Broadband Access is Crucial

By: Megan Flanagan

EDCI325

Have you thought about it?

Have you thought about how your life would be affected if you did not have internet access?

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Have you ever lost power an hour before an online submission is due?

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For some students, this is what their life is like all the time because they do not have internet access at home.

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Why Doesn’t Everyone Have Internet?

Access, Access, Access!

People struggle to find and receive internet for many reasons. The two main reasons are:

• Money $
• Availability

Reasons Why Availability is an Issue

• Rural towns have limited areas for internet
• Kids live out of town and can’t go back to school to submit their work

Access to high-speed Internet in schools is particularly important for rural and low-income communities. When Internet connections in schools are too slow, and students don’t have access at home, students miss the benefits of educational technologies altogether. (NCSL).

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Reasons Why Money is an Issue

• Internet can be too expensive for families to attain
• Some families can’t afford cell-phone or laptops

This is especially true for those who live in rural or low-income communities, and it makes their homework harder to complete. It's often difficult for students in rural areas to get to their schools, which makes online connections at home all the more important. (EDWEEK).

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Access Affects Education

In today’s world, internet access is a must for students and something should be done to provide all students with that.

Nationally, the Federal Communications Commission notes that 7 out of 10 teachers assign homework that requires high-speed Internet access, yet in some communities, only 1 in 3 students can access the Web at home. (EDWEEK).

33%

Only 1 out of 3 students in some communities can access the internet at home. That is horrifying.

So, what are some ideas to fix this issue?

(Please brainstorm and comment ideas you don’t see in this show! Don’t be afraid to think of the “impossible”.)

Solutions

1. Propose something that mandates schools to:
• Provide laptops to all students
• Provide transportation to students after school hours (so they can use internet for schoolwork)
• Set amount of class time for online work

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2. Teachers could offer alternative assignments

3. All high speed internet in the United States should be free

4. Online schoolwork should be done in class

5. Schools drop the internet and go back to books

Issues with these solutions

If you are anything like me, you probably found a flaw with every possible solution listed.

1. It’s easy to want something mandated, but it’s not easy to actually get any of those things mandated. Easier said than done.
2. Some assignments are only online based with the sole purpose of educating students about online tools.
3. Free internet should exist, but it doesn’t and it doesn’t look like it will for a very long time. Our country is still trying to catch up with other countries.
4. The whole point in “homework” is to do work outside of class… at home and in class homework time takes away from a student's’ education.
5. If not all, then most colleges require papers to be typed. The most recent information for research can be found online. It’s 2017, handwritten official papers don’t exist anymore.

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Good solutions and problem solving take time.

Nothing Is Impossible

Even though some of the solutions are far fetched, it’s important to remember that anything is possible. Educators are innovators.