August 1, 2013
Dear Educator:
The purpose of this message is to give you an important update regarding an implementation activity related to a new policy contained in the FY14 State School Aid Act and to ask for your input.
Section 21f of Public Act 60 of 2013 enables public school students in grades 5-12 (with the consent of parent or guardian) to enroll in up to two online courses during an academic term, semester or trimester. The legislation indicates that students may select online course offerings from their local district catalog of online courses, or from those available in the statewide catalog of online course titles.
As a condition of offering an online course, either as part of a district catalog or as part of the statewide catalog, a district is responsible for producing an online course syllabus. The legislation requires that an online course syllabus include a dozen items ranging from the academic standards addressed in the online course to the identification of student prerequisites. One of the required items in the course syllabus is the results of the online course quality review using the guidelines and model review process published by Michigan Virtual.
Draft Guidelines and Model Review Process for Online Courses is intended to be used by schools to facilitate the online course review process. The guidelines draw from nationally-recognized best practices, national online learning standards, State of Michigan content standards, and Michigan Virtual’s substantial experience with reviewing online courses and online educational content.
We are able to accept public comment on the draft guidelines until August 31, 2013. We will use the feedback to finalize the guidelines and plan to publish a final version in early September. Educators are encouraged to submit feedback via email to [email protected].
Thank you in advance for your support!
About Michigan Virtual
Michigan Virtual is a private, nonprofit Michigan corporation established by the State of Michigan in 1998 to serve as a champion for online learning. It is the parent organization of the Michigan Virtual for Students and Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute.
