Bridging Rural Gaps in South Dakota

Apr 8th, 2005

From the Chronicle of Higher Education.

A distance education program in South Dakota is having to deal with the difficulties of being perhaps too popular. The Center for Statewide E-learning was set up to provide college-prep courses–which are required for a state financial aid program–to high school students at schools that do not offer them. Many districts in the state are located in very rural areas and cannot afford to hire faculty to teach such classes. The popularity of the program, operated at Northern State University, has led the state's legislature to pass a bill assigning
levels of need to various schools. According to Erika Tallman, director of the center, registration begins at 9:00 a.m., and five minutes later "we have about 1,000 registrations." Tallman said no students have so far been left out, but some are put on waiting lists.

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