Using Piktochart in the Classroom

Lauren Graham

Reaching the Summit, Scaling the Mountain called Personalized Learning

Sam Sicilia

Top 10 reasons students choose online summer credit recovery

Lisa Rohde

When a student fails a class — or perhaps multiple classes — they may come to the realization that taking classes over the summer is the only way they can graduate on time with the rest of their peers. For students facing this situation, taking summer courses online can be a great way to recover the credits needed for graduation without missing out on their existing summer plans.

Educating AP Students Across Locales

Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute

Using Google Slides to showcase student art and create an inviting online classroom

Lauren Nalepa

As an online teacher, Google Slides been the answer to all my hopes and dreams. Using it is like making a collage, but my fingers don’t get sticky! Pretty much everything I post in my online courses is created in Slides. One of my favorite ways to use Slides is for a Class Gallery, a place where students can showcase their artwork.

Using SeeSaw to help students set, achieve, and reflect on their goals

Young students often have a hard time thinking about actions, consequences, and, generally, anything that takes place in the future, so setting goals is not an easy task for them. In this article, Erin walks you through how to use the iPad App, SeeSaw, to help students set and achieve goals.

Using videos to spend more meaningful time with students

It’s my dream is to have a classroom that feels like a Starbucks with students spread all over the room, engaging in a variety of activities, working in a group on a lab, or working solo on an assignment.But how do you make this type of independent learning a reality? For me, the answer was the camera on my phone. I know, nothing fancy, no bells or whistles, just my camera. Thanks to the work shared by Ben Rimes, the power of the camera allows me to be in multiple places at once.

Summer Learning FAQs (with advice from Michigan districts who are doing it well!)

Michigan Virtual

Summer brain drain isn’t a myth. On average, it is predicted that students lose about one month’s worth of learning over the summer.

Step-by-step guide to setting up a successful online summer learning program

Michigan Virtual

If you’re looking to provide students at your school or district with more summer learning options, this step-by-step guide will help you think through the process of building a highly successful online summer learning program. 

Podcast: Student Agency and Google Classroom

The Digital Backpack

Using PowToon to explain challenging concepts to students

Jaclyn Tyler

One 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 Calendly for scheduling student meetings

Kim Garvison & Alanna Prieditis

One 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 choice boards to promote student agency

Sarah Bedford

Choice 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.

How online learning helps schools stand out in the competitive landscape of school choice

Michigan Virtual

If you’re looking to find ways to innovate your curriculum — and, yes, to compete with other schools in our current era of school choice — then providing your students with online learning options is one way you can stand out in the educational marketplace. Why? Because you’ll be providing your students with more course options, more flexibility in how and when they learn, and more opportunities to gain 21st-century learning skills.

New year's resolution? Earn SCECHs for reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and participating in Twitter chats

Ken Dirkin

Micro-credentialing & the dawn of competency-based professional development

Ken Dirkin

Restorative Justice 101 — A Paradigm Shift in Education [with infographics]

Michigan Virtual

Your 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 Virtual

We 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.

7 reasons why your high-achieving students deserve online summer learning options

Michigan Virtual

For self-motivated learners, taking online summer school courses can be liberating because it allows them to make progress toward their goals while studying at their own pace in time blocks that fit their busy schedules. In some cases, online programs offer students more learning options with more flexibility than their face-to-face counterparts.

Podcast: Engagement Hoopla

The Digital Backpack

In this episode, Jeff and Erin chat with Emily Sicilia about engagement in the classroom. They explore how to define classroom engagement, and chat about Hoopla, an app Emily shares that has changed their reading lives!