A Look Back At 3 Years of Michigan Virtual Research

Introduction

Since the last Research in Review series written in 2020, Michigan Virtual has published over 30 research reports and over 30 research blogs. These publications cover topics ranging from effective practices to emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidance needs. Over the past three years, these publications have offered valuable insight into the online teaching and learning landscape. To that end, while each publication holds unique value, there is room to move our collective understanding forward by seeing how the research fits together over time and the narrative that emerges. As such, MVLRI sought to review, synthesize, and offer practical takeaways from the original research published in the past three years.

Methods

Resources in the “All Publications” and “The Digital Backpack” sections of the Michigan Virtual website were considered for inclusion. All published reports and blogs determined to include original, generalizable research were included in the synthesis. Resources were then thematically grouped. Resources within each category were reviewed again for accuracy in interpretation and to determine their relationship to other resources in the same category. Out of this process, the core findings and practical implications were identified. What is presented below is the synthesized understanding from the original research included. Resources were reviewed to form a broad understanding of the topic and determine what MVLRI has contributed and learned holistically about each theme since 2021; however, not every finding from every resource is included. All resources, including those not used in this synthesis, are available on the Michigan Virtual website.

What We Know About Professional Learning

Previous research on professional learning (PL) demonstrates that PL is a crucial aspect of educators’ development and careers as it can positively impact instructional quality (Bowman et al., 2022; Gesel et al., 2021), student outcomes (Capraro et al., 2016; Gore et al., 2021; Roth et al., 2019), and connectedness to colleagues and the field (Burrows et al., 2021). Thus, Michigan Virtual sought to understand and address educators’ motivations, needs, and preferences relating to PL, as these aspects can positively impact educators and their students. 

Meeting PL requirements was consistently identified across two Michigan Virtual reports as strongly motivating teachers’ enrollment (Cuccolo & Green, 2024; Cuccolo & DeBruler, 2023). Similarly, obtaining SCECHs (State Continuing Education Clock Hours, required for renewing certificates and licenses; Michigan Department of Education, 2020) for free or at a low-cost drove enrollment (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). However, non-SCECH courses had higher completion and lower drop rates than SCECH courses (Cuccolo & DeBruler, 2023). Educators may enroll in SCECH classes to meet specific needs quickly but disengage once those needs are met. Alternatively, educators may initially select many courses and then prune their selection based on interest, time constraints, or other factors. 

Educators’ main goal when enrolling in a professional learning course is to improve their teaching effectiveness, and they prefer certain course design elements such as video/audio, readings, and scenarios (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). PL courses should emphasize engaging design elements that educators prefer while providing practical examples and real-world applications, making the content engaging and relevant to educators’ needs. Practice-focused course design elements and assignments are vital, enhancing skill implementation and confidence, which may positively impact student outcomes down the road. Indeed, courses should incorporate practice opportunities to help educators increase their confidence and the likelihood of skill implementation, as about half of educators plan to apply course content directly to their classrooms (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). 

Practice opportunities seemed especially relevant for social-emotional learning courses, as educators want to apply what they’ve learned in their classrooms. These findings suggest that SEL courses would be most beneficial when they are tailored to the specific needs of educators within the context of their schools and communities. Courses should also incorporate elements that foster communication and collaboration among educators, replicating essential SEL skills to help educators apply course content (Timke & DeBruler, 2022). In terms of format, online, asynchronous courses align well with educators’ busy schedules, and providing affordable courses helps make professional learning accessible (Cuccolo & Green, 2024).

Professional Learning Key Takeaways

• Providing free or inexpensive SCECHs can keep professional learning accessible and help motivate enrollment in PL courses while offering online and asynchronous options that accommodate educators’ busy schedules.
• Designing courses that align with educators’ preferences can help address engagement gaps. By and large, educators reported preferring video/audio materials, readings, real-world scenarios, and access to course resources. 
• Educators appreciate when their PL provides opportunities to practice and receive feedback on the skills and concepts they are learning.
• To whatever degree possible, PL courses should be tailored to the specific needs of educators and their school communities and incorporate opportunities for communication, collaboration, and application. 
• Educators reported that they primarily enrolled in PL to satisfy professional learning requirements. However, they appreciated the flexibility in the specific course topic or content, highlighting the need for some level of choice in learning.

The Critical Role of Mentor Support

Michigan K-12 students taking online courses must be provided with a mentor (Michigan Department of Education, 2022). Previous research has suggested that mentors support students by nurturing them, monitoring their learning, and facilitating communication, all of which are important for student success in online courses (Borup, 2019). Importantly, having a mentor can improve online course pass rates (Roblyer et al., 2008; Lynch, 2019). 

