Michigan Virtual University: Providing Online Learning Opportunities

Founded in 1998, Michigan Virtual University (MVU) is a 501(c)3 corporation that provides a variety of services to Michigan’s K–12 education community focused in the area of online learning. This article will outline the historical context in which Michigan Virtual University was created and how it has transformed to its current state. MVU is not an actual university. Rather, it provides services focused on Michigan’s K–12, not postsecondary environment. Furthermore, MVU does not issue diplomas. Examining the origins of MVU will help clarify why the organization’s name includes the term “university.”

Michigan Virtual University can trace its roots to 1996. At that time, representatives from three of Michigan’s major state universities—Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University—met with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to talk about how to successfully provide education and training to employees of the auto industry, Michigan’s largest manufacturing industry and the main economic engine for the state. As a result of these conversations, which also included the big three auto companies of Michigan—Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors—and funding provided by MEDC, the Michigan Virtual Automotive College (MVAC) was created. The focus of MVAC was to provide training to employees of the automotive companies on topics that were considered nonproprietary, and would be beneficial to employees of all the companies. Some specific areas they focused on were leaner manufacturing and workplace safety (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

After a few years, MEDC started to consider building capacity beyond the automotive industry and specifically utilize the Internet for broader workforce development. It was determined that MVAC was too narrow in its focus and that it was important to look at how training could be provided to other industries and fields in Michigan. Furthermore, MEDC recognized that they needed to consider how they could deliver this training in which time and distance were not a barrier to people located throughout Michigan (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

MVU was born in 1998 with the primary mission of providing workforce development to help improve economic development in Michigan. Interestingly enough, the K–12 education environment was not part of the initial focus for MVU. At that time MVU looked at training for adults in other major core workforce areas, including: manufacturing, healthcare, tourism, and small business development. Although MVU called itself a virtual university, it never had the intention of actually awarding diplomas or degrees. Its primary focus was always to provide supplemental training (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

Another important focus of MVU in its original state was to help Michigan colleges and universities develop the ability to provide online learning opportunities to college students. Most of the universities at that time did not have the infrastructure or systems in place to offer online courses. MVU worked with universities to develop the infrastructure as well as provide training to faculty on how to design and teach online courses. Fitzpatrick states that he believes that “MVU was a catalyst for changing online learning in the state of Michigan,” as a result of the conversations that were generated with universities throughout the state about the future of education and the inclusion of online learning as an integral component of that future (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

In late 1999, conversations began to take place between the president of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, MVU, the business community, and then-Governor of Michigan, John Engler, regarding the idea of MVU sponsoring a school that focused more on K–12 education. At that time, approximately 40% of Michigan’s schools had no AP offerings, so the focus of the school would be to provide Advanced Placement courses to high school students throughout Michigan. In 2000, Engler put a recommendation in the state budget to fund the concept of the Michigan Virtual School (MVS). The governor also recommended passage of Public Act 230 of 2000: legislation that would allow for the creation of MVS, operated by MVU (Michigan Virtual University, 2014a). The first major subdivision of MVU was born.

Although MVU was created with the intent of focusing on workforce development, after several years of the existence of the MVS, MVU determined in 2004 it was time to undergo a major reorganization. Under the direction of new leadership, the organization determined that it needed to shift its focus from higher education and the workforce and instead concentrate exclusively on K–12 education (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

Since 2004, MVU has held true to its commitment to focus on K–12 education and has expanded significantly to include two additional subdivisions. Michigan LearnPort provides online professional development and training to K–12 educators, and the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute engages in research activities to examine how to effectively implement online learning in K–12 schools.

MVU is a 501(c)3 corporation funded in part by the state’s general fund, but also brings in revenue through tuition, grants, and contracts. It is governed by a board of directors who represent a variety of industries, businesses, educational institutions (K–12 and postsecondary), and the state government. Michigan Virtual University provides governance, management, and fiscal oversight for all three of its subdivisions: MVS, Michigan LearnPort, and MVLRI (Michigan Virtual University, 2015a). Jamey Fitzpatrick serves as the president and chief executive officer of MVU. Table 1 outlines the leadership structure of Michigan Virtual University. The four levels of leadership of MVU provide governance, management and support for all three major subdivisions (Freidhoff, 2014).

MVS was established in 2000 with the passing of Public Act 230 of 2000. In the beginning, MVS focused on providing high school students access to online AP courses that were not available in their local schools. However, over the years MVS has expanded its course offerings and now provides over 200 different courses to students in multiple areas including academic core subjects, Advanced Placement courses, and credit recovery options (Michigan Virtual University, 2014b). MVS employs 17 full-time teachers and approximately 200 contract teachers to teach these courses. Although MVS course designers develop some of the course content, much of the content is purchased through thirdparty content providers. MVS hires highly qualified and certified teachers to teach its courses.

