Online Teacher Professional Development
Partner: The Minnesota Humanites Center
To help with the challenges of scarce funding and restrictions on out-of-school training, the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Humanities Center are developing two professional development courses for teachers to access online, anywhere, anytime. The courses will reinforce the revised social studies standards and meet teachers' scheduling needs, creating greater teacher access and more cost-efficient delivery of programs. The first online professional development offering, African-American History in Minnesota, launched in September 2012. The course, designed for grade K–12 teachers, includes national history context, Minnesota content, individual stories of Minnesota African-Americans, and classroom-ready activities using primary sources. It provides teachers with content that will help them integrate more of Minnesota's African-American history into U.S. and Minnesota history courses. The next course, which focuses on a more general history of Minnesota, will launch in spring 2013.
History Partnerships. $1,500,000 the first year and $1,500,000 the second year are for partnerships involving multiple organizations, which may include the Minnesota Historical Society, to preserve and enhance access to Minnesota's history and cultural heritage in all regions of the state.