Today we have Congressman Fred Upton talking to six local high school classes in Bangor, Buchanan, Coloma, Decatur, Edwardsburg, and Lawton. This annual conversation is a treat for our local government classes. Mr. Upton also very much enjoys this conversation with the students. Here’s a sampling of the questions: 
- What can we do to stimulate economic growth in Michigan?
- Will we need passports to go to Canada in the near future?
- Would you consider a law banning gay marriage?
- Since you have almost never missed a vote, why do you think it’s so important?
- How are we taking care of our National Guard’s needs and can we do more?
- What is Congress doing to battle the viewing of inappropriate websites by young students?
- I participated in HeadStart when I was younger and I really appreciate the benefits it’s given me growing up. What are you doing to continue this program in our state?
- What is the most important bill in Congress at this time and why?
- Do you think we should be spending more research dollars on alternative fuels?
- Governor Granholm is considering increasing the minimum wage in Michigan. Do you think we should do this at a national level?
Great conversation and discussion on a wide range of current issues! Thanks students and teachers for preparing such great questions!
About Janine Lim
Janine Lim, PhD, currently serves as associate dean for online higher education in the School of Distance Education at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, MI. She and her team support over 200 online courses, provide training for faculty teaching online, and work with the campus infrastructure support of online learning. Her department also provides educational technology and Moodle support for faculty and students. In addition, Janine is responsible for the faculty and courses of the Consortium of Adventist Colleges and Universities. Janine has taught over 15 unique graduate educational technology classes online numerous times over the past 15 years, with some classes attracting participants from all over the world. Her undergraduate teaching includes social media courses for communication and digital media majors. Janine has served on the board of the United States Distance Learning Association since April 2015.
Prior to her work at Andrews University, Janine coordinated distance education for 22 K12 school districts in southwest Michigan for 14 years. In that position, as one of the co-founders of TWICE, Michigan’s K12 Videoconferencing Organization, Janine has spearheaded popular international K12 videoconference projects such as Read Around the Planet and MysteryQuest. While still serving on the board of TWICE, she was instrumental in designing and implementing the CAPspace website for collaborative videoconference projects. Janine also served on a team of Michigan educational technology trainers providing a workshop called ATA Technology Academy.
Her current online learning research interests include successful teacher behaviors, quality online discussions, and student activity patterns in self-paced courses.
Videoconferencing Out on a Lim 