Educational Technology Leaders

Dear Fernley Wolves, I just wanted to make sure that you're all on the same page with your Academy progress. Whereas one of you can represent / "click" for the group in the Sessions, each one of your is responsible for your own Journal entries, and those must be completed within roughly 8 weeks of your start date, adjusted for breaks of course. If you have any access problems, please let me know so they can be addressed. Have a good morning and weekend...! *Kendal*

Dear Cheri, Rhonda and Kelly, Just wanted to let you know that according to the system, one of you has enough journal entries to be completely done with the Academy and the other two still need one and three entries respectively. It looks like you're all still within your deadlines, so I hope this is a timely reminder. If you have questions about access, please let me know by emailing kendal@learningoptions.net . Good luck and have a good day...! *Kendal*

Dear Lectrices, I just noticed that while one of you has the last session completed and one of you is almost done, you also need Journal entries to complete the Virtual Academy. Although you started in October, we're taking the upcoming break into account and wanted to give you an adjusted completion date of a week after school resumes. This should give you more time to do sessions and journal entries and feel slightly less rushed. I hope this helps; if you have access questions, you can email me at kendal@learningoptions.net. Good luck and have a good week...! *Kendal*

Dear Lectrices, I just wanted to send a quick reminder as to how long each team has to finish the Virtual Academy. The guideline is eight weeks, which depending when you started will mean that the clock is not ticking over holiday breaks. If you are getting this message, it means your team's deadline is approaching and you have a significant amount of Sessions and journals yet to do. If you're having access issues, let me know by emailing kendal@learningoptions.net . Have a good day...! *Kendal*

Dear Tremendous Teachers, I see you've gone through Session One and just wanted to quickly let you know a couple things: 1. All your readings can be found under the Resources section. 2. While the sessions are designed for you to do as a group, know that each individual is responsible for his or her own Journal entries. To access your Journal at any time, click the Journals link near the top of any Virtual Academy page. 3. If for whatever reason you have to go through the Academy independently of your group/partner, you will have to click through and comment near the end of Session One (and subsequent sessions, depending how far you're going) to "unlock" the next section. We're working to alleviate this design quirk, but for now, that's what you'd need to do. Again, if you have access questions, let me or Gary know. Have a good day and good luck...! *Kendal*

Dear Cheryl and Ellen, I see you've gone through Session One and just wanted to quickly let you know a couple things: 1. All your readings can be found under the Resources section. 2. While the sessions are designed for you to do as a group, know that each individual (in this case, Cheryl) is responsible for her own Journal entries. To access your Journal at any time, click the Journals link near the top of any Virtual Academy page. 3. If for whatever reason you have to go through the Academy independently of your group/partner, you will have to click through and comment near the end of Session One (and subsequent sessions, depending how far you're going) to "unlock" the next section. We're working to alleviate this design quirk, but for now, that's what you'd need to do. Again, if you have access questions, let me or Gary know. Have a good day and good luck...! *Kendal*

Dear Trotting Turtles, I see you've gone through Session One and just wanted to quickly let you know a couple things: 1. All your readings can be found under the Resources section. 2. While the sessions are designed for you to do as a group, know that each individual is responsible for his or her own Journal entries. To access your Journal at any time, click the Journals link near the top of any Virtual Academy page. 3. If for whatever reason you have to go through the Academy independently of your group/partner, you will have to click through and comment near the end of Session One (and subsequent sessions, depending how far you're going) to "unlock" the next section. We're working to alleviate this design quirk, but for now, that's what you'd need to do. Again, if you have access questions, let me or Gary know. Have a good day and good luck...! *Kendal*

Dear Kathleen, It looks like you've finished Session One and just wanted to quickly let you know a couple things: 1. All your readings can be found under the Resources section. 2. To access your Journal at any time, click the Journals link near the top of any Virtual Academy page. Again, if you have access questions, let me or Gary know. Have a good day and good luck...! *Kendal*

