Governor Pawlenty Visits LSC to Promote Online Learning
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty held a news conference on Nov. 20 at Lake Superior College to discuss his online learning initiative for public higher education in the state. David Olson, chair of the MnSCU Board of Trustees, and Susan Heegaard, director, Minnesota Higher Education Office, also participated in the news conference.
“We live in an IPod world but much of our education system is dominated by whiteboards and lecture halls,” said Pawlenty. ” We have students with different learning styles, different backgrounds and 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.”
Lake Superior College was chosen as the site for the news conference because of its leading role in online education. Pawlenty repeatedly acknowledged LSC’s “pioneering efforts” and success in online education and recognized President Kathleen Nelson, Vice President of Technology and the E-Campus Barry Dahl, online faculty and staff for their efforts. Pawlenty has called for 25 percent of credits to be earned online by 2015 throughout the MnSCU system. He noted that LSC is close to reaching that goal now with nearly 25 percent of credits earned by LSC students taken online.
(Pictured left to right: faculty member Victoria Hutson, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences Hanna Erpestad, faculty member Tina Johnson, faculty member Susan Brashaw and President Kathleen Nelson) These faculty members, including Jocelyn Pihlaja, have been recognized for their outstanding online teaching.