE online where the sites are central to teh course).

Thanks to everyone for all their hard work and especially to the support staff who have been having to deal with students registering without knowing yet all of the details and with little or no training. Jas, Sylvia, Cynthia, and the other support staff have done an excellent job in moving ahead despite there being a lot of ambiguity.

Thanks to everyone involved, we have made a lot of changes that will benefit not just our Summer Flex-Ed program but also which may be a prototype for some of the online environments and processes for our new school model starting in September.

-- end of posting --

June 10th Update

It's been quite some time since updating the Flex-Ed project website so here's a brief update of the key milestones completed and the items still ahead:

Completed:

1. New versions of Math 11 Flex-Ed (Colin) and Social Studies 8 (John P.)
2. Corrections received from course content leads and content updated (Cindy J., Content Leads & Jas)
3. Course management platform selected (Desire2Learn) and course template uploaded (Barb, Cyri, Cindy G.)
4. Course website links, marker welcome letter, course summaries and course outlines received (Cindy J., Jas, Content Leads)
5. Promo letter to school counselors and principals in GVDES' nine districts prepared (to be sent via blue bag and Canada Post on Monday, June 10th - Merrilee, Betty, Cindy, Cyri)
6. Flex-Ed website with program info and online registration with real-time credit card processing completed - to be uploaded on June 10th afternoon (Harsher, Cyri, Rod, Jas).
7. Flex-Ed poster and module cover created (Cynthia, Merrilee)

June 10 - 14

1. PE and CAPP format finalized - June 10 (Barb, Charlene)
2. FAQ sheet finalized - June 10 (Cyri, Jas)
3. Phone and online registration open (Jas, Sylvia)
4. Scanning of course modules into PDF format and uploading to student portal (Barb)
5. Entering of course assignments into Word format (Barb)
6. Editing of course website template (Barb)
7. Demo account for student portal, final launch of student portal - June 14 (Cyri, Barb)
8. Continued marketing of Flex-Ed program (Cyri, Cindy)
9. Self-assessment quizzes begin to be entered into student portal (Richard, Cyri, Student Workers)
10. Training for internal GVDES staff (Cyri)

June 17 - 21

1. Textbooks sent to registered students - June 17 (Jas, Barry, Cynthia)
2. Module content sent to registered students - June 17 (Copies Plus, Cyri)
3. Module content cover printed (Merrilee, Cynthia, Mills)
4. Continued marketing of Flex-Ed program (Cindy G., Cyri)
5. Self-assessment quiz entry continued (Richard, Cyri, Student Workers)
6. Marker training (Lead markers, Cyri, Jas)

Ongoing after June 21

1. Registration and marketing
2. Self-assessment quiz entry continued (Richard, Cyri, Student Workers)

Thanks to everyone involved who has put in a lot of work under tight timelines. Thanks especially to Jas and Cindy John for coordinating so many of the tasks! The Flex-Ed program has a number of improvements that will benefit students taking our 2002 Summer School program. In addition, it will benefit future students taking Flex-Ed at other times of the year.

Flex-Ed Lead and Support Marker Training

This will take place on Wednesday, June 19th from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. at the GVDES computer lab. This training will focus on how to use the new student portal for grading, communication with students, accessing course related content, etc. Please let Cyri know as soon as possible if you are able to attend.

-----end of posting ------------------

Posted May 30, 2002

Thanks for everyone's patience while we have worked out some of the Flex-ed details. Please take a look at these important documents outlining courses, roles, and timelines:

Flex-Ed Course and Participant List
Lists the 24 courses we are offering for Summer 2002 Flex-ed (and regular around the year Flex-ed as well) and lists markers and other participants involvement. For markers, please check that the version listed with your course is the one that you think we are using and let me know if there are any errors with the version listing.

Flex-Ed Roles
Describes what is involved with your particular role - for more details, please check out the Flex-Ed Course and Participant List

Flex-ed Timelines
Some of these dates will change and more tasks may be added but this should give you a good idea of the many tasks that need to be completed within a very short time period. It will be critical for all those involved to help out -- if you have any question about the tasks listed for you or your roles and responsibilities, please contact me as soon as possible.

Flex-Ed Sample Course Home Page
Link to a sample course home page - many of the links are dead right now but it will give you an idea of the look and feel of the course home pages. The actual course home pages will be available shortly.