Dear Great Grizzlies, I see you've gone through Session One and just wanted to quickly let you know a couple things: 1. All your readings can be found under the Resources section. 2. While the sessions are designed for you to do as a group, know that each individual is responsible for his or her own Journal entries. To access your Journal at any time, click the Journals link near the top of any Virtual Academy page. 3. If for whatever reason you have to go through the Academy independently of your group, you will have to click through and comment near the end of Session One (and subsequent sessions, depending how far you're going) to "unlock" the next section. We're working to alleviate this design quirk, but for now, that's what you'd need to do. Again, if you have access questions, let me or Gary know. Have a good day and good luck...! *Kendal*

Dear lectrices, I got a message that someone in your group is trying to navigate the Academy on their own and is stuck in session one. There is a way to get around this. From an online perspective, your navigation of the Virtual Academy will be a bit different if you were not the “designated clicker” from your group. No matter how far your team had gotten, the system will put you in Session One and you will need to click and comment your way through these sessions to “unlock” them. I hope this helps; make sure to let me or Gary know if you're still stuck! *Kendal*

Dear Beckley Bookworms, Just a reminder that you before you meet as a team to do Session Two, you need to do two things as individuals: start your journal and read the phonological awareness article. To post your respective introductions in your journals: * Click on the "Home" link at the very top of the page (next to your name). * Click on the "View" link in the navigation bar in the center of the home page. * In your journal tell us: something about your background, what is your current teaching assignment, and what you hope to gain from this workshop. To read the Phonological Awareness Article, follow this link: http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/phonological_awareness.html If you are having any access problems, notify me at kendal@learningoptions.net Good luck and happy Academy, *Kendal*

Dear Lady Bugs, I notice that it has been a month since you completed session five of the Virtual Academy. If memory serves, this is because you are on a year-round schedule. Are you back in session yet? Are you planning to finish the remaining four sessions by the end of December, or do you want to pick up where you left off when we start the next group (late January). Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

Dear Rob & Stacey, I notice that you have completed four sessions in the Virtual Academy - that's half way. Are you planning to finish the remaining four sessions by the end of December, or do you want to pick up where you left off when we start the next group (late January). Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

Dear Lynn and Amanda (a.k.a. Sidewinders), I notice that you have completed the first three sessions in the Virtual Academy. That means you are less than half way. Are you planning to finish by the end of December, or do you want to pick up where you left off when we start the next group (late January). Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator p.s. Are you still having network problems?

Dear Dodson Grizzlies, according to our records your team has not completed any of the sessions beyond session 1. Clearly, it is not practical to finish the academy by the end of the December. However, we can give you priority status for the next session (to begin late January). Shall we put you in the list? Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

Dear Virtual Academy Participants: If you tried logging in over the weekend, you may have noticed a malfunction in the database (which caused some names to disappear). I'm pleased to report that the programmers put everything is back to normal. Session 8 is ready - the last session! There are no readings for this session; however, there is a Consumer's Guide to SBRR Programs & Materials that you may wish to print ahead of time. Within 24 hours of completeing Session 8 you will receive a brief survey about your academy experience. We ask that you complete it promptly. Gary

Just a quick reminder... this is catch-up week, for teams that haven't yet completed session 7. We'll open session 8 (the final session) after Thanksgiving. Have an enjoyable holiday! Gary

Dear Virtual Academy Groups/Participants: Session Seven (Writing) is now available. The target completion date is Friday (Nov 17). If this is a problem and if you haven't already made arrangements for a different schedule, please send me an email with your intentions. Note: We are delaying deployment of the final session (8) until after Thanksgiving. This is to provide some much-needed catch up time for anyone who happens to be behind on their journals. If you have technical issues, please contact Kendal (kendal@learningoptions.net) or leave a voice mail at 866-225-7216. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

You've probably already figured out that the subject of the message you just got should have said that "Session Seven Articles and Handouts" are ready. They can be found in the resources section of the website. http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/writing.html

