Both Jody and Brian have referenced bandwidth needs here at the KYEdTech.com blog. It may have been recognizing some changes, or in the overall funding conversation. With this I’m just pulling some resources together to continue to push the need to see all things ACCESS related as one of our top priorities. …Of course, the other for me is: what we actually do with all of that ACCESS to add to the personalized student learning experience.
(Some what of a Side Note) A really good Ed Tech leader mentioned to me last week that he is shifting his focus back to providing that perfect road for access. He is making sure the road gets widened, there are no pot holes/ sink holes, that the lines are painted, and that rules of the road are clear and easy to navigate. I liked the approach. Without saying it, I think this leader maybe took their eye off the road a bit and started spinning tires or got stuck in the mud. I sensed frustration that many of the implementation ideas that ultimately were successful or a failure rested on the hands of the school building leadership (principal). In a perfect world, this would a great team approach on instructional visions leveraging technology to help push and transform learning with new experiences. But too often with so many pressures from so many angles, something gets slightly off target or other/ new focuses “crowd out” the current one, …principal change over… and initiatives die on the vine. I think we’d all submit, if the vision for learning is inline and razor sharp and all technology related work falls in that line, then there should be no issue… But this leader is going back to the main focus of ensuring high quality (bandwidth) opportunities, and the rest will play out with school level leadership.
The point. I’ve been saying for a really long time that ACCESS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT Job, especially at the state and district leadership level. Others are saying it now too.
Don Knezek, CEO of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) stated in this article:
“We used to think of bandwidth that supported 75 percent of the users in the district,” he points out. “Now we need bandwidth for two-and-a-half times the number of those people. Kids need laptop access and may also need tablet and mobile phone access.”
SETA (State Education Technology Directors Association) highlighted in this report.
100 megabits per second–for every 1,000 students and staff members–should be the minimum Internet access speed at every school in the United States. The Glen Burnie, MD-based group recommended that federal, state, and local leaders work together to achieve that target by the 2014-2015 school year.
The report set the target for wide-area network (WAN – that’s the internal network connecting schools together) connections within every school district at 1 Gbps per 1,000 students and staff. Internet and WAN speeds should be 10 times faster by the 2017-2018 school year.
In this particular article, the US Dept of Ed’s Office of Ed Tech praised the report and findings. Stating that they are very aggressive but on target.
It’s going to be tough, finding money, time, etc… but Let’s all put our collective thoughts together, with providers, & figure out how to Widen the Roads. After all, instructional and technology leaders should NOT have to decide between what streaming media sites to block (Youtbue or TED Ed – or both) the day of assessments – just so bandwidth does’t top out…