Like Borup’s (2019) conceptualization of mentor responsibilities, Cuccolo & DeBruler (2023) found that mentors considered building relationships with students, monitoring student progress in their online course(s), and motivating students to fully engage with course content the three most crucial strategies for supporting students. Mentors should intentionally incorporate these practices into their routines to help support the success of the students they work with. 

Mentors’ student load varies by years of experience and the economic category of the school the mentor works in. For example, first-year mentors had approximately 20 students assigned to them on average, similar to mentors in their fourth and fifth years. In contrast, mentors in their second or third year, and those who had five or more years of experience, had over 30 students assigned to them. Similarly, mentors where more than 75% of students qualified for free-reduced price lunch had more than double the number of students assigned to them as mentors where less than 25% of students qualified (Cuccolo & DeBruler, 2023). Because the number of students a mentor is assigned could impact their availability and ability to work closely with students, administrators should balance student loads among mentors and be mindful of their other responsibilities.

Mentoring Key Takeaways

• It is crucial that administrators mindfully allocate students to mentors. They should consider the mentors’ experience, current student load, and existing responsibilities. 
• Providing ongoing professional learning opportunities and peer support is critical, especially for mentors working in buildings with few other mentors and those with less experience. Professional learning and peer support promote understanding of the mentor role and enable them to support students effectively.
• The gradebook, a popular tool within the SLP (Student Learning Portal), allows mentors to build relationships, monitor student progress, and motivate students to engage with course content. Reviewing the gradebook tool individually with students enables mentors to monitor student progress, encourage self-regulated learning and the development of metacognitive skills (e.g., reviewing instructor feedback), check in about any difficulties, and celebrate wins. Reviewing the gradebook with the student may also create opportunities for building rapport.

Effective Practices in Online Teaching and Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity for research-backed online and virtual learning strategies to help teachers engage students and reach disengaged ones (Harrington & DeBruler, 2021; DeBruler & Harrington, 2024). Further, pass rates are typically lower for online courses than in-person ones, indicating a need to identify practical and effective online teaching strategies (Freidhoff et al., 2024). 

Two Michigan Virtual reports published since 2020 have highlighted the considerable overlap between practices and strategies used to engage all students and to address disengaged students (Harrington & DeBruler, 2021; DeBruler & Harrington, 2024). The strategies used by educators are often multi-purpose but center around maintaining/strengthening communication, building relationships, and tailoring/personalizing approaches (Harrington & DeBruler, 2021; DeBruler & Harrington, 2024). Teachers report a strong alignment between their relationship-building strategies and those they perceive as “very effective.” These strategies include using a welcoming tone, responding promptly, providing personalized feedback, showing empathy, and clearly communicating course expectations (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). Communication, primarily through feedback, can increase student awareness of their course progress, build/maintain relationships, and motivate or encourage students to engage more fully in course content. Teachers note the role of feedback in building relationships, highlighting the importance of personalizing their feedback to students. Using students’ preferred names or including something specific learned about a student, such as a hobby, can go a long way (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). 

Teachers increased the effectiveness of their communication by quickly and consistently replying to students’ messages, using multiple communication channels, and being flexible with students’ preferred forms of communication. While teachers use various methods to communicate with students, BrightSpace (LMS), the SLP, and email are reported to be the most common (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). Teachers also recognize the importance of responding promptly and estimate that 97% of student-initiated communications typically receive a reply within 24 hours (Cuccolo & Green, 2024). In addition to these strategies, for disengaged students in particular, teachers reported drawing on the support of adults close to the student (e.g., mentors and guardians; Harrington & DeBruler, 2021; DeBruler & Harrington, 2024).

Students’ enrollment timing, initial course access, and timing of assignment submissions might serve as early indicators to online teachers about which students may benefit from intervention (Zweig, 2023). Accessing a course and submitting an assignment within the first week was significantly associated with higher final course grades. Alternatively, students who did not access or submit an assignment within the first week had significantly lower final grades than their peers. Additionally, students in schools with a high percentage receiving free or reduced-price lunches (>50%) had delayed course access and assignment submissions, ultimately lowering grades. Teachers should closely monitor students’ course access and assignment submissions within the first week of a course.

