The Case for Michigan's Online Learning Mandate

By Bruce Umpstead, Director, & Barbara Fardell, Manager, Office of Educational Technology & Data Coordination Michigan Department of Education

In a recent editorial in K-12 Tech Trends by Patricia Deubel, Ph.D, " Should States Mandate Online Learning," the author questions Michigan's new high school graduation requirement, which mandates students take an non-credit online course or learning experience.

It should be noted that, in addition to this experience, Michigan has adopted 16 credits state graduation requirements, including four credits in mathematics and three in science—yes, Algebra, Algebra II, Biology, and Chemistry which will go into effect for the Class of 2011.

Truly, we live in exponential times, where adults have become Digital Immigrants and students Digital Natives, where each day students spend 6.2 hours using electronic media. It is estimated by a student's 21 st birthday, he or she will have personally sent more than 250,000 messages. Currently, the amount of new technology is doubling every two years. It is predicted to double every 72 hours by 2010.

Why should students have an online learning experience? To quote Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm: "Our online learning requirement makes Michigan a leader among all the states in using the power of the Internet to create learning opportunities in the classroom, the home, and the workplace. In a world that demands life long learning, we are giving our students and our state a competitive advantage when it comes to landing the good-paying jobs of the 21st Century economy."...

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2007 Sylvia Charp Awards

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Share Your Best Practices

T.H.E. Journal is currently looking for the following types of articles for future issues and for our eNewsletter, T.H.E. SmartClassroom:

• School Perspectives - discuss a specific topic, trend, or concern about education technology.
• Case Studies – have you implemented technology and learned a lot from the experience? If so, share your efforts about what worked -- and what didn't.

If you have a potential article, or questions about the above topics, please e-mail [email protected]

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