Same presentation as delivered 10/19/11 without video.

1. MTDA Connect Credit Recovery
Program
MCEL 2011 in Great Falls, MT
Ryan Schrenk, Ed. D.
Montana Digital Academy

2. Summary for Today
About MTDA
About MTDA Connect
Interview with a Facilitator
Connect CR – Lessons Learned
Connect vs. Original
Support Tutorial Tour
New Initiatives
Questions or Requests for Seeing anything?

3. MTDA Connect – Brief History
http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=&pg=7767

4. PJW College of Education at UM

5. MTDA Connect – Brief History
• Montana
• 630 miles x 255 miles
• 147,000 square miles
• 1 million people
• Hundreds of Schools
• MTDA=border to boarder
• MTDA Started in 2009
• Classes – Fall 2009
• Ryan hired – Dec. 2010
• Connect Launch – Feb 2011

6. How Our Digital Program Works
Students enroll
Local schools
through the
retain large
local district and
amount of local
NOT directly
control
with MTDA
All teachers are
Teachers subject
employed
to local
through public
bargaining unit
school districts
and local
and not directly
expectations
from MTDA

7. Unique Relationships and Partners
(broad support) :-)
MEA-MFT
Montana Montana
University School Boards
System Association
Montana Rural School
Education Administrators
Association of Montana

8. MTDA Founded in 2009 Legislature
Serve K12 Students in Montana through Public
Schools
Governing Board
Director (CEO) Curriculum Director (Vice CEO)
Montana licensed teachers
Core subjects, dual credit enrichment

9. About MTDA
Montana’s Statewide Digital Academy
Serve over 170 Districts
Original Credit Fall 2010
Schools wanted flexible alternative
Piloted Connect Credit Recovery/Hired Ryan December
Full roll-out Feb 2011 (Handout of Course Titles)
Piloting Middle School Language Sampler this Fall
4 Staff Members

10. Connect Model
PLATO PLE + MTDA Staff + Local Facilitator + Coach
MTDA Technical Support
School Assigns Credit/Decides when credit is recovered
MTDA works closely with company to make it better
Enrollments
Fall 2010 - 62
Spring 2011 - 496
Summer 2011 – 678
Fall 2011 (as of 10/11/11) – 900 (final numbers in January)

11. Facilitator Input
Q and A from an MTDA Site Facilitator
8 mins. (recorded by Jason/edited by Ryan using Video Pad)
Tell us about MTDA Connect at your high school.
What inspired your school to be the first to get involved?
What is the most prevalent benefit?
What should we change?
How is the academic area coach model working?
How has online credit recovery changed your school’s approach
to CR?
Do you see the program growing in the future?
Do you have plans for tracking students who take part?

12. Video Cut Out To Allow Upload to Slideshare

13. Connect Model Lessons Learned
Misuse of MTDA Original/True CR Model was needed
Coach + Local Facilitation + MTDA Staff team is critical
Communication needed for student success
Locking Mastery Tests after 2 tries
Unit and Semester Post-tests locked by coaches
Estimating License Needs is Challenging
Integration with SIS is needed and critical

14. New Initiative – Configure and
Customize PLE
Branded as Connect Credit Recovery Program
Created Scalable/Consistent Setup of Classes
Example: Spring 2011 Algebra 1A Big Sky
Hired Coaches
Opened Registration February 1, 2011
Used manual enrollment process
Emailed attachments/processed by hand
Individual and group orientations

15. Connect and Original Credit
Connect Original Credit
Uses PLATO Learning Uses Moodle LMS
Environment (PLE)
Grades not passed back into Grades are passed back to
Genius Genius
Curricular Area Coaches, MTDA Teacher and MTDA
facilitators and MTDA Staff Staff
Facilitator logs into PLATO Facilitator stays in Genius for
for tracking info tracking info
Communication within Plato Communication in Moodle
Messaging System or or using MTDA e-mail.
personal e-mail

16. Support/Tutorial Page
Tutorials to Show
Logging In
Tracking Account Logins
Tracking Curriculum Progress
Unlocking Tests
Printing Grade Reports

17. New Initiative 1 – Integration Project
Discussed Plan/Started in August
Integrated GeniusSIS and PLATO
Student accounts, enrollments and classes
Demo
Can Enroll a student in Genius/show in PLE!
Questions?

18. New Initiative 2 – Student Retention
Applying our lessons learned from the past year
Students need support from our Connect Team
Enhanced Upfront Preparation
Entrance Counseling Form (First Look Today)
Input?
Ongoing Support will Continue…more focused on staff
Coach contact info and monthly meetings
Facilitator orientation and as-needed support

19. Technology Used and Resources for
Coaches and Facilitators
New Website Layout Fall 2011
http://montanadigitalacademy.org
SSO - GeniusSIS, Moodle and PLATO Learning Environment
School, parent and student portals
Wikispaces tutorials
http://montanadigitalacademy.wikispaces.com/
Gotomeeting for virtual meetings
Archives of gotowebinars on website
http://montanadigitalacademy.org/schools
Ringcentral for fax-to-Email service
Customized number (855-406-MTDA)

20. Questions or Requests for Demo
Can do live demo or screen shots and respond to
audience questions with information
Can show SSO to PLE
Choose your own adventure…

21. Contact Info
Ryan Schrenk
ryan.schrenk@montanadigitalacademy.org
http://www.montanadigitalacademy.org
Twitter: ryanschrenk
Skype: ryan.schrenk
Presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/rschrenk