The Michigan House of Representatives reported its 2008 budget recommendations last week. The budget included $38,000,000 for 21st century learning environments. The idea was for the Michigan Dept of Ed to work with school districts, ISDs, businesses, and innovative education organizations to create a state-wide initiative to create academic content and digital curriculum. The funds would be used to provide professional development, create a content repository, coordinate efforts with other programs, and assist districts in obtaining innovative content creation and distribution tools.
Sounds great! However the Detroit News and Free Press (to name a few newspapers) reported that the state would purchase an i-Pod for every Michigan student. Letters to the editor written by Michigan citizens about this idea have been less than favorable, as you might guess.
The initiative as laid out by the legislature is much more than a device purchase program. It includes professional development for educators, sharing of resources, and collaboration. It's too bad that the initial communication to the public was done in a way that leads to negativity.
I am reminded once again that the leaders of our state are supporters of educational technology to be used to improve instruction.
It's a really cool idea...on the surface. With the state unable to even balance this year's budget, actually cutting from the 2006-07 school budget, I don't think it's the time to even consider this.
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