Desire2Blog

Here is the 10-minute video compilation of the highlights of Governor Pawlenty's visit to Lake Superior College on November 20, 2008 ( previous post here ). This video was produced by Gary Kruchowski and team from the Public Information office at LSC. Then we have the footage (about 1:30) below which was swept up from the cutting-room floor of yours truly stepping up the podium (unexpectedly) at the end of the press conference.

I only have one thing on my Christmas list for Santa. I want one of these.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty visited Lake Superior College today as part of his statewide sweep to announce his goal of having 25% of all MnSCU credits earned online by the year 2015. During the '07-08 academic year, the system of 32 two-year colleges and state universities had an online enrollment rate of 9.2% of the total registered credits. (Photo by Janet Blixt) "We live in an iPod world but much of our education system is dominated by whiteboards and lecture halls. We have students with different learning styles, different backgrounds, different capabilities, and exploding interest in online opportunities and services. We need to modernize the way college courses are delivered and put Minnesota on the cutting edge of online education." Some of the talking points of his address: Improve student access and support for online courses. Required online learning experience prior to high school graduation. (Possibly, but necessarily an online college course) $150 bonus t...

As best as I can tell, students using the new GI Bill to take online courses or other types of distance education offerings will be getting the short straw as far as benefits go. Apparently, if a student on the GI Bill is taking online courses, (s)he will not quality for the housing stipend that other "traditional" students would get: Monthly Housing Stipend If you are enrolled in a traditional college program as a half-time to full-time student, you will be paid a monthly housing stipend equal to the monthly Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for an E-5 with dependents. The average housing stipend will be approximately $1,100 a month. However, if you attend distance learning programs such as correspondence courses and online you will not qualify for this stipend. This language can be found here . This is clearly a bad thing, but not nearly as bad as what we first heard at the ITC Board meeting last week in DC. The rumor then was that the GI Bill couldn't be used AT ALL ...

I'll be heading to Phoenix this week for the annual WCET conference (at the Tapatio Cliffs, right). I have a presentation on Thursday with Al Essa from the MnSCU Office of the Chancellor which should be great fun. Al will be taking the pro side and I will be taking the con side in a debate about Second Life in higher ed. (Flickr CC photo by thorinside ) Immediately after that presentation late Thursday afternoon, I'll be heading to the airport to fly back to Minneapolis so that I can drive down to Mankato for their Teaching with Technology Conference on Friday morning. Missing the WCET sessions on Friday is most unfortunate since they will be having a panel discussion about the distance education provisions in the Higher Ed Act recently passed and signed into law. I feel a very great need to be in that room on Friday to argue against the position that WCET seems to be taking in this whole debacle. I've already written extensively about the clarifying language in the HE...