MOOC-Ed.org is a project of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at the NC State College of Education. Built on research-based models of effective professional development, professional learning communities, and online communities of practice, MOOC-Ed courses focus on authentic, project-based learning, collaboration, and peer-supported learning, rather than tests and grades that are needed in other types of MOOCs.
In the Information Age, problems look different. Information comes at us faster than ever before, and our ability to solve problems depends on us being able to make sense of and synthesize this information. We must also design new solutions using all available technology and tools.Digital-age problem solving combines three key skills and concepts essential to understanding and solving problems in the information age: data literacy, design thinking, and computational thinking. Data literacy is the ability to analyze, interpret, and tell stories using complex sets of data. Design thinking is the ability to understand problems and develop creative solutions. Computational thinking is the process of expressing solutions so that humans and computers can understand them.Throughout this MOOC-Ed, you'll have the opportunity to dig into digital-age problem solving, engage with its component skills and concepts, and learn how to integrate them into your instructional practice. This course will not be heavy on coding, and you won't need to know any code going in - it will focus on how to integrate digital-age problem solving in a practical way into your classroom.
The Digital Learning Transition in K-12 Schools massive online open course for educators (DLT MOOC-Ed) will help you:Understand the potential of digital learning in K-12 schools;Assess progress and set future goals for your school or district; andPlan to achieve those goals.The DLT MOOC-Ed is designed for school and district leaders, such as superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, technology directors, financial officers, instructional coaches, library media specialists, and lead teachers, as well as university faculty, consultants, parents and any others involved in planning and implementing K-12 digital learning initiatives.We invite participation from public, charter and private schools. While the course materials are U.S. focused, we invite educators from around the world and found that international perspectives enriched the experience for everyone in prior courses. There is no cost for participating in the DLT MOOC-Ed.We recommend, when possible, participation by teams from schools, districts or other organizations, since having local colleagues work together to relate the lessons from the DLT MOOC-Ed to their own context makes the course even more valuable. If a team is not available, individuals are welcome to participate on their own.
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, an investigation cycle to teach statistics and to help students explore data to make evidence-based claims.Who should take this course? This MOOC-Ed is applicable to anyone interested in strengthening their approaches to teaching statistics through data investigations. The statistical concepts included are those often introduced to 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).
Technology is an essential component of today’s workplace and is a ubiquitous component of our society. Technology can be a useful to tool to support students’ engagement in and learning of mathematics. This course allows you to learn, along with colleagues at other schools around the world, useful ways for teachers to consider how technology can be used to support students’ mathematics learning.
The Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning MOOC-Ed will explore digital literacy, which is the ability to understand and use a range of digital technologies, a critical skill for today’s classroom. This MOOC-Ed is open to all educators in K-12 and postsecondary levels interested in learning more about disciplinary literacy for deeper learning. 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.
The Learner Agency in Practice module is a self-paced online learning opportunity that centers around understanding learner agency as core of student success, and supports you in creating a learning environment that fosters and empowers each and every one of your learners.Our team at the Friday Institute, with feedback and support from researchers and practitioners from across the world, developed this module with the intention of providing you the opportunity to directly apply your understanding of learner agency to your classroom and context and learn more from your students about what they need to engage fully in agency in your classroom.Throughout the learning experience, you will be engaging with peers from across the country and around the world in our forums and interactive activities. You will also be reflecting and applying independently what you explore through a personalized plan that will help you structure and organize your thoughts throughout this experience along with your application to your local learning environment.
If you're involved in education, it's likely that you've been hearing a lot about social and emotional learning (SEL) lately. It's seemingly everywhere these days. And while the goal of educating the "whole child" is not new, we know more about the impact of social and emotional skills on learning than ever before. We now know, for example, that social and emotional skills develop in direct connection to student academic learning1. In practice, this means that you are not forced to "choose" between SEL and academic instruction. Research has shown that students with SEL training "scored 13 points higher academically than their peers 3.5 years later, had 6 percent better high school graduation rates, and could even reap lifelong monetary benefits for their healthy adult lifestyle."2 The big takeaway? We now know that the time that a teacher spends working on SEL skill development is not time taken away from academic instruction; it is time that is spent laying the foundation for academic achievement and lifelong health.Our team at the Friday Institute, along with a group of experts, researchers, and practitioners, developed this course with the goal of helping you build your own foundational understanding of how social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are essential to, and inseparable from, student learning. In doing so, you will build your own SEL skills, see examples of how others are teaching these skills, learn strategies to apply to your classroom, and share ideas with your colleagues in your school, your community, and around the globe. The course is designed to work in multiple ways: it complements existing district- and school-wide programs but can also be used in the absence of these programs to support educators in weaving SEL both explicitly and implicitly throughout academic instruction and the school day. The course is free for everyone and is intended to support self-directed adult learning. We want you to get out of it what you need.The course is organized in alignment with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework for social emotional learning (see image). CASEL is a widely-recognized leader in the field of social and emotional learning, and we have been grateful for their involvement and support in the development of this course.
