With school funding cuts, education professionals are looking for more-affordable options to provide better learning opportunities for their students, and Michigan LearnPort provides those resources. The web-based professional development delivery system, created in partnership with Michigan Virtual University and the Michigan Department of Education, provides online learning solutions for school employees, teachers, administrators and professional organizations that serve K-12 students. With the partnership between MACAE and MVU, MACAE members can now easily set up an account on Michigan LearnPort and have access to online courses, tools and resources.

When logged in, members can look through the course catalog and search for courses in a variety of topics, including Curriculum Development, Early Childhood, Parent and/or Community Relations, Special Education/Gifted and Talented, and Learning Management. Members can also search for courses by keyword, course type, course provider, credit type and cost. By taking these instructor-led or self-paced courses, members will receive additional training and a new outlook on the challenges they face every day. As one example among the nearly 300 available courses, a high school math teacher looking for ways to help his/her students learn Algebra may be interested in the course MMC Algebra 1 for Teachers. This course helps teachers learn how to teach “challenging concepts based on the MMC content expectations and they will acquire instructional strategies and classroom practices that support the learning of all students,” as stated in the course description.

In the Resources section, members can explore Associations & Organizations, Lesson Plans, FAQs, Newsletters, Informational Documents, Websites, and an extremely helpful site, netTrekker, a
K-12 academic search engine that not only offers lesson plans, but career and technical assistance as well. This site assists those serving K-12 students, as well as English-language learners. Users can search by content area or topic, reading level or Grade Level Content Expectation, as well as use the dictionary and timeline features.

A special feature of Michigan LearnPort is the Community Rooms, which can be found in the Collaboration Center. Here, members can collaborate with others using discussion forums, chat rooms, a shared calendar and links to content. For example, when doing a search for MACAE in the Community Rooms, you will find a room set up for each strand, as well as for the Professional Development Committee. Once in a specific room, you can click on links to content, email, calendar, discussion forums, and chat. MACAE has been busy utilizing this feature and hopes to use the content section to post meeting minutes and information updates, as well as other items. Tell us about how we can support you with this tool by contacting editor@macae.org with your suggestions.

The students we serve continue to struggle in our classrooms and Michigan LearnPort is just one way that we can provide more positive outcomes in a meaningful and engaging way. As one Michigan LearnPort user said, “The ability to work at my own pace and when I need and want to is a great asset.” Visit www.learnport.org to see why more than 50,000 users are currently enrolled. Take advantage of the free tool to help educators by becoming a member of Michigan LearnPort today.