In addition to monitoring when students submit assignments, teachers should consider monitoring which assignments students submit. Students commonly submit assignments out of alignment with course pacing guides, perhaps based on assignment requirements or characteristics (sometimes called “cherry-picking”), but this is not necessarily advantageous for their grades. Cuccolo & DeBruler (2024) stated that students who completely adhered to the pacing guide had final grades 9.5 points higher than students who deviated from the pacing guide at least once. When looking more closely at the relationship between assignment submissions and grades, researchers noted that the extent to which students submit assignments out of order is most impactful. In other words, moving around slightly within a unit will likely have minimal impact, while moving between units and doing so with a high frequency will likely negatively impact final grades. While it is possible that submitting assignments out of order is part of a broader pattern of student characteristics or behaviors that influence academic achievement, it is recommended that instructors and mentors continue to monitor student progress relative to the pacing guide and encourage adherence. Course pacing guides help to ensure students receive properly scaffolded content and assignments as well as appropriately timed feedback that can contribute to their academic growth.

Finally, certain course design choices encourage students to engage with course content, which may be helpful for their course performance. Zweig (2022) found that students engaged with approximately 40% of the interactive course elements available to them in their online science courses. Flashcards and quizzes were particularly popular with students. This is a promising finding, as it can help guide course design choices and boost student performance. Zweig (2022) explains that students who engaged with interactive course elements had higher unit grades. These students also earned a higher percentage of points compared to the total they attempted, meaning they were more successful in their assignment attempts. Taken together, carefully selecting and strategically placing interactive course elements coupled with monitoring when and which assignments are submitted may be an effective practice for engaging students and ensuring their success in online courses.

Effective Practices Key Takeaways

• Teachers can strengthen communication and teacher-student relationships by responding quickly and consistently to student messages. They should consider using various methods (e.g., email, video conferencing) to cater to students’ preferences. It is also important to regularly provide progress reports/updates to students, mentors, and guardians. 
• Teachers should
  • Use tailored, specific, and personalized feedback as a relationship-building tool to motivate students, help them identify areas for improvement, and encourage them to engage more deeply with course content.
  • Consider tailored and personalized approaches by offering multiple forms of content delivery (e.g., text, video), and give students some choice in how they engage with course material and assignments.
• Students must get access to and start working on their online courses promptly. Online programs should monitor and support students by leveraging indicators such as enrollment timing, initial course access, and assignment submissions. Lack of course access or assignment submission within the first week should prompt outreach to students, mentors, and/or guardians. Similarly, mentors or guardians should be engaged to support students if they become disengaged. 
• Teachers and mentors should encourage students to follow the course pacing guide via announcements, reminders, or personal communication. Advise students against submitting assignments out of order, which will likely negatively impact their final grades. Adhering to course pacing guides ensures students receive properly scaffolded content and feedback as they progress through a course.
• Online course designers and teachers can consider incorporating interactive elements like flashcards and quizzes to boost student engagement. These elements should be placed carefully within the course, perhaps after crucial concepts, to help enhance learning and performance.

The Impact of AI on Education

Michigan Virtual has begun a series of research studies on educator and student perceptions and the use of AI. The hope is that through gaining a better understanding of educators’ and students’ beliefs and use, education, training, and guidelines can be developed to meet their needs.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly emerging as an innovative and disruptive technology within education. AI can be leveraged within educational settings to benefit students and teachers by streamlining repetitive and administrative tasks, personalizing learning experiences, providing additional tutoring, proofreading, differentiating assignments and materials, and more (Michigan Virtual, 2024; McGehee, 2023). Similarly, AI use may also be shrouded in ethical, privacy, and data concerns, alongside risks about the perpetuation of biases, misinformation, and cheating (McGehee, 2023; McGehee, 2024). 

Currently, perceptions and experience using AI may vary based on one’s job role/function, with building and district administrators having higher levels of trust and experience with AI than teachers (Michigan Virtual, 2024; McGehee, 2023). Further, K-12 teachers use AI significantly less than non-K12 educators and have the most negative perceptions of AI (McGehee, 2023). Opinions are nuanced among those who have used AI, with many users acknowledging both benefits and drawbacks (McGehee, 2023). When looking at specific perceived benefits and discussing the positive aspects of AI, many note the potential for advancing personalized learning. When discussing the potential drawbacks of AI, many note the potential for academic dishonesty and inequitable access (i.e., gaps in knowledge, use, and access between students from low and high SES groups; McGehee, 2023). 

