Blog
Our team shares their findings and expertise to help shed light on the things that matter most and ways to work toward your success.
Using Calendly for scheduling student meetings
Kim Garvison & Alanna PrieditisOne of the biggest challenges as online Spanish teachers? Regularly scheduling time to connect with each student in our course to listen to and assess their language development. We needed to find a tool that would eliminate the need for several back-and-forth communications to simply set up an appointment for each short assessment. We not only wanted a tool to help share available time slots for appointments, but also one that would sync with our calendar. That’s when we discovered Calendly.
Using PowToon to explain challenging concepts to students
Jaclyn HartmanOne of my challenges as an online teacher is this: I teach in an asynchronous program, so my students are not necessarily online at the same time as I am. One tech tool that has helped me to bridge this divide is PowToon, the video-making software that allows teachers to create engaging, animated clips to help explain challenging content to students.
Using choice boards to promote student agency
Sarah BedfordChoice boards have helped improve student learning in my class by empowering students to develop confidence based on their individual needs and choices. I also believe when they are engaged in the learning and know the expected outcomes, they are more reflective and able to self-assess their own learning.
Restorative Justice 101 — A Paradigm Shift in Education [with infographics]
Michigan VirtualYour Guide to Restorative Justice in Michigan Schools: This blog is the third in our series on Restorative Justice in Michigan Schools. We have already released articles on Michigan’s new restorative justice law and the dangers of zero-tolerance policies and will continue to release articles on strategies for implementation in schools and classrooms.
An Open Letter to the Teachers Who Changed Our Lives
Michigan VirtualWe asked our staff to tell us about a teacher who changed their lives for the better. The patterns that arise in their responses are cause for inspiration. They reveal that one amazing teacher can change the course of a student’s life forever. We are all the living legacies of this truth.
4 ways that zero-tolerance policies affect Michigan students [with infographics]
Michigan VirtualThis blog is the second in our series on Restorative Justice in Michigan Schools. In this article, we explore four ways that Michigan students are negatively impacted by zero-tolerance policies. Infographics included!
What you need to know about Michigan’s new restorative justice law [with infographics]
Michigan VirtualThis blog is the first in our upcoming series on Restorative Justice in Michigan Schools. The other articles in this series features information on the dangers of zero-tolerance policies, restorative justice 101, and strategies for implementation in schools and classrooms.
YouTube Closed Captions for Hearing Impaired Students
Jeff GerlachJeff shows how teachers can use YouTube’s closed captioning to support access to videos for those with hearing impairments and other accessibility needs.
Design Learning for Visually Impaired Students with NVDA
Jeff GerlachJeff reviews Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA), an open source screen reader for Windows. Screen readers help those with vision impairments to access digital content. Teachers can use screen readers to check that web content for lessons is accessible to students with visual impairments.
The Accessible Classroom is a video series exploring web accessibility for K-12 education. In this first video, Jeff takes a look at the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the perspective of schools.
In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we hosted four panel discussions on Mitch Albom’s radio show on WJR 760. In this segment, Mitch Albom explores the day-to-day realities of virtual education in depth with a panel of our online teachers and students.
What does the future of learning look like? In this segment of his radio show on WJR 760, Mitch Albom explores this issue in depth with a panel of the leaders of several current and former superintendents of Michigan schools.
In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we hosted four panel discussions on Mitch Albom’s radio show on WJR 760. In this segment, Mitch Albom explores Michigan’s literacy crisis in depth with a panel of the educational leaders in Michigan’s early literacy movement.
What’s Getting in the Way of Progress in Michigan’s Education System?: A Conversation with Mitch Albom
Nikki FisherIn celebration of our 20th anniversary, we hosted four panel discussions on Mitch Albom’s radio show on WJR 760. In this segment, Mitch Albom explores barriers to progress in Michigan’s educational system with a panel of the leaders of several of Michigan’s educational organizations.
Michigan’s Literacy Crisis is a Public Health Crisis
Michigan VirtualWho suffers when our literacy rates are low? In this blog post by Tamara Bashore-Berg, we dive into the startling reality of Michigan’s literacy crisis and explore Dr. Nell Duke’s argument that this issue is, at its heart, a public health crisis.
Turning Digital Natives into Digital Citizens
Nikki FisherTwo educators share their experiences teaching digital literacy Last week, I had the great pleasure of speaking to two educators about their experiences teaching digital literacy. The conversations that emerged were eye-opening. Both teachers have taught — or are… Read more
Innovation in Education
Andrea McKayStudents have access to more information in their pockets than ever before, yet they are often told to leave their phones in their lockers.