April 2018
Find Savings and Flexibility with EduPaths
All ISDs have the unique challenge to offer educators quality professional development (PD) materials, and Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District (GOISD) is no exception. GOISD provides service to six local districts, approximately twenty-two hundred students across a twenty-five hundred square mile radius. Due to geographic challenges, GOISD has offered a 3rd party source of online professional development for the past six years.

In April 2018, leadership from GOISD and local districts explored how EduPaths might be a replacement for the current PD solution. EduPaths content is created by educators at all levels - from classroom teachers to national content experts - and designed to be not only highly engaging but also provides multiple on and off ramps. EduPaths courses are 100% online, free, and not facilitated - allowing teachers from any location to access them "Any Time, Any Place, Any Where, Any Pace".

Beginning in May 2018, educators from GOISD local districts will start the quick process of creating an account with EduPaths where they can explore the FREE Professional Development and earn FREE SCECHs. This partnership will provide GOISD an estimated cost savings of $14,000 annually . EduPaths and GOISD are looking forward to the expanded opportunities this partnership will provide.

EduPaths stats as of April 2018:
  • Completed Enrollments: 22,286 (+2,089 from March)
  • SCECHs awarded: 11,165 (+1,120 from March)
  • Registered Users: 9,318 (+432 from March)
  • Published Courses: 219 (+1 from March)

To learn more about EduPaths, please visit https://www.edupaths.org and https://www.edupaths.org/Home/About .
Announcing $0.46 Mbps/month
Effective July 1st, 2018
The Michigan State Education Network (MiSEN) was created from collaboration of the Technology Readiness Infrastructure Grant (TRIG). MDE’s vision for the SEN builds on the work done by ISDs and local districts that built regional networks. Connecting these existing networks laid the foundation for the MDE/DTMB vision for the SEN - connect these regional networks into seamless digital paths connecting all K-12 buildings in Michigan. The goal was to leverage the work that local education agencies and ISDs have done over the past 20 years - to build regional networks that improve and reduce costs by sharing resources like server hosting, tech expertise, application support, Internet access, and more. Working with Michigan’s fiber-network vendor community played a critical role in efficient implementation of the State Education Network (SEN) in creating broad-reach infrastructure and engineering expertise.

During the grant years, Phase I - connecting 55 ISDs - was successfully completed in July of 2017. Several ISDs were immediately able to save money replacing locally-leased connections with connections over to the SEN. Some areas were paying as high as $8.50 Mbps/mo - and the SEN’s rate, effective July 1, 2018, is only $0.46 Mbps/mo . 

ISDs improved security and reliability by avoiding the commodity Internet for the INTRA -net traffic. They had more secure connections to student data servers located at the SEN’s five aggregation hubs. And ISDs saw significant reduction in Internet access costs due to bulk purchasing of bandwidth. Savings ranged from 3-fold reduction for some ISDs to a 15-fold reduction for others. Annual savings for the first 18 ISDs connecting for Internet access is $714,478/year. The SEN also leveled the playing field by using the SEN to connect rural areas to competitive pricing available in urban markets. The SEN implemented 10GB connections from each ISD (some up to 100GB) to the SEN backbone which operates at 100GB.

Phase II will identify unconnected and under-served K-12 buildings. The goal is to extend the savings and other benefits noted above to buildings not currently connected to the SEN. Analysis is underway to identify un-served or under-served school buildings. E-Rate will play a critical role in addressing the initial capital costs and ongoing operating costs.

How can your district take advantage of these exciting cost savings? Email [email protected] for more information.
Looking for Information on how to Start a Robotics Team at your School?
Looking for Information on how to start a robotics team at your school? The MDE Office of Systems, Evaluation, and Technology's (OSET) Educational Technology Unit would like invite you to attend the FIRST Steps Conference being held on Friday, April 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Cobo Center during the FIRST World Championships in Detroit.  The FIRST Steps Conference has been designed especially for districts and schools that do not yet have a FIRST Robotic team. The session will provide new teams with the tools and information they need to start a team. Topics will include: funding sources, STEM workforce growth, and brainstorming on how to make FIRST work in your community.  Registration for the conference is free. Check out the agenda here. 
Opportunity for Educators to Create for EduPaths
This summer EduPaths is looking for educators in the fields of Health, Physical Education, World Languages, and the Visual, Performing and Applied Arts. These PD areas are not often addressed on district PD days. It would be wonderful to develop great courses that benefit these teachers around the state!

So, we are reaching out to our educators to develop content for educators - keeping this wealth of content growing and expanding!

EduPaths will compensate educators for the content they create, and provide SCECHs for their participation in the required training.  See our flyer - EduPaths Content Creation 2018 .
There is still time to register for the 2018 Best Practices Apple Academy! It will take place June 19-21, 2018 at Ingham ISD. Email [email protected] for more information and registration requirements!
Join REMC at a two-day work shop in June for "Everyone Can Code" at 5 different locations across lower Michigan. See more details here or r egister here !
1001 Centennial Way, Suite 300 | Lansing, MI 48917
Phone: (517) 327-5910