Roles & Responsibilities
Online Learning Coordinator Roles and Responsibilities
Each School or /District must provide administrative support by coordinating eligible faculty/staff and students into the online program.
This person is the local point of contact to the Central Management Group, and liaison for all communications regarding the online program.
The OLC will coordinate the inclusion of the online course offerings and descriptions in their local course marketing materials.
The OLC will coordinate with their local counselors the placement of students in the online courses. (Often this person is a counselor.)
The Online Learning Coordinator (OLC) will coordinate registration and course enrollment for each student,
including the verification/validation of each student's e-mail address. This may involve establishing student e-mail accounts with
providers such as http://www.yahoo.com/
The OLC will coordinate technology needs for running the online courses and communicate that information to appropriate staff and students.
Such technology needs may include but are not limited to: details of web browser requirements, browser plug-ins, sound cards, etc.
The OLC will work with the center Director and the center Technology Coordinator to establish and coordinate technology literacy training
and triage of the center's staff.
The OLC will work with mentors and students to establish and coordinate mentor support of students. In case of absence of a mentor, the OLC will also
coordinate continuing support of students served by the absent mentor.
The OLC is an essential communication liaison between the Connecticut Virtual Learning Center staff and the school or school district staff.
The OLC needs to be empowered to implement and communicate news and directions from the CT Virtual Learning Center to the school and/or district
as is needed.
Mentor Roles and Responsibilities
The Mentor works with the student to help him or her with the logistics of the course requirements.
When a student is enrolled in an online course, the local Online Learning Coordinator (OLC) will assign a Mentor to that student.
In many schools the OLC also serves as the mentor. (Often this is a guidance counselor or teaching assistant.)
The Mentor will be notified by the local Online Learning Coordinator that a new student has been enrolled. The Mentor will contact that
student immediately to arrange for a mutually convenient time, format (phone, email, or face to face) and schedule for regular contact.
Mentors will be in contact with students on a regular basis through the duration of the course. This is a time to review the student's progress
and work schedule and discuss/initiate strategies for effectiveness. The Mentor will also answer logistical questions, arrange for a tutor if
appropriate, or assist with suggestions for other appropriate learning resources as is necessary, and provide encouragement.
Mentors may log into the Course and become familiar with the navigation of the course and the course requirements in order to better assist
their students as is appropriate.
In their initial meeting, the Mentor and Student will visit the course calendar and the syllabus to establish a workable schedule for completion of
the course requirements. Mentors will arrange with their OLC to provide any required course materials i.e. books, etc.
The Mentor should be aware of each student at the school that is taking an online course and be able to track the student's progress regularly by:
- Checking course "messages" and course announcements.
- Replying to email and the teacher messages in the "message" section of the course promptly, making sure to include your electronic signature
with each communication.
- If sending a message to a student, cc the teacher on important communications.
The Mentor will contact the course teacher immediately when it is clear that the student is not going to continue in the course and
when there are student issues that the teacher should be aware of. The OLC will be cc'd.
The Mentor will be permitted to view the student grade book and corrected assignments, teacher comments as is needed.
