United States House of Representative Kristi Noem is traveling around South Dakota to gather information regarding online learning at the state’s colleges. Noem was at the University Center in Sioux Falls on Thursday.
Noem is discussing electronic learning with representatives from South Dakota State, Dakota State, the University of South Dakota and Southeast tech. The congresswoman is currently co-chair for the Congressional E-Learning Caucus. Noem says her main goal is to gather information and report back to Washington about what can be done to improve online learning. She says South Dakotans come from a variety of situations where online classes can be beneficial.
"We live long distances away from universities, sometimes lifestyles don’t allow people to be able to commute or live on campus; dollars are tight. They may need to work while they are taking classes, so online learning is very important to make sure that they still have the opportunities that those traditional students have," Congresswoman Noem says.
Noem says there are some challenges to ensure online students can continue coursework to earn their degrees.
"Well you know each state wants to have control over the education that’s going on within its boarders, so some of the challenges will be balancing that but still allowing those students to take possible courses from universities that might be in a different state. Also, as students move from state to state or our military personnel, which are high users of our online classes, that there can be a continuous education process while they’re moving around," Noem says.
Health challenges also present problems for student in traditional classrooms. Kelsey Schumann is a senior at the University of South Dakota. She says last fall she needed open heart surgery so she took online courses.
"I was concerned that I’d have to quit school in the spring and not take classes but I talked with the faculty and my advisor through USD about the possibility of all online learning. I was able to take four classes, which was twelve credits of online while I was at home in Minnesota recovering," Schumann says.
Schumann says online classes kept her on track.
"If I did not have online classes I wouldn’t be able to graduate in December of this year so I'm very excited and that’s why I like online learning," Schumann says.
Schumann is one example of the students Representative Kristi Noem says prove the success of online classes. She says E-courses can also help students who need to work full time, gain a degree.
