Hazleton Area Virtual Academy Parent Guide
Table of Contents
1.0 Overview 3
2.0 Preparation – Information Technology 3
2.1 Mozilla 3
2.2 Pop- Up Blockers 3
2.3 Java 3
2.4 Microsoft Office/Open Office: 3
3.0 Logging In 3
3.1 Logging Into Cyber School 3
3.2 Username and Password 4
4.0 Becoming Familiar With The Program 4
4.1 Finding Classes 5
4.2 Announcements 6
4.3 E-Mail 6
4.4 My Grades 6
4.5 Office Hours 8
4.6 Accessing Content 8
5.0 Blackboard IM 9
6.0 Troubleshooting 11
6.1 Blendedschools Help Desk 11
6.2 Troubleshooting Websites 12
6.3 Software Websites 13
7.0 Contacts 13
7.1 Contact Information 13
1.0 Overview
The Hazleton Area Virtual Academy can meet your needs! The Virtual Academy is an extension of the Hazleton Area School District that provides an online education for students in a cyber-friendly format. The Hazleton Area Virtual Academy does not only offer a full time cyber program for students but now offers individual courses for credit recovery, advancement or for those students just looking to take an online class.
2.0 Preparation
2.1 Mozilla- Blended Schools recommends the use of Mozilla Firefox as your web browser. It is the most compatible with the Blackboard Learning Management System. It is also the most compatible for many of the software pieces. If you do not have Mozilla Firefox, you can always download it free from: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/ and follow the prompts.
2.2 Pop Up Blockers- You will need to allow pop-up windows in order to full participate in the courses. Follow the steps below to adjust the settings in your browser to allow pop-ups.
1. Open the Tools menu and click on Options:
2. Click on the Options
3. Re move the checkmark beside the Block Pop-up windows option
4. Click Ok to close the window
2.3 Java- Please make sure that you have the latest version of Java on your computer. Java will allow your computer to run smoothly. To check your version of Java please go to the following website: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp If you do not have the latest version please do the update and follow the prompts.
2.4 Microsoft Office/Open Office- With the online classes you will be using Word Documents, PowerPoint and possibly Excel. The Microsoft Office package is recommended however, if you do not have the Microsoft Office package, you can always download Open Office. The Open Office download will allow you to create documents, presentations and spreadsheets that are compatible with the Microsoft Office Package. Go to: http://www.openoffice.org/ Make sure you use .org and NOT .com. The .com will ask you to enter a credit card. Openoffice.org is a free program and will NOT ask for a credit card.
3.0 Logging in and Changing Password
3.1 Logging In- You can login to your classes two ways. You can go to the school district website: www.hasdk12.org and click on Site Shortcuts- Virtual Academy and click on the “Log In” button. The second way is to go to www.blendedschools.net and click on the “Blackboard Login” link.
3.2 Username and Passwords- All parent accounts are set up with the school code then the number fifty-five (55). last name, first initial. Ex: hz55.smithj All passwords are initially set up as welcome. You can change the password once you log in. You will click on the “personal information” button to change the password. If you change your password please write it down somewhere. The district will not have access to your new password and will have to create a new one for you if you forget it.
4.0 Becoming Familiar With the Program to Help Your Child
Finding the way around your online class is your first challenge. Most students login and become overwhelmed just from this part alone. This section will give you a brief overview of how to help navigate through the program. Please remember that a parent account does not give you full access to the course. You will have limited access. Parents can access announcements, grades, course clock and to an extent content.
If you forget how to do something you can always click on the help desk and watch the tutorial. This will be presented in another section.
4.1 Finding Your Classes- Once you have logged in, you can find your child’s classes two ways. When you first login it will bring you to the Dashboard page which will automatically bring your child’s classes up under “My Classes”. You can click on the course to access that course.
OR
You can click on the “Classes” tab from the top row of tabs and it will list the student’s class list.
Once you have entered into the course you must begin navigating through the course and the buttons. All courses are set up exactly the same when you enter a course. There are a series of button down the left side and announcements in the middle. The first four buttons for the student are the same in every class. They are announcements, email, my grades, and office hours. Remember you as the parent will not have the same access as students. You will not see the email or office hours button.
