Collaborative Partnership Model
Reduce the cost of delivering your students outstanding online learning experiences with our collaborative partnership model.
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Reduce the cost of online learning across your district or county!
Our collaborative partnership model allows Michigan school districts/counties to reduce the cost of delivering high-quality online learning experiences for their students.
Here’s how it works: First, you select teachers to be trained by our staff in best practices for online instruction. Then, they gain access to our award-winning course content and are able to begin teaching students across your entire district/county online. The students win, the teachers win, and the school administrators win.
Case study: Read about how our collaborative partnership with St. Clair County RESA helped us reach our common goal of increasing student engagement and achievement.
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How it works
This model works best for districts/counties who want to augment the number of students in a course when they have fewer than maximum capacity in a physical classroom.
For example, let’s say you have 15 students at one school in your district/county who want to study French and 10 students with this language interest at another school. Perhaps this is not enough student interest to justify offering a face-to-face French course, but you are able to generate enough student interest to have one teacher serve as the instructor for French 1A online for the entire district/county.
It’s a win-win-win. Your students get the opportunity to study subjects that interest them all while gaining 21st-century learning skills. Your teachers get training and experience with online teaching. As an administrator, you reduce costs and optimize for classroom size across all the schools in your district/county.
“Through this partnership with Michigan Virtual, St. Clair County teachers have access to additional professional development opportunities, both online and face-to-face, with other Michigan Virtual instructors. And school districts are further developing the talented teachers they already employ by training them to deliver content and connect with students in a new, effective way. We’re able to offer students a greater variety of classes and more flexibility in selecting classes, and our students experience the benefits.”
— Kevin Miller, Superintendent, St. Clair County RESA
The benefits of asynchronous learning
Alright, so this model sounds great. But how does it work logistically? How is it possible for students across several schools to take the same online course? Here’s one of the benefits of online learning. In asynchronous online courses (like ours), students have access to course content 24/7. This means, your students can progress in their course in time blocks that fit their existing schedules.
For example, you can have one student taking French online during 4th hour and another student taking the same online French course during their 1st hour. Using our collaborative model, you could then assign one of your teachers to hop online during 3rd hour to provide both students with personalized feedback and guidance on assignments they submitted.
Check out our “How Online Learning Works” video to see an example of this process in action!
“We recently had a student who was selected to play hockey in Alaska, but thanks to our collaborative partnership with Michigan Virtual, he was still able to earn a diploma from Northern. That story got out, and this year, we had several students playing hockey out of state who have since enrolled in our district through school of choice so that they can earn a Michigan diploma by taking our online courses. It’s been really exciting!”
— Catherine Woolman, Executive Director of Instructional Services, Port Huron Area School District
Partnership goals
- Provide high school students in local districts with the ability to complete their education in-district using quality online courses taught by local educators.
- Develop a school or countywide process to identify current and future online course needs/wants while implementing a practical solution to manage online course enrollment activities for eligible students.
- Recruit and train local educators in the pedagogy of online instruction to teach sections of Michigan Virtual courses to local students.
- Develop a district or countywide communications program to promote online course offerings through a co-branded partnership between the local district, Intermediate School District, or Regional Educational Service Agency and Michigan Virtual.
Let's Collaborate!
Fill out the form below if you’re interested in speaking to someone to learn more about our collaborative partnership model. One of our representatives will reach out to you ASAP!