Yesterday, president obama and secretary duncan launched the connected initiative—a decision to connect 99 % of schools across the country to broadband internet at intervals 5 years. the president issued this challenge whereas visiting north carolina’s mooresville graded college district, perhaps one of the most heralded examples of tech-infused education within the whole country. mooresville, perhaps one of the lowest-funded districts in north carolina, invested six years ago because we are part of a district-wide “digital conversion, ” and most definitely has since leapfrogged to top on your state rankings.
The online is a robust tool for putting participating learning resources, on-demand explanations of concepts, and primary documents and tools for solving real-world issues straight into the hands of students and teachers. however these days, most us schools lack the bandwidth to aid using these digital learning resources within the whole classroom.
President obama described fixing that problem as an essential step within the whole high-quality education that could keep america a frontrunner inside an increasingly competitive world economy.
“Today, the average american college has relating to actually the same bandwidth clearly as the average american home, although obviously there may be 200 times as lots of individuals at college as there may be at home, ” the president same in mooresville. “only around 20 % of your students have admittance to true high-speed internet with their classroom. by comparison, south korea has 100 % of its kids with high-speed internet. … in a rustic where we expect free wi-fi with occasional, why shouldn’t now we have it in your schools ?”
As a result of of these digital deficits, the learning experience in these schools is possibly the most un-connected area of the day for several students and teachers. while not broadband access, students can possibly be constrained via the limits of resources at their specific schools. yesterday, the president has known as for all of ourselves to shut that gap and ensure that each one students and teachers—regardless of geography or income—can access the rich opportunities afforded by digital learning that the students and teachers from mooresville have enjoyed.
However this is often not simply about cables and wires. as mooresville superintendent mark edwards has explained, “it’s about changing the culture of instruction—preparing students for the future, not our past. ” ensuring connectivity within the whole hands of students and teachers could be a catalyst for reimagining the learning experience itself by enabling customized learning and connectivity to specialists.
“Imagine a young girl growing up on any farm because we are part of a rural area who will now take an ap biology or ap physics class, though her college is just too small to supply it, ” president obama same in mooresville remarks. “imagine a young boy by having chronic illness that means that he can’t head to college, however now he will join his classmates via skype or facetime and absolutely take part in what’s occurring. ”
The connected initiative will additionally invest in improving the talents of teachers, ensuring that each educator in america receives support and coaching to utilise technology to assist improve student outcomes. the department of education can work with states and college districts to higher use existing funding throughout the elementary and secondary education act to strategically invest in professional development to assist teachers keep pace with changing technological and professional demands.
These following would be the key components on your connected initiative outlined via the president :
upgraded connectivity : at intervals 5 years, connect 99 % of america’s students and teachers to broadband and high-speed wireless at speeds no lower than 100 mbps. the president known as upon the federal communications commission ( fcc ) to immediately modernize and leverage the existing e-rate program, and leverage the expertise on your national telecommunications and info administration ( ntia ) to provide this connectivity to states, districts, and schools.
Trained teachers : the connected initiative can invest in improving the talents of teachers, ensuring that each educator in america receives support and coaching to utilise technology to assist improve student outcomes. the department of education can work with states and college districts to higher use existing funds throughout the elementary and secondary education act to strategically invest in professional development that supports teachers to insure the technology-enabled education thus out to their students.
Build on private-sector innovation : these investments can permit our teachers and students taking full advantage of feature-rich educational devices which are increasingly price-competitive with basic textbooks and high-quality educational software providing content aligned with college- and career-ready standards being adopted and implemented by states across america.
Today’s teachers face the responsibility of preparing students to thrive because we are part of a realm of ever-rising expectations and an ever-widening pool of international competition for jobs. in response in the widely recognized would like for increased rigor, 46 states and therefore the district of columbia are currently simultaneously of transitioning to new, college- and career-ready standards. we can’t afford to deny teachers the tech-supported teaching tools they will ought to be certain that students achieve to these standards and do their best work daily.
As secretary duncan set it to reporters aboard air force one yesterday, technology is “a game changer” that empowers students and helps teachers. “teachers will collaborate across the country along with their peers. they could individualize instruction in methods that simply hasn’t been ready to happen historically… if we could invest to form admittance to high-speed broadband, we speak freely a fresh realm of educational opportunity. ”
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