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Dear Wakefield Forest Families,
On Friday evening, you received a message from FCPS sharing that our plan is to move forward with synchronous (direct) instruction tomorrow, Monday, April 20, 2020.
We have worked on implementing increased security measures and now students will log in to their Blackboard Collaborate Ultra sessions (direct instruction) through Blackboard 24/7 https://fcps.blackboard.com/. To log-on to Blackboard 24/7, your child will need his or her student ID and password. If your child does not know this information, please contact your child’s teacher. They can help you reset the password if necessary. Please note that student sessions will NOT be accessible via Parent Vue. Here is a short video that demonstrates how to access a direct instruction session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3K5ZCMnCc&feature=youtu.be
To access the direct instruction sessions or the office hours with teachers:
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All students will need to log into their FCPS Blackboard 24/7 account with their student number and their FCPS password. https://fcps.blackboard.com/
- Click on the grade level course.
- Look for the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra tab on the left menu. Click on that tab.
- Students will see the sessions they are enrolled in.
- Click on the session button to join the session.
- The student’s name will automatically show up.
- Parents are NOT able to access this on their Blackboard Parent account.
- Students are permitted to log in 15 minutes early.
As we are moving to a more secure Blackboard Collaborate Ultra process, it should be noted that students will automatically join the session with their SIS name of record. If you have concerns about this, please contact me immediately at sbprindle@fcps.edu.
Here are some troubleshooting tips:
What can I do if I cannot hear the teacher?
- Make sure your computer volume is on. You can check this by clicking the “F1” button at the top of your keyboard.
- Make sure your speaker volume in BBCU is turned all the way up. You can do this by:
- clicking on the purple tab with the “X” in it located at the bottom right of your screen.
- then click on “My Settings” (the picture of the gear)
- drag your speaker volume (it’s purple) to 100%
What if the audio and/or picture quality is poor or goes in and out?
- Move closer to your wireless source in your house. Sometimes the farther you are from this source, the weaker the signal and that can translate to a poor audio and/or visual experience.
My audio, video and/or chat is not working.
- Teachers will be turning the audio, video and/or chat features on and off during the session in order to manage the class.
My default browser is not Chrome.
- Launch Chrome
- Paste the following into the URL window chrome://settings/defaultBrowser
- Click Make Default
- If prompted to choose an app, click Google Chrome and close the window
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Here is a video on how to make Chrome your default browser
If none of these tips are helping to fix your issue, you may want to consider restarting your computer. We ask that you do not note your issue in the chat section or ask the teacher to problem solve while they are teaching. If the above tips do not work, please email your classroom teacher after the session.
If it becomes clear that the upgrades did not fix the problem with Blackboard 24/7, teachers will send additional information.
The staff have worked diligently to plan engaging lessons and activities for our students. Nothing brings us more joy than spending time with the kids. We are excited about “seeing” everyone tomorrow and are hopeful that our virtual learning will proceed smoothly.
Thank you for your continued support of the Wakefield Forest Staff.
Sharyn Prindle
Principal
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