With principles of improvement science as a foundation, new knowledge about the continuous improvement of educational innovations is rapidly emerging among communities of educational professionals and researchers, as they work together in new ways to solve practical problems, improve student performance, and reduce achievement gaps. Developed in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, this course will use case studies to take learners deep into the design, organization, and management of three innovative approaches to large-scale, practice-focused continuous improvement that have currency in the US and abroad: Design-Based Implementation Research Implementation Science Networked Improvement Communities For each case, learners will use logics of innovation to analyze the central strategy of each approach, and they will use principles of improvement science to analyze how each uses disciplined methods to address practical problems faced by teachers and leaders. This course is part of the Leading Educational Innovation and Improvement MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX.

Attaining Higher Education is a course designed to facilitate the successful transition of active duty service members and veterans to postsecondary education, whether at a two- or four-year college for an associate's or bachelor's degree, or even graduate school. Too often, service members and veterans transition with little information, or incorrect information, about what makes students successfully realize their goals through higher education. Frequently they are left to navigate a difficult and complicated transition to higher education without robust support or complete information. This course is designed to break down the process of transition to education and to assist service members in finding an educational program that fully maximizes their potential. The course: lays out how to approach admissions processes to institutions of higher education guides students through the self-assessment needed to determine if and how to apply wisely challenges students to consider the factors which make a college a right fit for them offers an overview of the college application process, whether at a community college or four-year college provides a summary of the most common sources of financial aid available to many transitioning service members and veterans From intentional decision making--a method through which service members and veterans connect their life and military experiences with a potential academic or career path--to choosing a right fit college, understanding the application process, and financing their education, this course will provide tangible ways to successfully navigate all of these benchmarks in the transition to higher education. While this course is open to everyone, the content has been tailored specifically for active duty service members and veterans, especially those who aspire to start school or return to school soon, and higher education professionals who work to support student veterans.

This course integrates the power of systems thinking with computer models designed to ‘bring to life’ biology topics including evolution, ecology and the chemistry of life. Developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Scheller Teacher Education Program, this six-week interactive and collaborative professional development course draws on research in teaching and learning to develop the best experience for teachers. In this course, you will learn how to use online simulations which are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards in order to develop core biology content and practices. The student facing materials consist of five modules designed for implementation over several class periods, serving as a replacement for an existing lab or activity. The online simulations include optional entry-level coding and the course provides support for learning to teach this with students. The materials include student and teacher guides with built in informal assessments. You will get a chance to work through these materials, watch teachers experienced with the materials teach the lessons, and then interact with experienced BioGraph teachers through online forums and webinars. Important Information Regarding Verified Certificates: The BioGraph Team will cover the cost of the Verified Certificate for participants who complete the course, including all surveys. The process for that is still being worked out, so if you would like to apply for the free Verified Certificate, please wait to register until notified by the course team. ( Updated July 9, 2020 )

How can you help your students to see history as a living, breathing record of the past? How can you motivate students to ask probing questions and seek complex answers? How can you bridge their historical knowledge with a lifelong commitment to civic action? With this self-paced course, middle and high school teachers will find new ways to engage students in and out of the classroom. Co-taught by Dr. Kathy Swan, Professor of Education at the University of Kentucky, and Naomi Coquillon, Manager of Youth and Teacher Programs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, this self-paced course will offer teachers useful and readily applicable strategies and tactics to incorporate inquiry-based learning methods into their existing history lessons. The self-paced course brings together the new College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies with the Smithsonian’s hands-on, museum-based educational techniques that bring historical artifacts to life for millions of visitors each year. Through explanation, demonstration, and dynamic examples, the course offers teachers practical ideas for how to entice students to craft complex and incisive questions; think critically about primary and secondary historical sources; form and support their opinions with evidence; and communicate their conclusions in ways that will prepare them to be engaged citizens of the world. Demonstrations will feature the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s exhibitions and vast collection of historical artifacts and will offer ideas and resources to help teachers everywhere incorporate object- and inquiry-based teaching techniques and Smithsonian online resources into their own classrooms.

Teachers , don't miss this special opportunity to learn with four Smithsonian museums from hom e ! Register for this 14-week course and join a n online community of educators for an immersive exploration of teaching with museum objects and works of art. Museum educators will explore connections among their collections and model teaching strategies that participants can implement with their students, whether online or in the classroom. Participants will discover how to teach with museum resources to engage students in deeper thinking and support content learning across disciplines. They'll learn to use the Smithsonian Learning Lab to curate digital resource collections, and share lesson ideas among a new network of colleagues. Which Smithsonian Museums Will You Learn From? National Museum of African American History and Culture National Museum of American History National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian American Art Museum Who Should Enroll ? Teachers of all subjects and grades are welcome to register. The program content will be most readily appli cable to humanities teachers . What is Required of Participants? The course is self-paced, designed to be taken over the course of 14 weeks, with one to two hours of content assigned per week. Participants are expected to view all recorded video sessions and respond to reflection prompts using a discussion board. Participants will also be expected to create a digital resource collection using the Smithsonian Learning Lab .

