Burnsville legislator’s bill: Tech time needed for diploma

• Tweet
• 
• 
• 

• Tweet
• 
• 
• 

Measure would require students to have digital learning

by T.W. Budig
Sun Thisweek

When Rep. Pam Myhra watches pre-kindergartners methodically working with their parents’ iPads or smart phones, she sees possibilities.

“The potential is really quite amazing,” Myhra said of the impact the digital world on education.

Myhra, R-Burnsville, who serves on the House Education Finance Committee, saw her legislation requiring high school students to take at least one course with a digital technology component pass the Republican House on March 30 on a 96 to 32 vote.

“Digital learning is so exciting,” said Myhra, speaking off the House floor.

It’s a mean of tailoring learning to students, allowing them to move at their own speed, she explained.

Myhra describes her bill, a graduation requirement for high school seniors beginning in 2017, as flexible.

School districts are allowed to shape the requirement to fit their school districts, she explained.

This could mean “blended” coursework involving digital and more traditional forms of education.

“It doesn’t have to be a virtual course,” said Myhra, referring to online learning.

Myhra’s bill evoked lengthy debate on the House floor.

Some lawmakers argued the bill failed to recognize that school districts vary in terms of technology.

“You’re basically setting up another achievement gap,” said Rep. Michael Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park.

But other lawmakers, such as Rep. Gene Pelowski Jr., DFL-Winona, holding aloft a smart phone on the House floor, argued the digital revolution could not possibly be ignored.

Rep. Bob Dettmer, R-Forest Lake, who serves on the House higher education committee, said digital technology has already profoundly affected higher education.

“We need to follow this in K-12,” he said.

Myhra, too, indicated that in the race between digital technology and education it was education straining to keep up.

Myhra has been working on a handful of bills this session.

“This is one of the keys ones,” she said.

The legislation is destined for conference committee with the Senate.

T.W. Budig can be reached at tim.budig@ecm-inc.com.