Supporting Your Students in an Online Learning Environment: A Guide for eAcademy Online Education Advisors
History of eAcademy
During a 2007 Westmoreland Intermediate Unit focus group, the Westmoreland County Superintendent’s Association said they were looking for a way to reduce the amount of students and funding that were leaving the districts to go to cyber charter schools. As a result of that focus group, eAcademy was created in 2008 and was a collaboration between 10 school districts and the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. Our program has grown, and more districts inside and outside of Westmoreland County are embracing what eAcademy has to offer.
We’re proud of the fact that our courses are developed and taught by our district teachers, who are full-time teachers in the Westmoreland County school districts. When eAcademy began in 2008, we were creating courses for students in grades 6 through 12.
In 2017, we created partnerships with content vendors so we could provide access to courses that our teachers hadn’t developed yet. This additional program is called eAcademyPLUS and includes Kindergarten through 5th grade courses as well as electives and AP courses. Many eAcademyPLUS Kindergarten through 5th grade teachers are also full-time teachers in our school districts. We also use vendor teachers to deliver this content, and we are currently developing our own K through 5 content.
View our online course catalog (opens in a new tab), which is continually being updated.
Some of our program partners include Genius, who provides our student information system; Schoology, who is our primary learning management system (LMS); and Accelerate Education and Pearson, who are our third-party vendors that offer eAcademyPLUS content.
The Online Education Advisor (OEA) Role
As an OEA for your school district, your role is extremely important for your eAcademy students and families. You provide the connection between your students and the school district and can help resolve any issues that may arise.
This document contains the language that’s in the contract between your school district and the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit. The contract language outlines the main priorities of OEAs. The biggest priority is monitoring your students’ progress in the system. It’s also important to have a direct line of communication between you and our teachers. That way, if you have any questions, if the teacher has questions, or there are concerns about a student, you can have a conversation with the teacher.
We do require OEAs to edit and update student information in Genius for all active eAcademy students.
Providing students and families with an orientation session helps them understand how to log in and feel comfortable navigating the systems we use.
For Accelerate Education courses in our eAcademyPLUS program, there are lots of resources for parents and guardians, which are known as Learning Coaches.
If your students ever need equipment, we have a limited supply of laptops and MiFis you can request.
We hold virtual meetings for all OEAs so we can share program updates and important dates with you. This allows you to network with OEAs from other school districts and share tips and best practices.
We have a role in Genius called Coach, and these are staff members who may need to monitor specific students from your school. These might include special education teachers, school counselors, or learning support teachers who serve as case managers for students with IEPs or 504 plans.
If you have other staff members in your district that might need to either have an OEA role or Coach role, please contact our Help Desk. Provide the staff member’s name, email address, and the role that you need for them. If it’s a Coach role, also provide the student names that need to be associated with your district staff member.
You can also research our WIU Help Center Articles, which include step-by-step resources for you, students, parents, coaches, and teachers. Feel free to share these resources with your students and families.
Duties and Responsibilities of a District
Each participating school district provides a district employee to serve as the main Online Education Advisor (OEA). As the OEA, you serve as the liaison between students, parents, teachers, WIU eAcademy staff, and the school district.
Your OEA activities involve, but are not limited to:
Monitoring online student progress / attendance and making appropriate interventions as determined by your district.
Communicating with teachers and WIU eAcademy staff in a timely manner to address student needs and resolve conflicts to ensure student success.
Educating students and families about the decision to enroll in an online learning program.
Providing students and families with a thorough orientation to the program as outlined in OEA Trainings.
Maintaining responsibility for all leased and loaned equipment.
All school district students enrolled in the WIU eAcademy program remain full-time students at the school district. The school district is solely responsible for all educational services entitled to students as outlined by PA school code. The school district agrees to follow the WIU eAcademy Instructional Calendar for students enrolled in the program, understanding that the calendar may differ from that of the school district.
Some Additional OEA Responsibilities
Attend virtual OEA meetings to learn about important dates and program updates.
For any active eAcademy students, edit the student's account and add all required information that is needed for PIMS reporting.
Enroll students in courses and drop students from courses as needed.
Help students and families access resources.
Contacting the eAcademy Help Desk
If you ever have questions or need assistance, please submit a Help Desk Ticket (opens in new tab) so we can assist you. Remember to check the Help Desk Ticket system for responses to your messages.