We want to make you aware of two significant and positive updates impacting your students' Michigan Virtual experience this fall and pass along other timely information to help you navigate the busy season.
The new Student Pacing Tool is available in all courses in Brightspace, providing each student with a pacing schedule from the start or enrollment date (whichever comes later) through the published course end date.
Each schedule includes Target Submission Dates to encourage an early start and steady progress. If a target date is missed, a temporary zero appears in the gradebook and is replaced with the earned score when the assignment is submitted.
Target Submission Dates are for guidance. In flex-paced courses, students can work at their own pace and may still submit work after temporary zeros. AP courses maintain hard due dates, with teacher-applied penalties for late work. See Advanced Placement (AP) Course Policy.
💡Busy Mentor Tip: Ask your students to locate their pacing schedule, download it and print a copy for both you and the students.
Note: This tool applies only to courses in Brightspace. Essentials credit recovery courses delivered through the Buzz learning management system are not supported by the Student Pacing Tool.
Supporting Clear Communication with Students & Guardians
We know how important it is to keep students and families informed. You may want to share the following articles to help explain the pacing tool, grade displays, and progress reports:
Thank you for your partnership and support as we continue improving the student experience.
SLP Gradebook Updates
The SLP gradebook now displays both a Grade-to-Date and Overall Score providing enhanced grade data. Here’s what each one means:
Grade-to-Date: Reflects student performance on all assignments that have been assigned and graded so far.
💡Student Explanation Tip: “Think of Grade-to-Date as your current score at this point in the course.”
ℹ️Consider using Grade-to-Date to report athletic eligibility.
Overall Score: Shows performance across all course assignments, including ones not yet assigned, attempted, or graded.
💡Student Explanation Tip: “Think of Overall Score as your 'exit grade.' If you stopped working in the course today and received a score of zero for all remaining, unscored assignments and assessments, this would be your final score.”
Student Orientation
The Student Orientation to Online Learning, located in Brightspace and completed once per school year, helps set up students for a successful online learning experience. Students complete a lesson and must earn 100% on the ten-point quiz to access full course content.
The following Technical Requirements article provides a list of basic requirements for taking a course offered by Michigan Virtual. On a broad level, please contact your IT Administrator to add "[*.]mivu.org and "[*.]michiganvirtual.org.
If your school restricts web traffic, please work with your local tech staff to add required course domains and websites to the school's Allow List. Please refer to Michigan Virtual Course Allow List.
Mentor Community & Support Opportunities
You are not alone! Consider participating in the following mentor training and support opportunities:
Mentor Support Office Hours - Drop-in office hours, Mondays, 2:30 - 3:30pm. See details here.
MENTOR COMMUNITY & FORUMS
Mentor Meetups - Live, after-school Mentor Q & A/Discussion sessions via Zoom, starting September 11th. See fall schedule and registration links.
Mentor's Corner - Asynchronous resource hub and mentor forums. Visit the Mentor’s Corner, located in Brightspace.
Mentors make a difference. Thank you to our dedicated mentors for supporting students and partnering with Michigan Virtual to foster strong communication and positive outcomes.
Continuing Mentor Support
Andrea Kistler
MENTOR SUPPORT MANAGER
Andrea is the Mentor Support Manager at Michigan Virtual. If you have any mentoring-related questions, don't hesitate to email, call or text.
