More students should have access to online learning, and the federal e-Rate program should be more widely deployed and should embrace and encourage innovation, according to the National Broadband Plan, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled on March 16.
The plan laid out recommendations for ways to equip the country, including schools and libraries, with affordable broadband internet access—a necessity as education stakeholders work to ensure that all students are equipped for 21st-century careers. Unveiled after a year of intense deliberation among the FCC and various stakeholders, it aims to bring broadband internet to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020. Fourteen million Americans don’t have broadband access, even if they want a high-speed option, according to federal estimates.
Ultra high-speed connections—at least 1 gigabit per second, or 100 times faster than a typical broadband network—also would be made available at “anchor institutions” such as hospitals, libraries, and colleges, according to the FCC’s plan.
The FCC did not detail the cost of the broadband expansion, but commissioners have said auctioning portions of national airwaves would help fund the massive program. That money would add to the $7.2 billion allocated for high-speed internet in the economic stimulus package passed by Congress last year.
“The status quo is not good enough for America,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who mentioned the broadband plan’s potential for expanding the use of eBooks in education during his March 16 address. “If we don’t act, we are at risk.”
The federal broadband plan has direct implications for education that are addressed in a 22-page package. The plan recommends a set of rule-making goals for establishing minimum broadband connectivity for schools and libraries and prioritizing funds accordingly, while giving schools and libraries more flexibility to purchase the lowest-cost broadband solutions.
To realize the plan’s goals, the FCC on Sept. 23 voted to upgrade and modernize the federal $2.25 billion-a-year e-Rate program by allowing schools to make e-Rate funded, internet-enabled computers available to the community after normal school operating hours—a step that supporters and stakeholders say will help students and community members build important digital literacy skills.
The FCC also voted to let e-Rate participants use funds to connect to the internet in the most cost-effective way possible, including through existing state, regional, and local networks or by employing unused fiber-optic lines already in place. And the agency approved a pilot program that will support off-campus wireless internet connectivity for mobile learning devices. The pilot will explore the benefits that low-cost, accessible mobile devices can bring to students, including helping to close the technology access gap between children from affluent communities and those from economically disadvantaged areas.
A new analysis of Census data, released Nov. 8 by the Commerce Department, shows the need for a federal broadband strategy. The U.S. still faces a significant gap in residential broadband use that breaks down along incomes, education levels, and other socio-economic factors, even as subscriptions among American households overall grew sevenfold between 2001 and 2009.
What’s more, even when controlling for key socio-economic characteristics, the U.S. continues to confront a racial gap in residential broadband use, with non-Hispanic white Americans and Asian-Americans more likely to go online using a high-speed connection than African-Americans and Hispanics.
The national broadband plan that federal regulators delivered to Congress in March doesn’t go far enough to satisfy some experts, who warn that the United States would still trail other industrialized nations in prices and speed, reports the Associated Press. That’s because the proposal fails to bring adequate competition to a duopoly broadband market now controlled by giant phone and cable TV companies, critics say.
According to the New America Foundation, a 100-megabit broadband connection costs as little $16 per month in Sweden and $24 per month in Korea, while service that is only half that fast costs $145 per month in the U.S. “What I want is big bandwidth for cheap prices,” said Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative. “But the plan punts on competition.”
One development that could help spur broadband expansion is the opening up of television “white spaces” for use as high-speed internet conduits. The FCC voted unanimously Sept. 23 to allow the use of these so-called “white spaces” between TV stations to deliver broadband connections that can function like Wi-Fi networks on steroids. The agency is calling the new technology “super Wi-Fi” and hopes to see devices with the new technology start to appear within a year.
Education officials also will be closely watching the agency’s efforts to enforce “net neutrality,” which has important implications for schools. By a 3-2 vote in December, the FCC passed new rules meant to prevent internet service providers from discriminating against certain types of online content, with all three of the commission’s Democrats voting for the measure and both Republicans voting against it. The new rules might not be the safeguard that schools and colleges were hoping for, however, as net-neutrality supporters believe the new policy might lead to “bidding wars” that could leave smaller schools without access to a high-speed web connection.
Related links:
Education goals in National Broadband Plan revealed
FCC survey shows need to teach internet basics
FCC announces Children’s Agenda for broadband
National Broadband Plan focuses on e-Rate, online learning
Competition missing from broadband plan, some say
Pennsylvania establishes first statewide Digital Learning Library
Could net-neutrality ruling hinder online education?
Public access to school computers raises questions
FCC aims to simplify e-Rate, expand funding
FCC votes to reconsider broadband regulations
Feds to create an Online Learning Registry
Net-neutrality agreement sparks concerns
Opinion: Corporate policy making would result in a net loss
FCC seeks input on rules for online services
Coming soon: ‘Super Wi-Fi’ connectivity?
e-Rate gets facelift with wireless pilot, community access
FCC opens up unused TV signals for broadband
House Democrats punt on net neutrality
e-Rate administrator: New rules should help fund more applicants
Troubling gaps still exist in broadband use
New report highlights barriers to online learning
FCC to vote on net neutrality rules
Education disappointed by net-neutrality ‘loopholes’
- Virginia’s Portsmouth Public Schools Expands Partnership with Discovery Education to Bring Students in Grades 7-12 State-of-the-Art Digital Resources - September 27, 2023
- Illustrative Mathematics Announces IM® 360 for K-12 Educators and Students - September 26, 2023
- CASEL Announces New Cohort of SEL Fellows to Support Young People Nationwide - September 26, 2023