4.2 Announcements- Announcements are where the teacher will post your child’s assignments and office hour times. This is also an area where teachers will post specific information for the students such as Keystone Testing Dates, Exam Schedules, etc. Students should check the announcements every day to see if the teacher has posted new assignments. Generally the teacher will post assignments for the week and have the work due on Friday. Please note that most teachers do NOT accept late work. There is no reason why a child should turn in late assignments.
4.3 Emails- All emails are through the cyber course itself. There will be no outside emails used for this program. However, you as a parent will not be able to access the email portion of the course. Should you need to email the teacher, you can do so by emailing the teacher through the school email. All district employee’s email is set up exactly the same: last name first initial @hasdk12.org ex:
4.4 My Grades- The grade center is a good place for you to check to see if your child has turned in an assignment, are missing an assignments or to see your child’s grade on an assignment. However, if you want to see what your overall grade is in the class, you must check PowerSchool. All teachers transfer their grades into PowerSchool. Your progress reports and report cards are generated from PowerSchool.
POWERSCHOOL
Remember that all of your child’s grades will be transferred into PowerSchool. In order to check your child’s grades you will need their PowerSchool username and password. The username is generally the graduation year, the five five letters of their last name, the first three letters of their first name, 00. (14SmithJoh00) The password is their lunch card number. If you do not have this information you can always contact the Coordinator of the Virtual Academy. To access PowerSchool you will go to the school district website. www.hasdk12.org and click on the PowerSchool icon.
Enter student username and password.
4.5 Office Hours- All students are required to attend a one hour (middle school 45 minutes) a week office hour. The time will be designated by the teacher. There are two different options for teachers to conduct office hours. Students will either be using Wimba Classroom or Blackboard Collaborate. Either way, there is a button for them to access the Office Hours. The teacher will provide with the instructions on accessing the office hours. If you are not sure about the office hours, please email the teacher.
4.6 Accessing Content- All of the course content, assignments, discussion boards, blogs, tests, etc. will be in the “Unit” section of the course.
You will be able to click on the unit and see the titles and the assignments but you will not be able to access them. If you click on something you will get an error message:
5.0 Installing Blackboard IM
In order to access office hours through Blackboard IM you must install the program onto your computer. Having Blackboard IM on your computer will not only give your child access to office hours but it will also allow your child to connect with help throughout the day. The Coordinator for the Virtual Academy is available to the students from 7:00AM-3:00PM Monday through Friday.
5.1 Installing Blackboard IM -Students must attend online office hours (one 1 hour session per week per course, time of live instruction will be determined by the course instructor or 45 minutes for middle school students)
1. Go to any class in Blackboard.
2. Click on “Tools”.
3. Click on “Blackboard IM”.
4. Complete the required account information. (password, email, security question etc.) HINT: you should use your login information for Blended Schools as your Blackboard IM ID
5. Agree to the terms and conditions.
6. Download and install the Blackboard IM software.
7. Launch the Blackboard IM software.
8. Enter the username and password you setup in step 4.
9. Click “Sign In”.
10. To chat with a student or teacher check that their light is green and then double click on their name.
11. Type your message into the chat area and hit enter on your keyboard
6.0 Troubleshooting
6.1- Blended Schools Help Desk- Blended Schools has their help desk. You can use the help desk if you discover a broken link or any issue that you may with Blended Schools. You can also access tutorial videos once you click on the help desk icon.
To access the help desk, click on your ID:
Click on the “Help Desk” icon:
You can either choose to submit a ticket if you are having issues or search the knowledge base if you are looking for tutorial. Tutorials are helpful if you forgot how to do something.
6.2- Troubleshooting Websites- The following websites will be helpful for troubleshooting.
Clearing out browser cache
http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser’s-Cache
Clearing out java cache
http://www.java.com/en/download/help/glugin_cache.xml
Checking version of java
http://java.com/download/installed.jsp
Checking to see if java is enabled
http://java.com/en/download/help/enable_browser.xml
6.3 Software Websites- The following websites are useful for software
Mozilla Firefox
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/
Open Office
www.openoffice.org
7.0 Contact Numbers/Emails
7.1- The following are important numbers you should keep for reference.
Michele Medek, Coordinator for the Hazleton Area Virtual Academy- (570)459-3247
Pat Jones, Computer Issuance- (570)459-3111 x. 3177
Help Desk, Any computer problems- (570)459-4357
Blended Schools Help Desk-
Revised October 25, 2013