This learning unit is divided into "just in time" sessions focusing on the Learning, Collaborating, Communicating and Data Collecting technology tools/resources/applications leaders need to complete the MI-LIFE courses and to become successful Digital Leaders. Each session will precede the ensuing learning unit for which the technology will be applied.

Goal: Encourage educational leaders to be confident technology users/leaders

Syllabus

This unit is comprised of one course, Optimizing Leadership, which provides the leadership foundation for the MI-LIFE Curriculum. Leaders will focus on self awareness as they journey through interactive, introspective reflection on their leadership skills, behaviors and responsibilities. Since each journey into leadership is unique, every traveler will chart his/her own course based on the personal data which emerges from collected information.

Goal: Stimulate, inspire and challenge educational leaders to confront and cultivate their personal/professional leadership capacity

Syllabus

Identifying the “Right Work” for continuous improvement in districts/schools and classrooms forms the basis of the two courses in this learning unit. 

Intersecting Data centers not only on what the data “says” but how the work may change when multiple sources of data are intersected and analyzed to create a more accurate district/school profile. Intended for non-statisticians, this course focuses on how to collect, analyze and make use of data intersections to improve all aspects of student achievement.

Goal: Motivate educational leaders to become adept users of multiple sources and types of data in decision making  

Syllabus

Aligning Systems, the first of two online courses, examines the interconnectedness among the elements that comprise the whole system to determine how a change in one area of the system may impact other areas of the system and how that influences the work to be done.

Goal: Provoke educational leaders to become system thinkers  

Syllabus

Doing the “Right Work” requires the MI-LIFE 3C’s for Instructional Leadership:
Coherence, Culture and Capacity.  (Click each link to access the Syllabus for the course)

The unit begins with Coherence, the second online course, which ensures that a process is in place for connecting curriculum with high-quality instruction and assessment followed by methods of monitoring and supervising to ensure that high-quality instruction is actually and consistently occurring in classrooms. 

Goal: Equip educational leaders to become proficient instructional leaders

Culture, the second course of this unit, explores the health or toxicity of the environment in a district/school. Learners develop powerful strategies to create the right culture for a purposeful and robust professional learning community that ultimately impacts student learning.

Goal: Prompt education leaders to develop healthy cultures and promote shared leadership

Capacity, the culminating course in the MI-LIFE program, views leadership not as the sole responsibility of the building or district leader but as a collective, shared potential among many stakeholders. This course engages the learners in building capacity to focus on the concepts of principle, purpose, and people.

Goal: Increase capacity by developing a purposeful professional learning community