Thanks, Cyri
604-713-5541
cjones@gvdes.com

Posted May 21st

Tomorrow (May 22nd), I will post a revised Flex-Ed list of the markers and content editors involved with the Summer Flex-Ed 2002 courses and a revised timeline that lists tasks by person and type. I will also try to contact everyone involved to confirm your involvement in the various tasks. Thanks, Cyri

Thanks to the markers who attended the Flex-Ed update meeting on May 14th and thanks to Cindy John for her project management of the content corrections/development. I will be making regular updates to this site and will email you when there is an important announcement. Please note that the announcement section will show the date last updated. I will be updating the course list and marker list by end of May 16th. I've revised the timelines below and added some key timelines to the web calendar (such as content dev. due dates). The key timelines are as follows for marker content development:
May 29 - All changes to course material and send-in activities submitted (Markers, Cindy John), Jas will return corrections for your review and sign-off.
May 24 - Course website info (course summary, web links, etc.) to Cindy John (Markers)

Here is the document Cindy John prepared for the flex-ed update meeting on May 13th with more detailed instructions: Flex-Ed Course Changes 2002 Marker Guide Sheet
If you aren't sure where to start looking for Web learning resources, you can check out OLA's Network Nugget site that lists sites by subject area: Network Nuggets

Summer Flex-ED Course List and Marker Availability

Please find below a list of the courses planned for Summer 2002 Flex-ED. If you are a marker, please review and let me know if you are able to mark the courses you are listed for and also if you are able to lead the efforts to change the errors - at least the worst ones - from your Flex-Ed courses. You can call me at 604-713-5541 or fill out this brief survey. Most of you have already submitted course content review forms to Cindy John although there have been some changes in Flex-Ed markers. If you haven't marked a course in the past, you will get some help in identifying the problem areas of the course. Thanks. Summer 2002 Flex-Ed Course List

Summer 2002 Flex-Ed Update Meeting

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to attend the Summer 2002 Flex-Ed update meeting on Tuesday, May 14th from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. This will be an important meeting for all those involved with the Summer 2002 Flex-Ed program to go over the courses, online environment and processes. It will include markers (Richard Kaufman, Cindy John, Elain Lum - to be confirmed, Charlene Cumberland - to be confirmed, Franca Carliolato - to be confirmed, John Patterson - to be confirmed, Christina Bome - to be confirmed), and internal GVDES staff (Cindy Gauthier, Barb Assonitis, Jas Jandu, Harsher Mann, and Cynthia Benedict)

Flex-ED Marketing A Flex-Ed Promo Sheet was included with a recent newsletter mailout to full grade, CONNECT and out-of-school students. We will keep the promo sheet simple (may modify slightly in the next week) and will refer people to our website our Flex-Ed phone line for more detailed inquires.
Dianne in switchboard conducted a two-week survey to find out where callers had heard of GVDES. By far, the two main ways people hear of GVDES are word of mouth (about 33%) and from their counselors at school (about 30%). We will focus on these marketing avenues and may also try some new approaches such as Internet advertising and ads inside buses. If you have any ideas on promoting Flex-Ed, please let me know.

Key Timelines:
April 30 - Course List & On-line Format Finalized, Markers Emailed for Confirmation of their involvement, On-line Markers Meeting Arranged for week of May 6-10, Initial Marketing Strategy
May 5 - Flex-ED Promo Sheet complete May 8 - Flex-ED Summer 2002 courses, process and online environment finalized (Cindy G., Barb, Cyri, Harsher, complete)
May 9 - Flex-ED Project Site emailed to participants (Cyri, complete)
May 10 - Banking forms signed by VSB for on-line credit card transactions and forwarded to Internet Secure (Rod, Virginia at VSB)
May 10 - Printing-on-demand arranged with Copies Plus
May 10 - Course cover sheet design planned (Cynthia, Cindy, Cyri)
May 14 - Internet Secure documentation (Harsher)
May 14 - Flex-Ed Update Meeting with markers, internal staff (Cyri)
May 14 - Preliminary Flex-Ed sign-up form live (Cyri)
May 15 - On-line Credit Card processing account approved (complete:Rod, Internet Secure, VSB) and technical documentation to Harsher May 18 - Final FLex-Ed on-line registration form completed (Student Worker, Harsher)
May 18 - Artwork for cover sheet to Mills to print
May 24 - Course website info (course summary, web links, etc.) to Cindy John (Markers) May 25 - Flex-Ed credit card transactions live (Harsher)
May 25 - Students able to register on-line or by phone
May 29 - All changes to course material and send-in activities submitted (Markers, Cindy John), Jas will return corrections for your review and sign-off. May 31 - All reviewed corrected course material submitted to Jas (Markers, Cindy John) June 1 - Materials (textbooks, modules, comment sheets, cover sheets) ready for students
June 1 - Course websites finished (PDF files scanned, web resources added, self-marking activities)
July 7 - Last day to register for summer FLEX-ED

This section is not "live" yet but will soon be the area where markers can submit student grades and summary comment on-line and to look up student info or a summary of papers marked