To this end, AI use and perceptions may relate to student achievement (McGehee, 2024). By understanding these relationships, teachers, building, and district administrators can leverage them to further desired student learning outcomes. Students who reported using AI and those who did not had almost identical grades, although only a small portion of students sampled reported using AI (8% or 166 students; McGehee, 2024). Students who used AI typically did so to “explain complicated concepts or principles in simpler terms” and “conduct research or find information.” Looking more closely at the data revealed how students used AI may be essential. Students who used AI as a tool (AI was used for particular tasks to get a specific result (e.g., calculation) and as a facilitator (enabled students to take on the main task of learning still) had higher grades than non-AI users and those who only used AI as a tool. Teaching students to leverage AI effectively, mainly to promote critical thinking and creative problem-solving, may benefit students (McGehee, 2024). 

The need to teach students to leverage AI effectively, coupled with the finding that only 30% of district administrators reported that their school, school board, or governing body officially adopted AI policy or guidelines (Michigan Virtual, 2024), perhaps suggests a path forward. Given that 80% of educators feel that AI will play a “very significant” or “somewhat significant” role in education in the next five years and building and district administrators see AI integration as a priority, guidelines and policies should consider incorporating research that highlights how AI use can benefit students and teachers, leverage potential benefits, address concerns and drawbacks, and incorporate diverse perspectives (given that a small but not insignificant portion of educators have no interest and low trust in AI; Michigan Virtual, 2024).

AI Key Takeaways 

• Many educators are already using AI both personally and professionally, and students are using AI academically. Districts must address this reality, create policies and guidelines to govern this use, and facilitate best practices. 
• Not all educators and students hold favorable perceptions of AI. Building and district administrators should incorporate diverse perspectives on AI integration and mindfully address stakeholder (e.g., teacher, guardian, student) concerns and reluctance. 
• There is a clear need for policies, guidance, and guidelines on AI use, as many administrators, teachers, (and perhaps to a lesser extent) students are already using these tools. Targeted professional development should be provided, particularly regarding data privacy, ethical use of AI, use of AI as a tool and facilitator of learning (to promote critical thinking and creative problem solving), and subject-specific approaches to AI integration.

References

Cuccolo, K., & DeBruler, K. (2023). Examining mentors’ navigation of online environments and use of student support practices. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/examining-mentors-navigation-of-online-environments

Cuccolo, K., & DeBruler, K. (2023). Evaluating professional learning course offerings and educator engagement. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/evaluating-professional-learning-course-offerings-and-educator-engagement/

Cuccolo, K., & DeBruler, K. (2024). Out of order, out of reach: Navigating assignment sequences for STEM success. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/out-of-order-out-of-reach-navigating-assignment-sequences-for-stem-success/

Cuccolo, K., & Green, C. (2024). Maximizing professional learning through educators’ perceptions of utility and self-efficacy in pedagogy-focused courses. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/maximizing-professional-learning/

Cuccolo, K., & Green, C. (2024). Starting Strong: Understanding Teacher-Student Communication in Online Courses. Michigan Virtual.

DeBruler, K., & Harrington, C. (2024). Key strategies for supporting disengaged and struggling students in virtual learning environments. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/key-strategies-for-supporting-disengaged-and-struggling-students-in-virtual-learning-environments/

Freidhoff, J. R., DeBruler, K., Cuccolo, K., & Green, C. (2024). Michigan’s k-12 virtual learning effectiveness report 2022-23. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/michigans-k-12-virtual-learning-effectiveness-report-2022-23/

Harrington, C., & DeBruler, K. (2021). Key strategies for engaging students in virtual learning environments. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/key-strategies-for-engaging-students-in-virtual-learning-environments/

McGehee, N. (2023). Balancing the risks and rewards of AI integration for Michigan teachers. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/balancing-the-risks-and-rewards-of-ai-integration-for-michigan-teachers/

McGehee, N. (2024). AI in education: Student usage in online learning. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/ai-in-education-student-usage-in-online-learning/

Michigan Virtual. (2024). AI in education: Exploring trust, challenges, and the push for implementation. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/ai-in-education-exploring-trust-challenges-and-the-push-for-implementation/

Timke, E., & DeBruler, K. (2022). Educators’ perceptions of online SEL professional learning courses. Michigan Virtual University. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/sel-pd-effectiveness-perceptions/

Zweig, J. (2022). Student engagement with interactive course elements in supplementary online science courses. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/student-engagement-with-interactive-course-elements-in-supplementary-online-science-courses/

Zweig, J. (2023). The first week in an online course: Differences across schools. Michigan Virtual. https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/first-weeks-in-an-online-course/