Education technology

5G could help solve the last-mile problem by bringing high-speed internet from the fiber backbone to the home. This hybrid solution could be a more realistic approach to connecting some areas of the country. However, the effort might still remain financially prohibitive for some providers, which might result in the need for the government to step in and subsidize part of the effort.

As the coronavirus crisis forces schools across the country to grapple with the challenges of providing remote learning, many schools and districts have had to get creative with low-tech forms of instruction and delivery that don’t require internet connections or digital devices. In Arkansas, where 23 percent of households lack internet service, and schools will be shut for the remain

Despite promises of help, families in the low-income neighborhoods of Watts, Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles have struggled to get online, with at least 16% of students lacking basic internet access, according to a survey of public school families in those communities released by the nonprofit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Many more students likely lack the high-speed internet connection needed for regular online academic work, according to the organization, which manages 18 L.A.

When schools across the country were forced to shutter abruptly last month, headlines plastered the news with urgent questions about remote teaching and learning in times of crisis. But what remains largely absent from media coverage, nationwide analyses, and research is home connectivity among teachers. Do all p+PreK-12 teachers have Internet access at home? Do they all have high-speed broadband that allows them to stream video and run Zoom classrooms, keeping up with the demands of schools and districts?

Students who don’t have reliable internet access at home can do their remote learning in parking lots, the School District of Philadelphia (PA) says. “Parking Lot” Wi-Fi is one of the options listed on the distrct website for kids whose households aren’t yet connected.

Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 to ensure that students have internet access during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic emergency. The legislation would create a special $2 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund at the Federal Communications Commission to disburse funds to schools and libraries, and Tribal schools and libraries, to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and internet-connected devices for students and patrons.
 

More than 700 telecommunications companies have signed on to the Federal Communications Commission's Keep Americans Connected Pledge. These collective efforts stand as a proud point of American solidarity, a silver lining in our hyper-polarized political climate. Unfortunately, these efforts do not go far enough to ensure that our most vulnerable students have online access. The fine print in many Internet service providers’ offers excludes those who enrolled within certain time frames or had debt histories with the company or other issues.

The debate on whether broadband is a luxury or an essential connection to society is over. More than twice as many people are now using residential broadband during business hours as before the COVID-19 crisis. Over 55 million students have been impacted by school closures. The use of telehealth has skyrocketed. This, I believe, is our broadband moment: a hinge of history that will determine whether today’s residential broadband is fit for the changed world in which we inhabit or whether its limits work to disadvantage those that are not equipped to use it.

As schools across the country transition to distance learning due to the COVID-19 crisis, a new Connected Communities and Inclusive Growth (CCIG) report documents the extent of the distance learning gap in Los Angeles County. The distance learning gap refers to the gap between students living in households with high-speed Internet and a desktop or laptop computer, and those without these essential resources for effective distance learning. Among the key findings are:

COVID-19 highlights society’s inability to cope, even amid the technology prowess of the US.  In the land that invented the microchip, we have neglected the fundamentals. One particular concern is how internet broadband is not available to many workers and students in some rural and inner-city areas and on Native American lands. If you can’t work or take classes from home because you don't have internet, you are at a distinct disadvantage.