Learning On-The-Go: Schools Get $9 Million To Support Wireless Internet For Students Off Campus

WASHINGTON — Government officials are handing out $9 million to help schools extend wireless Internet connections beyond the classroom.

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday will announce 20 pilot projects that will receive government funding to pay for wireless broadband connections for laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices, which students will be able to take with them after the school day ends.

The program is intended to give students – including those from low-income families who may have no other Internet service at home – access to homework assignments, study guides, digital textbooks and other educational resources outside of regular school hours. Called Learning On-the-Go, the program will reach nearly 35,000 students across 14 states in the 2011-2012 school year.

It will be paid for through the government's E-Rate program, which funds Internet access in schools and libraries and until now has never been used to pay for off-campus connections. E-Rate is one of four programs that make up the Universal Service Fund, the federal program that subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas through a surcharge on long-distance bills.

The projects that will be funded include programs that will pay for laptop connections for elementary and secondary school students in New Orleans, wireless cards for high school boys from low-income households in Philadelphia and smart-phone access for students with Attention Deficit Disorder or Asperger's syndrome in Canton, Ohio.

The money will go to projects in Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, California, New Mexico and Iowa.

Comments

[tosc]

09:27 PM on 03/11/2011

WTH? What happened to good ole fashioned paper? Computers are wonderful tools, but they are not the answer for motivating and seeding intelligence! Computers are tools just as calculators are. Students still need to learn how to solve problems long hand in order to understand the solving dynmic the calculator is using!

[constitutional 1]

11:31 AM on 03/11/2011

9 million would pay for a lot of teachers

[El Chingaso]

09:12 AM on 03/11/2011

Once again, politicians' shenanigans reign supreme...by wasting tax dollars on major foolishness and rewarding their contributor buddie$. Folks, education is about text books, paper, a pen/pencil, practical experience, and, of course, lively discourse in the classroom (that's not dumbed down by mandatory testing criteria).

It seems plausible to suggest, per media reports over the last several years, that more computerization in public schools easily correlates with poorer student performance -- and really "fat" contracts for you know who, corporations. I meet kids today who can't even perform basic order of operations by hand with simple math equations. They have to trust their little plastic boxes to tell them...

Oh, man, we're toast.

[I M Fresh21]

12:12 AM on 03/12/2011

Actually it's not the children's fault. We are so quick to blame everyone else but the source. Blame the poor instructional strategies implemented by the teacher. It's a shame how some teachers can wake up everyday and not differentiate or even make an attempt to make some type of conceptual connection with these students. America needs to reform the teachers unions to hold instructors accountable for their malpractice techniques. Teachers need to stop doing the job just to collect a pay check and start enjoying a career because they want to have a personal impact on multiple generations of children period.

[El Chingaso]

04:47 PM on 03/12/2011

I agree, man...

[EmmaNYC]

03:59 PM on 03/10/2011

Schools Get $9 Million To Support Wireless Internet For Students Off Campus.

And while the kids are not there, Duncan, Gates, Klein, Bloomberg and the other ed deformers can close the schools and turn them into for-profit ventures for their hedgefund friends.

[Sam Salinitis]

08:52 PM on 03/09/2011

9million dollars is a piss in the bucket. Stop wasting our tax money on pet projects and start investing in new modern school houses that teachers can work from.

[umbrarchist]

02:48 PM on 03/10/2011

Do the computers and the Internet make the school houses OBSOLETE?

http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/funtheyhad.html

But the netbooks come with 250 gig hard drives now. 100 gig can hold 100,000+ books. How much educational software and videos and books can fit on the device now? Couldn't a good 100 gigabyte education pack make the Internet unnecessary? Bet you won't hear many computer professionals suggesting that. LOL.

[Sam Salinitis]

11:12 AM on 03/11/2011

Walk through the ghettos of USA- how many name brands do you see? How many kids have the money for that xbox 360/playstation 3? I wonder how much money gamestop made last year in sales? take the 9 million dollars and spend it on a classroom that has real needs.

[SchoolsThatCan]

01:47 PM on 03/09/2011

Integration of technology has proven very powerful as a learning tool in the classroom, but as others are say, we aren't there yet. It's a very odd time to start a campaign like this when we still need things like better teacher and school leader training to build quality schools. It is possible to overcome the achievement gap in urban communities, and initiatives to encourage that should be the focus.

[media4me]

09:43 AM on 03/10/2011

Seems like kids were doing quite well before "intergration of technology" took over.

[El Chingaso]

09:18 AM on 03/11/2011

I agree. Major innovations occurred, post-WWII...with just basic pen/pencil, paper, and maybe a slide rule. Way too much emphasis on those plastic boxes...and the networks that support them. It's so sad, man...

[Desolati0n]

01:43 PM on 03/09/2011

So in Ohio, what is the point of giving kids with ADD smart-phone access, I have ADHD, where my smart-phone access?
The point is, this will just lead to even more controversy in the education world; "My Son has Touretts, why can't he have smart-phone access?"
I don't have a Son i'm just using that as an example.
It is just not very well though out plan. Don't give someone something so material like a smart-phone, that won't benifit them in anyway what-so-ever, pay for their medication or something, don't give them smart-phone access. Thats just stupid IMO.

[kaymoh114]

11:54 AM on 03/09/2011

Sorry, but what good is $9 million towards wireless internet for students when the GOP has apparently decided that teachers themselves aren't even worth paying for? Not to mention that many students probably can't afford basic necessities and supplies, let alone a computer.

[Desolati0n]

01:38 PM on 03/09/2011

Amen to that.

[Nikolai Curtis]

11:00 AM on 03/09/2011

Technology is not the answer. It's good solid teaching with proper support from the government by using the money wisely. So many new teachers I meet use an ideological approach in the classroom and discover that their technological skills have little relevance without the proper support and training. I have a Promethean board and to me it's glorified LCD projector because the district has taken no initiative to set up a proper time to train and use it. Stop wasting money on technology and use it to strengthen the skills of teachers and students.

[supportamerica]

08:38 AM on 03/09/2011

This could lead to some abuse. How will the school control who and what is being accessed on the internet at home? Are computers going to be given to these children also? Internet access does no good with out the computer to access it with. Why only high school boys in Philadelphia, why not high school girls also? It seems they are picking and choosing, which group of children deserve this access and not addressing all of the children.

[veteran teacher]

06:30 AM on 03/09/2011

MY students need food, clothes, and a place to live.

[Allthosewhowander]

11:01 AM on 03/10/2011

Mine too.