Professional Development

Michigan Virtual University Adds Professional Development Courses

• By Michael Hart
• 04/13/15

Michigan Virtual University (MVU) has teamed with a private partner to revamp 60 courses for its LearnPort program. The school has selected Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS) to ready the courses, which are designed primarily to help Michigan K-12 educators improve their teaching skills and earn required state continuing education certification.

Among course subjects to be covered will be those that address the needs of diverse learners, blended learning and data-driven decision-making. New courses being offered include "The Flipped Classroom: Personalizing Learning for Students Every Day," "Shifting Instruction With the Five Core Practices" and "Courageous Conversations about Race."

MVU President and CEO Jamey Fitzpatrick said, "As standards continue to evolve, it is crucial that we also equip educators with the tools and resources they need so that they can make a real difference in the classroom."

MVU is a private-sector entity founded in 1998 to offer online education to Michigan students and teachers via the Michigan Virtual School, which offers online courses for high school and middle school students; LearnPort, which offers low-cost or no-cost professional development content to K-12 teachers in Michigan; and myDreamExplorer, which provides educational development plans to individual students.

In 2006, Michigan became the first state to require online learning as a requirement for high school graduation. MVU is one provider of content to meet that requirement.

The online courses KDS will provide to MVU will range in price from $199 to $279.

Michigan LearnPort already has more than 300 online professional development courses for Michigan K-12 educators and more than 45,000 users. It has granted more than 3,700 state board continuing education units.

KDS CEO Alvin Crawford said, "Our latest course offerings will continue to empower teachers statewide to successfully meet every student's diverse learning needs so that they can reach their full potential."