MATER VIRTUAL ACADEMY
ORIENTATION, 2013-14
2013– 2014 School Year
Various Roles in the Virtual Landscape

TEACHER
 The virtual teacher will provide help links,
recordings, live sessions, and many more tools
to help students complete their assignments;
including face-to-face visits.

PERSONAL ACADEMIC COACH
 You will report participation on a bi-quarterly
basis to virtual teachers associated with your
students (essentially once a month).
Various Roles in the Virtual Landscape

COUNSELOR
 Provides support and
guidance related to
matriculation progress, course selection, and
college and career pathways.

IT SUPPORT
 Provides virtual
troubleshooting and support for
any potential issues and also face-to-face help if any
hardware or software requires servicing.
Academic Helpdesk Specialist:
What is an AHD Specialist?

Academic Helpdesk Specialist (AHD) tutor
struggling students in the content area needed.
Respond to students’ content questions
 Math problems
 Writing issues (editing, revising, generating thesis)
 Homework assignments (projects, reports, etc.)


Troubleshoot technical/computer issues (Level 1)
Uploading or accessing assignments
 Accessing software
 Generating documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)

AHD Additional Responsibilities:



Assist Virtual Teachers/Students with live
sessions & chats via Blackboard Live
Edmodo Groups
Communicate via email chat
What is an AVE Mentor Teacher?
April Macadangdang
Christine Dorico
Valentina Vetencourt
 Mentor Teachers are responsible to provide feedback and help monitor your
students’ pace throughout the modules.
 Mentors are also responsible to ensure that teachers are teaching to the
learning standards and objectives, posting announcements, and developing
supplemental Lessons.
 In addition, Teacher Mentors will oversee the Collaborate sessions in BB.
Meet the MVA Team






Mr. Frank Jimenez, Principal
Maribel Prieto, Director of Student Services &
School Partnerships
Rossío Rodríguez, Virtual Instruction Specialist
Sam Hernandez, Asst. Virtual Specialist
Jorge Macho, IT Manager
Sylvia Macho, Counselor
Our Roles & Day to Day 

Maribel is Director of Student Services and School Partnerships. She
is the point person for all things virtual for our Academica family of
schools.

Jorge is MVA’s IT Manager. He manages the help desk for students,
teachers, and parents and troubleshoots all IT issues.

Sylvia is the Guidance Counselor, assisting students with all of their
scheduling, course requirement, and college/career decisions.

Rossío is AVE’s Virtual Learning Specialist. She provides personal
academic coaching to students and ensures everything runs smoothly
and effectively.

Sam is the Asst. Virtual Learning Specialist, Sam provides direct
quality assurance support to our students.

Frank is the Principal who oversee it all and ensures great success.
Parent/Guardian Expectations:

PARENTS
Student and Parent/Guardian can check grades at any
time in Maestro. Credentials are emailed to your email
once the students registers.
 Parent/Guardians will receive automated
weekly/monthly progress reports from their virtual
teachers.
 Continuously monitor student’s progress.
 Be available for instructor’s calls.
 Sign and return Student/Parent handbook signature
page & Student Information Form to school to the
Academic Coach.

Student Expectations:

STUDENTS
Student collaboration is encouraged, however each
student is responsible for their own work and grades.
 Student is expected to work daily for approximately the
same amount of time as the traditional school day.
 Student is expected to take notes and has the
opportunity to resubmit assignments to improve their
grade, if approved based on teacher discretion.
 A mandatory monthly call will take place between
Parent/Guardian, Student, and Teacher.

More Student Expectations:




Student is expected to check their email,
BrainHoney announcements and dashboard daily.
Students should inform teachers/academic coach of
contact information changes within 48 hours.
Students are responsible for work when they are
absent from school.
Students are expected to attend live lessons or view
the recordings of the live lessons (sessions).
Course Information:



Student should complete a minimum of 3-5
assignments per week per class depending on
the course and pacing schedule set by the teacher.
At the end of each module, students are expected to
complete a Discussion Based Assessment (DBA)
with their teacher and/or a Live Session.
Student should only use the course website and
other supplemental websites approved by the
teacher, not (Google, Yahoo answers, etc.)
“TEAM WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK”


Teachers, Coaches, and Support Staff need to
work together to assist students with staying
productive and on pace with their assignment
schedules.
Contribute to the overall levels of student
success and the ultimate vitality of our program.
Key Terms:



LMS – Learning Management System (the online
platform where students access their courses)
BrainHoney
SIS – Student Information System (student
records and grade book which is linked to the
LMS) Maestro
Content – Digital courses and supplements.
MVA Programs

In order to more fully engage and hold your
students accountable, MVA offers a handful of
Academic and Social Programs:
AVE Amici “Pen Pal Program” w/Intl Students
 House Affiliations (Greek themed)
 Leadership Opportunities to tutor our Dual Diploma
International Students
 Peer Learning Groups “Peer Tutors”


Live Sessions
Academic Helpdesk
 Student of the Month

Orientation to Virtual Learning
By: Academica Virtual Education
BrainHoney (LMS) Training
Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
Plagiarism is copying or using ideas or words (from another person, an online
classmate, or an internet or print source) and presenting them as your own.
Netiquette & Cyberbullying:


Student collaboration is encouraged, however each
student is responsible for their own work and
grades.
Please be aware that all SVA/MVA Teachers utilize a
myriad of technologies, such as PlagScan, to check
student work for authenticity.
MAESTRO
Student Information Systems (SIS)
Maestro Student Information System


Maestro provides you, as an Academic Coach,
with a variety of options for evaluating and
monitoring student progress and
communicating with them regularly.
It acts as a portal to the Student’s BrainHoney
dashboard and houses all student information.
Maestro:
First Steps:

Through Maestro’s SSO (Single Sign-On) feature, this account WILL
BE THE MOST IMPORTANT one you will possess. Your Maestro
credentials act as a portal to both the SIS (Student information
system) and LMS (Learning Management System).

Upon creation of your account through our IT department, you will
receive an “Account Activation” email from donotreply@bocavox.com
in your email. Follow the instructions and click on the activation link.
Once the link is clicked, you will be directed to Maestro’s default login
page. Enter the following credentials in the appropriate fields:
Username: (Provided in “Account Activation” email)
Password: changeme
Maestro SIS, Continued

You will be then prompted to change your password for security
reasons.

The login page for our school is available online at:
https://ave.maestrosis.com/ (Bookmark it!) and can also be
accessed through our school sites at either
www.Somersetvirtualacademy.com or www.Matervirtual.com


Make sure all of your other personal information is up to date
and correct. Especially when it comes to an email address, it is
essential that the information be as updated as possible. You
can update your information via the “My Account” page located
on the sidebar.
Helpful Videos:

Brainhoney


Edmodo – an educational social collaboration site to interact with
your teacher and fellow students.


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brainhoney+tutorials+for+stu
dents&oq=brainhoney+tutorials+for+students&gs_l=youtube.3...11019.13786.0.1
3981.17.16.1.0.0.0.151.1276.13j3.16.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.V_uOOsT8pRk
http://bit.ly/pCk24J
Dropbox – save your files for free virtually.

http://bit.ly/nKfqRt
Testing and Academic Services

FCAT/EOC/AP Testing

College/Career Test Calendar (SAT, ACT, CPT)

Dual Enrollment Options

ESE/ESOL Services

Free/Reduced Lunch Services
Student Activities and Clubs

Club and Intramural Sports, FHSA Athletics

Academic Honor Societies

Interests, Hobbies, Passions

Debate, Speech, Model UN

Available through Mater Academy home school
Questions???
30