I didn’t see any media coverage, but the Kentucky Legislature launched a new “2012 Task Force on Student Access to Technology” on July 24, 2012 to determine the state of the state in digital learning in our classrooms and how we can enhance that.

One task force goal will be to develop legislation to enhance access and overcome possible obstacles in current Kentucky law.

The first meeting of the task force, co-chaired by Kentucky Senator Katie Stine and Kentucky Representative Carl Rollins, took place in the Capitol Annex in Frankfort on July 24, 2012. Main topics included the use of mobile computing devices by students and the current challenges to get adequate high speed Internet access in every school.

Both of these topics are among those discussed in our 2011 report, “Digital Learning Now, Obstacles to Implementation in Kentucky.” Legislators on the task force are being provided with that report along with other documents prepared for the Kentucky Department of Education.

Two follow-on meetings of the task force have already been scheduled on August 27, 2012 at 1 p.m. and on September 25, 2012 at 10 a.m.