You've probably already figured out that the subject of the message you just got should have said that "Session Six Articles and Handouts" are ready. They can be found in the resources section of the website. http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/writing.html

Dear Virtual Academy Participants... The articles and handouts for the next session (Session Seven: Writing) are now available in the resources section of the website. http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/writing.html Again this week, there are two articles, but both fairly quick reads. So, you'll want to ready both of them in preparation for your meeting. A heads-up on the Academy schedule. We're going to delay the deployment of the final session (8) until after Thanksgiving. That'll provide some much-needed catch up time for anyone who happens to be behind on their journals. As always, let me know if you have any questions. Gary

Dear Virtual Academy Participants: I'm pleased to report that the malfunction was only a minor issue with filenames. You may proceed with your meeting plans. Gary

Dear Virtual Academy Participants: We've encountered technical problems which are causing Writing instead of Comprehension, to display as Session Six. Please hold off until we get this thing straightened out. Sorry if this changes meeting plans. We'll get it fixed a.s.a.p. Gary Obermeyer, Facilitator Note: this request does not apply to any teams working on sessions two through five.

Dear Virtual Academy Groups/Participants: Session Six (Comprehension) is now available. Please try to complete this session by the end of the week (Nov 10). If this is a problem and if you haven't already made arrangements for a different schedule, please send me an email with your intentions. If you have technical issues, please contact Kendal (kendal@learningoptions.net) or leave a voice mail at 866-225-7216. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

Dear Virtual Academy Participants... It's that time again. The articles and handouts for the next session (Session Six: Comprehension) are now available in the resources section of the website. There are two articles this time. They are both substantial, but they match the content of the session nicely. You will find that they will help you breeze through your meeting. The articles and handouts can be found in the resources section of the Virtual Academy: http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/session_6.html Session Six will be open bright and early Monday morning. Have a great weekend! Gary

Dear Reed Rebels, I'm delighted that you are so eager about the Virtual Reading First Academy. However, Session Six is not ready. There's a clear announcement on the first slide. Unfortunately, you did the session without the reading and handout. You'll need to go back and fill in the gaps after the article is posted. Gary Obermeyer, Facilitator

Dear Virtual Academy Groups/Participants: Session Five (Fluency) is now available. Please try to complete session four by the end of the week (Nov 3). If this is a problem and if you haven't already made arrangements for a different schedule, please send me an email with your intentions. If you have technical issues, please contact Kendal (kendal@learningoptions.net) or leave a voice mail at 866-225-7216. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

For those of you who like to get your reading done over the weekend, the article and handouts for Session Five are now available in the resources section of the website... http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/fluency.html The session itself will be open bright and early Monday morning. Have a great weekend! Gary

Dear Virtual Academy Groups/Participants: Session three (Vocabulary) is now available. Please try to complete session four by the end of the week (Oct 27). If this is a problem and if you haven't already made arrangements for a different schedule, please send me an email with your intentions. Based on feedback we received on previous sessions, we've reduced the number of comment forms. In the last comment form of session four you can let us know if we've gone too far. Speaking of feedback... With very few exceptions, groups are moving through the sessions smoothly. Keep in mind, your group leader is the one who automatically sees the next session. As long as you work with the same leader each time, the software will take you to the next session. If you have technical issues, please contact Kendal (kendal@learningoptions.net) or leave a voice mail at 866-225-7216. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

