Getting Started: Schools
This section helps school districts with the decisions and tasks that must be completed in order to start offering DLD online courses to your students. It includes information and resources for the Course Support (CS) team to help students have successful online learning experiences.
1. Sign up your school
- Complete a short sign-up form. Gets your school set up in our system and ready to go.
- Learn "Practices for Success". Find guidance in this DLD-prepared summary of experiences from online educators across Washington state. Learn strategies to prepare students for online learning and set them up for success.
- Make policy and procedure decisions. Plan how you will manage the DLD online course option.
2. Build your support team and sign up for the orientation
- CS team member role descriptions. See who does what and how to get started.
- CS team sign up. Each individual CS team member identifies their role and signs up for the 90-minute orientation.
3. Prepare for online learning
- See if online learning is a good match. It is important for a student to understand what online learning is like so he or she knows what to expect. Knowing a student's learning style and habits helps to make sure online learning is a good match. In some cases, a student may need to change study habits or arrange extra support to help them be more successful.
- Learn about the course providers.
- Provider caveats. Gather "must know" information about the DLD course providers.
- ALE support. Determine what level of ALE support you can expect from DLD course providers.
- Read the course selection guidelines.
- Browse the course catalog.
- Check the calendar for registration dates.
4. Register students in courses
- Student information form (pdf). Gather information before registration begins.
- Designate a time and place. Work with your CS team to determine when and where a student will be doing their coursework.
- Registration system guide (pdf). Follow the steps in this how-to guide.
- Online registration. Submit registration and drop requests.
- What's next? Registration checklist. Help students and mentors prepare to start their online courses.
5. Mentor support checklist
- Get organized and off to a good start. These tasks contribute to a smooth start and good learning experience for the student.
- Initiate contact with teachers, counselors, and parents. Pass along key information to others supporting your student.
- Help students establish strategies for success. Emphasize the importance of communicating, getting organized, being self-motivated, and asking for help.
- Monitor progress. Keep track of your students’ progress and support them along the way.
6. More information
- DLD drop policy. Learn when charges are incurred for drops.
- Course codes. Look up state course codes, CIP codes, and DLD codes for every course in the catalog.
- Science course information. Review information to determine if an online science course meets your district's requirements for a lab-based course.
- NCAA eligibility. Learn how to determine the eligibility status of a course and practical advice to help the student's NCAA application flow better through the process.
- Summer school. Support students taking DLD online courses during summer school.