Michigan Virtual U Revamps Professional Development Courses
Michigan
Virtual University (MVU) has teamed with a private partner to update 60 courses for its LearnPort program. The school has selected Knowledge
Delivery Systems (KDS) to ready the courses, which are designed primarily to help Michigan K-12 educators improve their
teaching
skills and earn required state continuing education certification.
Among course subjects to be covered will be those
that address
the needs of diverse learners, blended learning and data-driven
decision-making. New courses being offered include "The Flipped
Classroom:
Personalizing Learning for Students Every Day," "Shifting
Instruction With the
Five Core Practices" and "Courageous Conversations about Race."
MVU President and CEO Jamey Fitzpatrick said, "As standards
continue to evolve, it is crucial that we also equip educators with the
tools
and resources they need so that they can make a real difference in the
classroom."
MVU is a private-sector entity founded in 1998 to
offer online
education to Michigan students and teachers via the Michigan Virtual
School,
which offers online courses for high school and middle school students;
LearnPort, which offers low-cost or no-cost professional development
content to
K-12 teachers in Michigan; and myDreamExplorer, which provides
educational
development plans to individual students.
In 2006, Michigan became the first state to require
online
learning as a requirement for high school graduation. MVU is one
provider of
content to meet that requirement.
The online courses KDS will provide to MVU will range
in price
from $199 to $279.
Michigan LearnPort already has more than 300 online
professional development courses for Michigan K-12 educators and more
than
45,000 users. It has granted more than 3,700 state board continuing
education
units.
KDS CEO Alvin Crawford
said, "Our latest course offerings will continue to empower teachers
statewide to successfully meet every student's diverse learning needs so
that
they can reach their full potential."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.