One of the teams asked if we could make the articles for sessions available, sooner, so there could be more time to do the reading. Sounded like a great idea to us, so here it is... The article for Session Four (vocabulary) is ready and waiting for you on the Resources page: http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources.html "Promoting Vocabulary Development" is about a 30 page article. For this reason, we've chuncked it into five parts. You may want to jigsaw this one. Session Four will be available first thing Monday morning. By the way... the rhythm of the sessions has emerged... we'll make articles and handouts available no later than Friday morning of the next session and open each session bright and early Monday morning. So, you'll receive two announcement messages each week... one toward the end of the week when the handouts and article(s) for the following week are available, and one at the beginning of each week as each new session opens. I'd like to come back to the topic of Feedback... First, the Virtual Academy staff thanks you for the feedback you've sent so far. We hope you'll keep it up. We'd also like to ask that you be as specific as possible. For instance, we've "heard" several comments in the sessions about some slides/prompts being redundant. If you could, please, tell us which ones. It's impossible to know what to do with general comments - we need data! Let me assure you... we have received very helpful feedback as well, i.e. several groups specifically referred to the structure of session three (where you kept notes for 25 slides and reported all at once). And, it appears that most groups completed the session in an hour or less. That's right on target! So, we are planning to do a similar revision on the other large component - comprehension. Thanks again for your active involvement in the Virtual Academy. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

Dear Elizabeth, Jody, Moureen, and Cindy: I understand that you are having problems scheduling times to do your virtual academy sessions. Can you please give me a status report and/or an idea of when you plan to meet? Thanks, Gary

Lynn & Amanda, sorry to hear that you are having network problems. Please keep us posted. Hey, I saw pictures of you and your school the other day. I was in Connie Poulton's office helping her get started in her instructor role with the Virtual Academy. Gary

Dear Virtual Academy Groups/Participants: Session three (Systematic Phonics & Spelling) is now available. Please be advised, there is a lot of information in this session. For this reason we have: * limited the number of comment forms, and * structured the main part of the session so that you can concentrate on the elements that are most relevant to your level/classroom. Because there are so many people/groups in the Academy this time, we have to ask that you try to keep as close as possible to the schedule. Please try to complete session three by the end of the week (Oct 20). If that's a problem, please send me an email with your intended schedule. On other matters... * You may have noticed that Connie Poulton has begun her work of synthesizing the session comments and responding to specific questions from groups. * Kendal Obermeyer's main job is to troubleshoot technical issues and assuring that everyone is keeping up. * Yours truly will concentrate on the journals. You can find our email addresses on the Instructors page - http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/instructors.html You are also welcome to leave a voice mail at 866-225-7216, or contact me directly at 503-771-7963. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator

We've received several questions from Virtual Academy participants asking why they can't get into Session Two. The software is set up to track postings in the sessions. It requires that sessions be completed sequentially, and automatically points to the next session each time a session is completed. The downside of this configuration is that the only person on your team who will see the next session is the person who served as your group leader. The situation is easily resolved if you have one person from your team serve as the group leader throughout the workshop. Keep in mind, that journals are handled differently. You can get to your journal any time, from the home page (http://academy.nevadareading.org/index.html). Just remember to select the session number (from the drop-down) when you post your journal entries. If any of this is still unclear, please don't be bashful about asking for help. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator.

Dear Virtual Academy Participants: this is the first of a weekly bulletin that we will use to support/coordinate your participation in the Virtual Reading Academy. Session Two is ready... There are 2 things to be done in preparation: Everyone: read the article "Supporting Phonemic Awareness Development in the Classroom" and prepare to discuss it at your next meeting. Group Leader: Download and print the Phonological Awareness Handout for distribution at your next meeting. Both of the session 2 documents can be found on the Resources Page, or you may follow this direct link: http://academy.nevadareading.org/workshops/virtualacademy/resources/phonological_awareness.html Announcing... two special requests to minimize confusion and to make your experience more productive: Keep the same Group Leader. We are asking that you keep the same leader who served as leader at the orientation (unless you chose to work in a lab setting where everyone can be logged on and still work together). The software is designed to track completion of the sessions. If you attempt to share the group leader role, you'll run into navigation problems. So, trust me... you'll have a better experience if you keep one group leader throughout the 8 sessions. Because this academy is so large (88 participants, 26 teams, 18 schools, 6 counties) and because we are using a new version of the software, we're asking that you keep as close to the schedule as you can - by doing one session/week (there may be some exceptions due to year-round schedules). Each Monday, we will announce availability of the next session. Last but not least, please let me know if you have any questions. Gary Obermeyer, Academy Facilitator