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Minn. State Colleges Aim For More Online Courses

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Nov 20, 2008 3:05 pm US/Central

Minn. State Colleges Aim For More Online Courses

ST. PAUL (AP) ― The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is aiming to deliver a quarter of its college credits through online courses by 2015.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and MnSCU Board of Trustees Chairman David Olson announced the goal in a series of news conferences Thursday, including one at the Capitol.

Pawlenty -- who is pushing online learning at both the high school and college levels -- said the goal will modernize college coursework and help bring Minnesota into the iPod age. He plans to encourage the University of Minnesota to aim for the same goal.

"We're going to push it as a performance measure," Pawlenty said.

The Republican governor added: "As requests come forward for more buildings, for example, we're going to say, `How are you doing on your online goal?"'

DFL Rep. Sheldon Johnson of St. Paul said he supports the emphasis on online learning but hopes Pawlenty will come up with money to extend broadband services across the state.

"If it was going to rise to a performance standard, I'm not sure how you would make that work if not all students from the schools were able to access it," Johnson said.

Olson said the 32-campus MnSCU system is committed to increasing the number of Internet-earned credits, which reached 9.2 percent during the last academic year. About a quarter of MnSCU students took at least one online course.


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