Coaching Digital Learning
Coaching educators to create digital learning environments is a challenging, important, and highly collaborative role. Individuals who play this role are instrumental in cultivating a digital learning culture within their school, district and/or state. This course allows you to learn along with your colleagues from other schools and districts to enhance your digital learning content knowledge and further develop coaching strategies. During this self-directed, peer-supported, MOOC-Ed you will:
- Deepen your understanding of what it takes to coach others to integrate technology effectively with relevant and rigorous opportunities to build upon your professional needs and understanding — whether beginning in your role as an instructional coach or seeking advanced strategies;
- Explore relevant frameworks (e.g. TPACK, SAMR, Four C’s), strategies, tools, and resources to advance your digital learning coaching efforts;
- Experience multiple opportunities for personalized application of your new learning and job-embedded practice; and
- Develop and share a coaching plan to support your school/district’s digital learning culture.
Who should take this course? This MOOC-Ed is designed specifically for instructional technology coaches, instructional technology facilitators, technology integration specialists, media specialist, mentor teachers, and others who guide teachers’ integration of digital learning to directly enhance and support student learning.
Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning
This course will explore what it means to read, write, speak, and listen for learning and creating knowledge within a discipline. During the Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning MOOC-Ed you will:
- Strengthen your understanding of what it takes to engage students in deeper learning through disciplinary literacy practices;
- Explore the model for inquiry-based disciplinary literacy and how it can promote deeper learning for your students;
- Engage in disciplinary literacy practices (e.g., close reading, digital learning, constructing and supporting claims);
- Experience multiple opportunities for personalized application of disciplinary literacy to your teaching context;
- Design, critically evaluate, and share inquiry-based disciplinary literacy lessons;
- Take action to become a leader by engaging others in disciplinary literacy practices.
Who should take this course? This MOOC-Ed is designed specifically for teachers in grades 4-12 in English & Language Arts, History/Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science, though it is open to all educators in K-12 and postsecondary levels interested in learning more about disciplinary literacy for deeper learning.
Fraction Foundations
This course will help you teach fractions concepts and skills more effectively through understanding students’ thinking and implementing research-based approaches in your classroom. It will help you address rigorous curriculum standards for fractions, whether from the Common Core State Standards or from other up-to-date standards.
The overall goals are that participants will:
- Develop a deeper understanding of the fractions content standards, and relevant practice standards, that apply in their own schools.
- Investigate common student misconceptions about fractions and why fractions are hard for children (and adults) to understand.
- Analyze students’ thinking about fractions to inform instruction.
- Address students’ learning differences when teaching fraction concepts and skills.
- Learn to effectively use:
- Fair-sharing activities to help students understand key concepts of fractions, such as fractions representing the relationship between parts and wholes, equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. (Focus of Unit 2)
- Measurement and number line activities to help children understand fractions as part of the number system and key concepts such as equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and the relationship of fraction and integer operations. (Focus of Unit 3)
- Activities to help students understand why procedures for computations with fractions make sense. (Focus of Unit 4)
Who should take this course? Though this MOOC-Ed focuses on teaching fractions in grades 3-5, the concepts are applicable for other K-8 teachers and will help you address the needs of students who have learning differences that impact their mastery of mathematics.
Teaching Statistics Though Data Investigations
Our world is rich with data sources, and technology makes data more accessible than ever before! To help ensure students are future ready to use data for making informed decisions, many countries around the world have increased the emphasis on statistics and data analysis in school curriculum–from elementary/primary grades through college. This course allows you to learn, along with colleagues from other schools, to use an investigation cycle to teach statistics and to help students explore data to make evidence-based claims. During the Data Investigations MOOC-Ed you will:
- Strengthen your understanding of how to engage students in a statistical investigation process;
- Explore a framework for guiding your teaching of statistical investigations to promote deeper data explorations for your students;
- Use rich data sources, dynamic graphing tools and key statistical concepts to support investigations of questions that are of interest to you and your students;
- Examine the ways students reason with data to make evidence-based claims;
- Personalize applications of statistical investigations to your students;
- Collaborate with colleagues near and far to gain different perspectives on data investigations and to build a library of teaching resources.
Who should take this course? The Teaching Statistics Through Data Investigations MOOC-Ed is applicable to anyone interested in strengthening their approaches to teaching statistics through data investigations. The statistical content and strategies are appropriate for implementation with middle school through early college learners. Thus, teachers of statistics in grades 6-12 and in post-secondary contexts are the primary audience. This course may also be of interest to elementary teachers, teacher educators, and teachers of other disciplines that use data-based explorations extensively to make claims and inferences (e.g., science, social science).