Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Cost is still keeping districts from boosting broadband speeds

Cost remains the biggest hurdle for schools trying to increase broadband connectivity speeds for students, according to CoSN’s 2017 Annual Infrastructure Survey.

The majority of school districts–85 percent, to be exact–meet the Federal Communications Commission’s short-term goal for broadband connectivity of 100 Mbps per 1,000 students, according to the survey.

The survey collected feedback from 445 large, small, urban, and rural school district leaders nationwide and examines the current state of technology infrastructure in U.S. K-12 districts.…Read More

Interesting: Rural schools are outpacing others on in-school tech access

Although schools in rural areas traditionally hit roadblocks when it comes to securing technology tools and high-speed internet access in classrooms and student homes, a new study suggests students in those schools actually outperform their urban and suburban peers in access at school.

The data comes from data management and learning analytics firm BrightBytes, which analyzed more than 180 million data points collected via a national survey gauging educational technology access, use and effectiveness across 8,558 U.S. schools.

The study compares characteristics of the top 5 percent and bottom 5 percent of schools and looks at factors that impact technology access and use. And according to that data, rural schools outpace urban and suburban schools when it comes to providing technology to students and teachers.…Read More

A whopping 6.5M students lack high-speed internet

More than 39 million U.S. students have high-speed internet access at school, and 94 percent of school districts meet the minimum 100 kbps per student goal set by the Federal Communications Commission, according to a new report.

The State of the States report from nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, now in its third year, shows that an additional 5.1 million students gained high-speed access in the classroom.

The report also reveals that the gap between students with high-speed internet access and those without is particularly troubling in rural areas–1,587 rural K-12 schools still don’t have the infrastructure necessary to support the high-speed internet and digital resources educators need to teach students with the latest technologies.…Read More

Learn how this state is expanding off-campus connectivity for students

Challenges surrounding technology access remain significant obstacles today, and states often struggle to help students find internet connectivity outside of school. But in Minnesota, a new grant program is changing that.

The Internet Broadband Expansion for Minnesota Students grants help provide students with the high-speed internet connections needed to complete homework and access other online learning opportunities.

The new grant funding will allow districts to equip buses with wireless hotspots, enabling students to complete homework while commuting. The funding also will be used to purchase wireless hotspots, data cards, and other mobile broadband devices that students will be able to check out for use at home.…Read More

Infographic: Why mobile technology is hurting some students

[Editor’s Note: Read “Infographic: The edtech challenges faced by immigrant students” here.]

Although most children in families earning below the median U.S. household income have internet access and devices that connect to it, they struggle with being “under-connected.”

Ninety-four percent of families surveyed by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, have some kind of internet access and most have at least one device connecting to the internet, but the quality or consistency of their internet access is lower than they would like it to be.…Read More

Why are rural schools still struggling with high-speed internet access?

Despite federal and state progress expanding high-speed internet access to more schools across the nation, rural school districts are still playing catch-up. Now, new efforts offer opportunities to improve connections speeds–and along with them, learning.

Learning is increasingly digital, and rightfully so–today’s students are developing technology skills that are in high demand in a connected global economy. In fact, many students’ skills will fulfill requirements for jobs that don’t yet exist today.

But to be competitive and succeed in college and the workforce, students need high-speed internet access to use digital learning resources and digital tools. Rural schools and their communities often face tougher battles for high-speed internet than their suburban or urban counterparts. Often, service providers don’t deem it financially beneficial to extend high-speed capability out to rural areas and rural districts. And when they do, it’s very costly.…Read More

Report: Broadband access making ‘dramatic’ progress

Eighty-eight percent of U.S. school districts have reached the minimum connectivity–100 kbps per student, as recommended by the Federal Communications Commission–to help students effectively use technology in the classroom.

The data comes from the second annual State of the States report from the nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, which analyzed 2016 FCC E-rate data representing 10,499 school districts and more than 38 million students.

According to the data, this mean that 88 percent of school districts–38 million students–are achieving the minimum connectivity goal.…Read More

Innovative district expands access like never before using E-rate

Thanks to a major funding refresh, one district found that it’s now possible to support its one-to-one initiative without scaling back access for other services or devices. Could your district do the same?

The Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) historic E-rate modernization in 2014 paved the way for districts to expand their high-speed broadband and wi-fi and increase digital learning opportunities for students.

Before the modernization, Category 2 services were called Priority 2 services and were funded only after all requests for Priority 1 services (telecommunications services and internet access) were funded–but that meant most schools had no leftover E-rate funding for wi-fi equipment and other internal connections.…Read More

5 infrastructure concerns for district technology leaders

The growing need for more internet bandwidth is being pushed by an increase in the number of students with devices, according to CoSN’s Annual Infrastructure Survey.

Increases in online assessments and digital content also drive the need for higher bandwidth, according to the report.

The report addresses key areas of concern for school districts, including affordability, network speed and capacity, reliability and competition, digital equity, security, and cloud-based services.…Read More