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Michigan Leads Digital Learning

“Michigan leads nation in digital learning”
Hillsdale Daily News
December 1, 2011

The national Digital Learning Council says, “Michigan is leading the nation in transforming education for the digital age.”
The Digital Learning Council’s mission is to define the policies that will integrate current and future technological innovations into public education. Its national campaign, Digital Learning Now!, advocates for policies that will create a high quality online learning environment to better prepare students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and careers.
Digital Learning Now! created the nation’s first ever digital learning report card, which assessed each state’s alignment to 72 metrics that were developed not the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning.
Michigan’s report card claimed that “Michigan was the first state in the nation to require students to take an ‘online learning experience’ to earn a high school diploma and its state virtual school (Michigan Virtual School) is one of the largest in the country. Michigan is advancing legislation this fall to expand digital learning.”
“At Michigan Virtual School, we’re proud of our role in bringing online courses to Michigan students,” said Jamey Fitzpatrick, president and chief executive officer of MVU, the parent company of Michigan Virtual School. “Through MVS, students can take a variety of courses and learn any place there is a computer and an Internet connection. We are a statewide resource for all schools to help prepare our children for a lifetime of integrating technology into their work and their lives.”
Of the 10 elements, Michigan scored highest in the areas of student access; barriers to access; and personalized learning. The entire report card can be found at digitallearningnow.com/nations-report-card/.
The report says that “access to a comprehensive catalog of online courses means a student in rural Indiana or inner city Detroit can learn Mandarin Chinese, forensic science or college-level calculus — regardless of whether their school offers these courses in a classroom.”
Michigan Virtual School offers public and non-public school students the opportunity to supplement their high school curriculum with courses that aren’t offered at their local school, like advanced placement courses and seven world languages, and to make up or get ahead in credits during the school year and in the summer.