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Category: Podcasts

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Nikki Herta

3 tips for setting & tracking goals with students

This instructional coach is pushing to make grades more meaningful to students. Check out Sam Sicilia’s top three tips for setting and tracking student goals in the classroom!

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Nikki Herta

3 tips for coding with young students

This technology teacher is showing her K-8 students how to code. Listen to Nicole Green’s powerful story and her top three tips for coding with young students!

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Nikki Herta

3 strategies for providing culturally responsive education to Native American students

What does it mean to provide a culturally responsive education to Native American students? As a teacher, where should you begin? Meet Tan-A Hoffman, a second-grade teacher at JKL Bahweting Anishnabe School and a 2020-21 regional teacher of the year, representing her geographic area in Michigan’s upper peninsula. Tan-A shares some incredible stories, a brief bit of history, and three strategies for providing culturally responsive education to Native American students.

What It’s Really Like to Be An Online Teacher (feat. Amy Smith from Michigan Virtual)
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Nikki Herta

What it’s really like to be an online teacher

Meet Amy Smith, recognized as the Michigan Virtual 2020 Online Teacher of the Year, who shares her honest insights into a day-in-the-life of an online teacher, how it compares to face-to-face teaching, and what advice she has for those who are new to teaching in an online environment.

The past, present, and future of online course design (feat. Kristi Peacock from Michigan Virtual)
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Nikki Herta

The past, present, and future of online course design

Meet Kristi Peacock, a course development manager for Michigan Virtual, who shares what it means to be an instructional designer, what advice she has for educators designing their own online learning experiences for students, and what she hopes the future will hold for this ever-evolving sector of education.

The Art of Debugging & How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (feat. Dr. Aman Yadav from Michigan State University)
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Nikki Herta

The art of debugging & how to think like a computer scientist

Meet Dr. Aman Yadav, a professor of educational psychology and educational technology at Michigan State University, who shares his insights on the rich applications of both “plugged” and “unplugged” computational thinking for the K-12 classroom and sheds light on the biased algorithms that govern our everyday lives.

The conflicted history & achievable future of social emotional learning (feat. Lauren Kazee from Living S.L.O.W.)
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Nikki Herta

The conflicted history & achievable future of social emotional learning

Meet Lauren Kazee, one of Michigan’s leading experts on social emotional learning or “SEL,” who shares her personal definition of SEL, dives into the history of this concept, and offers advice for educators looking to prioritize their own social and emotional wellness and model this behavior for their students.

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Limited Course Capacity

We’re sorry to inform you that we have reached capacity for several of our Semester 1 and Trimester 1 courses. You’ll notice when attempting to enroll students in our Student Learning Portal that some courses are unavailable. While we are no longer accepting new enrollments for these courses at this time, many courses continue to remain open for enrollment.

With many students across the state 100% remote, demand for our online courses is greater than ever before. Because every course we offer is taught by a Michigan-certified teacher, this high volume of enrollments has created capacity issues for our teachers who provide each and every student with individual feedback.

While the Michigan Virtual team anticipated and planned for significant increases in student enrollments this Fall, the increased demand we’ve experienced has been unprecedented. As a result, we are taking steps to hire even more part-and full-time teachers to support larger numbers of student enrollments for Semester 2 as well as for Trimester 2 and 3. 

For schools that still need online learning options this year, please fill out the form at the bottom of our virtual pathways page to meet with someone to discuss other solutions. While some of our teacher-led courses are full, we may still have the capacity to help you in upcoming terms or can discuss timing to implement a whole-school or collaborative program in which local teachers from your school/district use our online course content to teach students. We also have free course content and resources available for you to use.

We know this is an incredibly stressful time for all, and we’re sorry if the courses you’re looking for are unavailable. We never want to turn away a student who wants to learn from us. Our top concern, however, is student success, and we have a policy to not take on additional enrollments if we cannot guarantee that all students will have a quality online learning experience. 

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate the unusually high volume of enrollments we are receiving.