For the past three months, the COVID-19 crisis has caused massive disruptions in every corner of our society. Schools have been heavily impacted, some closing for the year, and others transitioning to Emergency Remote Learning.As we close one school year and begin to plan for the next, we still do not know what that year will have in store for us. We may be back to school face-to-face with a new normal. We may be online. We may use some combination of these models at different points during the school year. The process of preparing for all of these possibilities can seem overwhelming.Whether you have been teaching remotely for three months, or are just getting started -- Remote Learning at the beginning of the school year is going to be a new experience for all of us.Over six weeks, we will cover best practices, resources, and strategies to set your Remote Learning classroom up for success while providing you plenty of opportunities to brainstorm and share with colleagues. We will be providing specific focus throughout the course on supporting students with limited connectivity and for students with learning differences and other unique needs. These strategies will be focused beyond the COVID-19 crisis and will support you in bringing remote learning to your classroom whenever it is needed. At the end of the course, you will develop an action plan for your Remote Learning Classroom.
In the Information Age, problems look different. Information comes at us faster than ever before, and our ability to solve problems depends on us being able to make sense of and synthesize this information. We must also design new solutions using all available technology and tools.Digital-age problem solving combines three key skills and concepts essential to understanding and solving problems in the information age: data literacy, design thinking, and computational thinking. Data literacy is the ability to analyze, interpret, and tell stories using complex sets of data. Design thinking is the ability to understand problems and develop creative solutions. Computational thinking is the process of expressing solutions so that humans and computers can understand them.Throughout this MOOC-Ed, you'll have the opportunity to dig into digital-age problem solving, engage with its component skills and concepts, and learn how to integrate them into your instructional practice. This course will not be heavy on coding, and you won't need to know any code going in - it will focus on how to integrate digital-age problem solving in a practical way into your classroom.Course ObjectivesUnderstand the components of digital-age problem solving: design thinking, computational thinking, and data literacy;Connect digital-age problem solving to existing content and problem-solving processes;Engage in the digital-age problem solving process through simulated activities;Apply digital-age problem solving in a real-world context;View digital-age problem solving in a variety of careers and subject areas;Explore connections to computer science, coding, and making.
The Teaching Math to Young Children online professional learning will help you to more effectively support mathematics learning for young children. This online professional learning is organized around the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) “Teaching Math to Young Children” Practice Guide published in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse. Teaching Mathematics to Young Children follows the Practice Guide in being organized around five major research-based recommendations with specific classroom tools and applications that you can use to help you effectively implement the recommendations.
The Fraction Foundations MOOC-Ed 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.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.While classroom teachers are the primary audience, this MOOC-Ed is also relevant for teacher educators who provide preservice or inservice professional learning programs, along with teacher leaders, coaches and administrators who support classroom teachers.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.
The Teaching K-8 English Learners Online Professional Learning Course will help you more effectively prepare your students with limited English proficiency in elementary and middle grades with the skills they need to be successful in school. This is a critical challenge for elementary and middle school teachers as the number of English Learners continues to increase in the United States.The percentage of public school students designated as English Learners in the United States rose from 8.1 percent (3.8 million) in 2000 to 9.6 percent (4.9 million) in 2016 (Institute of Education Sciences, 2019). Moreover, a higher percentage of English Learners are concentrated in the lower grades of US public schools. For example in 2016, 16.2 percent of kindergartners were identified as English Learners while only 8.5 percent of 6th-graders; 6.9 percent of 8th-graders and 4.1 percent of 12th-graders were designated as English Learners (Institute of Education Sciences, 2019).This course draws on the recommendations of the Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School Practice Guide, published in July 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse. The Practice Guide, developed by a panel of expert researchers and practitioners, provides educators with specific, research-based recommendations for effective teaching practices. It focuses on the foundational skills that enable English Learners to understand academic vocabulary, integrate oral and written English language into content areas, develop written language skills, and participate in small-group interventions for literacy and EL development.The overarching goal is for participants to understand and be able to apply the panel’s recommendations to their teaching with K-8 Learners.
Computer Science Discoveries (CSD) is an introductory computer science curriculum for students in Grades 6 through 10 that takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data. The curriculum inspires students as they build their own websites, apps, games, and physical computing devices. CSD is designed to be taught as two single-semester courses or a year-long introductory course. All curriculum resources and tutorials are free and available at Code.org.CSD covers the following topics: problem solving, programming, web development, animations and games, the design process, data and society, and physical computing.
Every day we have opportunities to make data-based decisions and to consider how information we gather can inform us about what can be claimed about a situation, process, or larger collection. To prepare the next generation of data active citizens, we need to engage learners of all ages in investigations focused on making inferences and claims, supported by samples of data. This course allows you to learn, along with colleagues from other schools, how to emphasize inferential reasoning in teaching statistics through posing different types of investigative questions.
The Teaching Foundational Reading Skills MOOC-Ed will help you more effectively prepare your students in grades K–3 with the skills they need to become successful readers.