This education course has been developed for educators and education leaders. It explores deep learning by bringing together the most up-to-date research from cognitive psychology, contemporary educational theories, and neuro-scientific perspectives. Deep learning encourages students to become creative, connected, and collaborative problem solvers; to gain knowledge and skills for lifelong learning; and to use a range of contemporary digital technologies to enhance their learning. To facilitate deep learning, teachers will learn how to employ a diverse range of powerful teaching strategies and authentic learning activities to assist students to become independent thinkers, innovative creators, and effective communicators. Throughout each module, suggested learning experiences are provided for school or system leaders who seek to engage with deep learning practices across their organisation. In this way, the course is differentiated to cater to both individual learners and to groups. This course has been funded by Microsoft and is part of the Microsoft K-12 Education Leadership initiative developed to provide resources to K-12 school leaders around the world as they address the unique needs of their schools in a changing educational and technology landscape.

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you need to write in a complex style to express complex ideas. In fact, complex writing styles can obscure meaning and tire your readers. This short course is aimed at students at tertiary institutions, and contributors to academic publications. It will help you to articulate complex ideas with clarity and meaning. The first week of the course focuses on developing a structured writing process, appropriate for your intended readership. We discuss when to write, the importance of a golden thread, the main principles of drafting a research report, and different abstract patterns. The second week zooms in on the principles of paragraph and sentence construction. You will learn ways of writing that enhance clarity and engage your readers.

Interested in earning a certificate at no cost? Enroll to audit this course, and we’ll send more information about this opportunity shortly before the course begins. Communities have always wrestled with the multiple purposes of education: to train young people for careers, vocations, and college; to prepare them for their roles as citizens; to develop habits of reflective, ethical adults; and to create a common experience in a pluralistic society while meeting the needs of individual learners. As the world changes and grows more complex, returning to these important questions of purpose can help guide schools in their growth and strategic change. To ensure our schools are effective, we need to routinely reimagine what the high school graduate of the future will need to know and be able to do. The artifact that communicates these ideas is called a graduate profile. Making explicit the capabilities, competencies, knowledge, and attitudes for secondary school graduates, and inviting key stakeholders like students and community members to be engaged in the process, can help you and your school to focus your vision of success and drive school innovation efforts. Instructor Justin Reich and the course team from the MIT Teaching Systems Lab look forward to guiding teachers, administrators, community members, and others passionate about improving secondary school in the process of designing a graduate profile. Over four weeks, you will reflect on the purpose and goals of secondary school, as well as desirable characteristics for graduates. You’ll learn how schools have benefited from a graduate profile development process and begin the process yourself.  You’ll learn more about your own context, its values and beliefs. You’ll leave the course with a shareable artifact that communicates a vision of a multi-faceted secondary school graduate. This course has been authored by one or more members of the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its educational objectives, methods, assessments, and the selection and presentation of its content are solely the responsibility of MIT.

“Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning” instructs school leaders and teachers on tools and strategies to support gameful learning in schools. Developed in partnership with Microsoft, this education course aims to transform teaching and learning at all levels through explorations of how the features that make video games great learning environments can be used in formal learning environments to increase learner engagement on a local, regional and global scale. By creating classroom learning environments that support learners’ senses of autonomy, competence and relatedness, school leaders are able to promote actively engaged and resilient learning. Gameful learning is a new way to conceive curriculum and assessment that provides concrete support for personalizing learning for every student. You will learn to design gameful learning environments and apply a systematic framework that leads to enhanced intrinsic motivation and engagement for students. This course has been funded by Microsoft and is part of the Microsoft K-12 Education Leadership initiative developed to provide resources to K-12 school leaders around the world as they address the unique needs of their schools in a changing educational and technology landscape.

Fake news and misinformation pose an urgent challenge to citizens across the globe. Multiple studies have shined a light on people’s difficulty in distinguishing truth from fiction, reliable information from sham. As we approach the November 2020 election, we can expect our screens to be flooded, even more so, with digital content that plays fast and loose with the truth. With educators from around the world and faculty from MIT and Stanford University, you will learn quick and effective practices for evaluating online information that you can bring back to your classroom. The Stanford History Education Group has distilled these practices from observations with professional fact-checkers from the nation’s most prestigious media outlets from across the political spectrum. Using a combination of readings, classroom practice lessons, and assignments, you will learn how to teach the critical thinking skills needed for making wise judgments about web sources. At the end of the course, you will be better able to help students find reliable sources at a time when we need it most.