During the 2013–2014 school year MVS had over 21,000 course enrollments and since MVS’s inception they have had approximately 170,000 total course enrollments (J. Freidhoff, personal communication, April 6, 2015). Table 2 shows the breakdown of the content areas where the majority of the course enrollments were focused in 2013–2014.

As shown in Table 2, the majority of enrollments are in core content areas, with the exception of foreign language and literature. MVS also has enrollments in areas such as business and marketing; physical, health, and safety education; fine and performing arts; and computer and information sciences. However, each of these other categories represent less than 5% of the total enrollments (Michigan Virtual University, 2014b).

One key point to understand about MVS is that it is not a stand-alone cyber school and it does not issue diplomas. MVS would be more accurately described as a supplementary online learning program. Typically most students who enroll in courses take one or two courses to supplement the courses they take from their traditional brick-and-mortar school. Most courses cost in the range of $270–$300 (Michigan Virtual University, 2015a). However, today most students can take online courses from Michigan Virtual School for free due to legislation passed in 2013.

In 2013, the Michigan legislature passed Section 21f of the State School Aid Act, which provided that any student in 6th– 12th grade enrolled in a public school was eligible to enroll in up to two online courses per academic semester and that the district in which the student is enrolled is obligated to pay the cost for the course(s) using a portion of its state per-pupil foundation allowance. One key point regarding this provision is that the district is responsible only for paying for courses that replace courses the student would take as part of a normal course load. In other words, students in a traditional high school typically take six classes as a full course load. They could take four of their classes at their traditional school and then enroll in two online courses that the district would be responsible for paying for. Student who wants to take a larger course load than traditionally offered by their local school would be required to pay for those courses. Section 21f also allows for local school districts to create their own online courses that students can enroll in. All districts must advertise their courses through the Michigan Online Course Catalog and any student from any district can enroll in any course listed in the state catalog. By the 2013–2014 school year, there were over 319,000 virtual enrollments by 76,000 students across the state. Approximately 95% of those course enrollments were not provided by MVS, but through local school districts, cyber schools, and charter schools in the state (Freidhoff, 2014).

In the 2003–2004 school year, 3 years after Michigan Virtual School was established, Michigan LearnPort, an online professional development portal, was created. According to Jason Marentette, professional services manager for Michigan LearnPort, at the time it was established, LearnPort was funded entirely by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title II for the purpose of improving teacher effectiveness (J. Marentette, personal communication, April 6, 2015). By the 2008–2009 school year, Michigan LearnPort had over 45,000 user accounts and more than 300 courses in its course catalog (Michigan LearnPort, 2015).

In 2008, a needs assessment survey was given to educators throughout the state to help determine the areas in which educators felt they needed online professional development the most. The Michigan LearnPort Content Needs Assessment Survey had 600 people provide feedback about the type of courses they felt Michigan LearnPort should offer to help them grow professionally. The top five areas were: curriculum alignment and development, technology integration, assessment, differentiated instruction, and instructional strategies. At the time of the survey, Michigan LearnPort was already offering courses in all of the areas except assessment (Michigan LearnPort, 2008). By the school year of 2010–2011, Michigan LearnPort had over 60,000 user accounts.

A significant change occurred with Michigan LearnPort during the 2011–2012 fiscal year, when LearnPort began to be funded entirely by the State of Michigan’s General Funds (Michigan LearnPort, 2008). Marentette explains that this was a key turning point for the organization, as it allowed LearnPort to expand course offerings to a larger K–12 professional constituency beyond teachers. Offerings were created and made available to school employees at all levels, including administrators, counselors, paraprofessionals, food and nutrition workers, custodians, and other service providers (J. Marentette, personal communication, April 6, 2015). Courses expanded beyond teacher content, incorporating compliance training topics such as food safety, sexual harassment, and blood-borne pathogens training. Online courses in LearnPort are offered through a variety of means including self-paced study, instructor-led, and on-demand webinars.

Not only could teachers take courses to benefit themselves professionally, but teachers could also utilize many of these courses towards the renewal of their Michigan teacher certification. Additionally, in the 2013–2014 school year, Michigan legislation went into effect that changed the teacher certification renewal process to include teacher attendance on professional development days as an activity they could use towards that renewal. Since then, Michigan LearnPort has been working with school districts to see how it can better service the districts’ mandated professional development days with a blend of face-to-face training sessions and presentations and the online resources available through the Michigan LearnPort catalog. As of 2013–2014, LearnPort had over 81,000 user accounts and over 800 offerings in its catalog and it continues to grow (Michigan LearnPort, 2015). Marentette explains that LearnPort is now considering how the division can offer services and support for teachers and administrators on the state’s educator evaluation process (J. Marentette, personal communication, April 6, 2015).

Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute is the most recent addition to the Michigan Virtual University organization. It was established in 2012 when the state legislature approached MVU with the idea of creating an institute to help provide quality control and distill best practices of online and blended learning through scholarly research. The legislature passed Public Act 201 of 2012 that officially established Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute (MVLRI) as the third division of Michigan Virtual University (Michigan Virtual University, 2014a). According to the MVLRI website the primary goal of the division “is to expand Michigan’s capacity to support new learning models, engage in active research to inform new policies in online and blended learning, and strengthen the state’s infrastructures for sharing best practices” (Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, 2015).

Through a memorandum of understanding with the Michigan Department of Education and the Center for Educational Performance and Information, MVLRI uses student data to produce an annual effectiveness report. The findings from the most recent Michigan’s K–12 Effectiveness Report (Freidhoff, 2014) provided some important findings regarding online learning in Michigan, including:

1. Michigan students accounted for 319,630 virtual enrollments in the 2013-14 school year, an increase of over 134,577 virtual enrollments from the prior year. Only 5% of those enrollments were delivered by MVS.

2. Although almost 90% of enrollments were by secondary students (Grades 7-12), elementary level students had the highest year-over-year percentage growth.

3. Fifty-seven percent of virtual enrollments from virtual students ended with a completion status of “completed/passed.” Those same virtual students, however, passed their nonvirtual courses 71% of the time. In contrast, non-virtual learners passed their traditional courses 87% of the time.

4. Of the virtual learners taking courses, those taking courses through MVS had a passed/completed rate of 72%, while cyber schools had a rate of 54%, and local districts rate was 57%.

5. Students who tend to have lower levels of academic success are being directed to take virtual courses, primarily in core content areas.

According to Freidhoff (2015), these findings offer questions for MVLRI to consider as they look at research about best practices for online and blended learning implementation. For example, what types of support are local districts and cyber schools providing to students who take online courses? Although the 21f legislation includes a provision that local districts must provide a mentor for each student in their local district taking online courses, questions arise as to the quality and consistency of how those mentors provide support to students. The results of the most recent effectiveness report will help MVLRI determine where additional research and leadership efforts should be focused.

MVLRI has played a key role in developing and offering support for schools and students involved in online and blended learning. It has developed several publications to provide best practices and guidance on how to successfully implement or take advantage of online and blended learning courses. It developed a 21f “Implementation Guide” (Michigan Virtual University, 2014c) tool kit to help schools through the process of implementing the 21f legislation that allows students to take up to two online courses in place of courses taken in their local school. Another important publication that MVLRI was key in helping to develop was a parent guide (Michigan Virtual University, 2014e) that helps parents determine if online learning is best for their child and how to support their child through the process of successful completion of online courses.

MVLRI has also partnered with the International Association for K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL) for several other efforts that the institute is involved in. This includes working with iNACOL to manage the Research Clearinghouse for K–12 Blended & Online Learning (Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, 2015). The clearinghouse was established in February 2013, but contains articles predating 2013 (Research, 2015). Finally, MVLRI also maintains Michigan’s Online Learning Course Catalog and the Online Learning Orientation Tool (Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, 2015). The addition of MVLRI as the latest division of Michigan Virtual University has clearly been beneficial to supporting the implementation of online learning in the State of Michigan.

Michigan Virtual University has established itself as the key organization in the state to support online learning initiatives through its three major subdivisions: Michigan Virtual School, Michigan LearnPort, and Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute. MVU was founded on the idea of building the capacity of people in the state of Michigan to support and improve the economy. Jamey Fitzpatrick, chief executive officer and president, says that MVU is really all about “teaching more people how to fish” (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015). Fitzpatrick and those who support the efforts of MVU believe the best way to do this is to leverage technology to provide personalized learning opportunities for all students and educators in Michigan (J. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, April 7, 2015).

In an effort to plan for the future of MVU and its continued endeavors to support online learning in the state, the organization commenced a strategic planning process in the summer of 2013. Through that planning process, MVU developed five key goals (Michigan Virtual University, 2014a). Those goals are displayed in Table 3.

For each of the goals created, MVU has begun developing action strategies to support the attainment of those goals. Although MVU has served as a catalyst for implementation of online learning opportunities in Michigan, it recognizes there is much work still to be done to improve the quality and success of online learning delivery throughout the state. MVU’s current strategic plan has laid the groundwork for helping it achieve its vision of being “Michigan’s digital learning leader advancing personalized education for all learners” (Michigan Virtual University, 2014a, p. 8).