Mississippi eLearning for Educators:

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Mississippi e-Learning for Educators

• Reaching Teachers Across the State

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• The e-Learning for Educators Initiative is a
  five-year initiative funded by a U.S. Department
  of Education Ready to Teach Grant.

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E-Learning for Education Partners

• MS is one of 8 participating states in the grant.
• Alabama
• Delaware
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• New Hampshire
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia

• E-Learning for Education Partners
• Education Development Center (EDC)
• Boston College Technology and Assessment Study
  Collaborative
• Public Broadcasting Stations

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Components of the e-Learning for Educators
Initiative

• Delivering Online Professional Development
  Courses
• Meeting state and district needs
• EDC Training Local Educators to Instruct and
  Develop Online Professional Development Courses
• EDC Facilitator Training Course (10 weeks)
• EDC Developer Training Course (10 weeks)

• Evaluating the Effect of MS Delivery of Online
  Professional Development
• Pre and Post Course Surveys
• BC Conducting Research on the Effect of High
  Quality Online Professional Development
• Separate research courses for participating
  teachers

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Office of Leadership and Professional Development

• Provide all school personnel with a strong
  professional development curriculum
• Professional development that will help address
  state-wide teacher quality needs and impact
  student achievement
• Online learning can help school districts meet
  the challenge of providing effective professional
  development for teachers and administrators

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E-Learning for Educator Initiative

• Designed to help states meet critical
  requirements for improving student achievement
• Seeks to address the needs of students in
  high-poverty, low-achieving schools

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Partnership Concept
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MS e-Learning Partnerships
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Educator Licensure

• Largest partnership with the MS eLearning for
  Educator Initiative
• Interim One-Year Alternate Route Certification
• Online Professional Development Institute (OPDI)
  was created
• State Board of Education has made OPDI state
  policy
• Committed to training 1800 teachers online
  January-May 2008

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MS Teacher Center

• Recruiting and Retaining Educators for Americas
  Children (REACH) Program.
• E-Learning will provide on-line professional
  development course offerings to first year
  elementary and secondary teachers.
• Incentives are contingent on completion of the
  online professional development workshop.

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Innovative Support

• School Improvement Division works collaboratively
  with School Support Teams to support LEAs with
  schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress
  (AYP)
• 71 MS schools not meeting AYP.
• E-Learning for Educator Initiative will be
  utilized to meet the professional development
  mandate under NCLB for high need school districts
• Research Study

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Quick Facts

• MS has trained 36 facilitators and 24 workshop
  designers
• 115 workshops in 2007
• 90 workshops in 2008
• 2128 participants completed 2007
• 2300 enrollments in 2008
• Average 10 workshops monthly
• Continuing Education Units (CEUs) issued-1,657
• Research Study-64 MS teachers participating

• Course Development- 9 courses(2007)
• 4 courses are currently in development
• Instructional Leadership
• Depth of Knowledge
• Fit, Healthy, and Ready to Succeed
• Special Education Inclusion

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Survey Outcomes
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Pre-Post Differences statistically significant
(p. lt .0001)
Pre-FollowUp, Post-FollowUp Differences not
statistically significant (p. .37)
No stat. sign. interaction (p. .07)
State 8 shows a different pattern (T2-T3) than
the other states, 1 stat. diff between states 1
and 8, p. .04)
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Quick Facts
Quick Facts

• More than 50 of the teachers report improvements
  in their instructional practices
• 90 agree that when they used the eFE content in
  class, students appeared more interested in class
• 89 agree that when they use eFE content,
  students had their diverse learning needs met
• 84 agree that when they use eFE content,
  students showed better academic performance in
  content areas

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Testimonials
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• I have really enjoyed this class.  I hope that
  the State Department continues to offer
  opportunities like this. My lesson plan will
  actually be carried out this year, as much as
  possible. I want to do the full plan next year. I
  changed it a little due to some exciting
  developments. I actually found someone who is
  going to provide us with Luna Moth eggs. I'm not
  sure who is going to enjoy this more. Thanks to
  everyone for all of the great input. I know that
  what I have learned will have a great impact on
  how I instruct my future students. I hope that
  everyone's upcoming summer is very relaxing for
  you!
• I really enjoyed this class. I learned a lot of
  new ideas on how to teach and assess different
  learning styles for students. I enjoyed all of
  the post and all of the responses. I especially
  want to thank Ms. Patterson and MDE for
  sponsoring this course. I hope we get the
  opportunity to continue these workshops.

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• I have really enjoyed this online class and the
  ideas and activities others have introduced. It
  has made me rethink many of the activities from
  the classroom and peaked my interest in finding
  new ways to help my special education students.
  Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the school year
  and your summer.
• I have enjoyed this workshop/class.  It has
  refreshed my memory of learning styles.  I
  learned them while going through school, but that
  has been many years ago.  I had forgotten about
  some of them.  I plan to use them in my teaching
  now that I have been reminded of them.  My
  special needs students can not always learn by
  using the traditional ways of teaching.  I will
  be using many of the ideas I have learned in this
  class with my students. 

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Questions

• Katrina Merriwether
• Mississippi Department of Education
• Division Director II
• kmerriwether_at_mde.k12.ms.us
• 601-359-3954