A Masters Online

By Brad

Here’s some good news in the world of education. IIA member AT&T has announced it is partnering with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Massive Open Online Courses provider Udacity to launch the first online-only Master of Science degree in computer science. From the press release:

Workers with skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are increasingly important to our business – and to nearly every business – because STEM drives innovation and innovation drives our economy.

During the next six years, 2.8 million STEM openings are predicted. But, today, many STEM jobs are going unfilled as candidates lack the necessary skills, training or degrees.

Through this new program, Georgia Tech will be able to offer employers like AT&T a larger and more diverse pool of highly qualified, STEM-trained workers and help the U.S. retain its global competitive edge.

Cool stuff. And on a related note, check out our recent infographic on the benefits of broadband access in eduction.

Broadband & Education

By IIA

Broadband is revolutionizing education across America. To coincide with today’s Technologies in Education Forum, hosted by The Atlantic, we put together the below infographic breaking down all the ways kids are using technology to excel in school.

An embed code so you can post the infographic on your own site is available here. And for more on broadband and education, check out our webinar with iNACOL’s Director of Policy, David Teeter, and Kwame Simmons, principal of Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C.

You can also read Simmons’ op-ed for the Washington Post.

Simmons on Connecting Urban Schools

By Brad

Our Co-Chairman Jamal Simmons has penned an op-ed for The Grio on the critical need to provide urban schools with Internet access. Here’s a taste:

When it comes to digital access, location matters and not all students stand on equal footing. While more than half (54 percent) of these teachers report that almost all students have sufficient access to these tools in school, only 18 percent say students have sufficient access at home. Low income students are least likely to have access in school or at home. For urban students, they face greater barriers at school and rural students have less access at home.

Erasing the barriers to digitally enhanced learning for students in disadvantaged situations requires a multifaceted approach.

Read the full op-ed over at The Grio.

A Legion of Coders

By Brad

Over at Read Write Web, Lauren Orsini looks at the growing market to teach non-techies how to code:

Within the last two years, more and more companies have saturated the market with the express purpose of teaching everyone and anyone our generation’s hottest new job skill: programming. Now it’s become a fundraising race to the top of the pile.

This April, learn-to-code startup Treehouse announced that it raised a “war chest” of new funding. In a Series B round led by Kaplan Ventures, the Portland, Ore., company added another $7 million, for a total of $12.35 million.

For CEO and founder Ryan Carson, the money couldn’t have come at a better time. Competition between learn-to-code startups is rising, and Carson plans to press his advantage by adding more employees to Treehouse’s current 55 workers.

Commissioner Pai Strongly Supports Pilot Programs for IP Transition

By Brad

At an event hosted by the Hudson Institute earlier today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai discussed the transition to all-IP networks. During his speech, Pai spoke of two paths the Commission could take when it comes to regulations and technology. One path is rooted in the past — and outdates rules — that could hinder investment and innovation. The other path leads to the future, or the “all-IP world,” as he called it, which has great benefits for health care, education, public safety, and most of all consumers.

Noting that the FCC up until now had a foot on each path, Pai didn’t shy away from his belief that the Commission should be working toward the future, stating the FCC’s decisions around the IP transistion will have “dramatic and real world consequences.” He then made plain his preference for a pilot program — put forward to the FCC by AT&T — to upgrade legacy copper networks to all-IP. As John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports:

“The FCC has sought and received comments on a proposal to create an All-IP Pilot Program,” Pai said in a speech to the Hudson Institute. “I’ve reviewed the record carefully. And having done so, I am proposing today that the FCC move forward with this program.”

Pai also noted that in 2011 alone, there were over 317 million wireless connections in the U.S., and at least 47% of all households had “cut the cord” — meaning, dropped traditional landline service in favor of wireless or VoIP. This, he joked, pointed to the IP transition being as “inevitable as another reality series starring a Kardashian.”

You can watch a replay of Pai’s speech here.

Genachowski on Spectrum Auctions

By Bruce Mehlman

In today’s Wall Street Journal, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski goes over the many steps the Commission is taking to free up more spectrum from wireless use. Calling broadband the “engine for economic growth,” he starts out his op-ed by backing up that statement:

To sustain long-term economic health, America needs growth engines, areas of the economy that hold real promise of major expansion. Few sectors have more job-creating innovation potential than broadband, particularly mobile broadband.

Genachowski then highlights how the U.S. now leads the world in 4G LTE deployment (along with the fact that private investment in mobile infrastructure is “more than 50% higher than in Europe”), but warns that in order to keep both deployment and investment happening, more airwaves are critical. As he writes:

Spectrum is finite, and the demand for airwaves being created by data-hungry, Internet-connected devices is on pace to exceed supply. How significant is the spike in demand? Today’s smartphones generate 50 times more mobile traffic than a traditional cellphone. For tablets, it’s 120 times more traffic. As a result, American wireless networks are running at the highest utilization rate of any in the world.

One solution to this problem, Genachowski tells readers of the Journal, is the Commission’s upcoming spectrum incentive auctions, which have the potential to both free up airwaves and deliver much needed revenue to the Federal Government. That’s potentially a win-win, as they say. But as our own Rick Boucher wrote this past February, the key to making the FCC’s initiative successful for consumers and the economy is ensuring spectrum auctions are open to all bidders. Boucher:

History has shown that when the FCC has tried to pick winners and losers in the wireless market, American consumers have lost. Past attempts by the Commission to favor certain bidders and/or impose rigid regulations on auction winners have drastically diminished auction proceeds, left major blocks of spectrum unused, and led to what FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski himself has labeled “America’s looming spectrum crisis.”

The simple truth is America’s wireless industry continues to be fiercely competitive… Allowing the FCC to impose conditions on spectrum auctions will not make the industry more competitive. And the spectrum critically needed by all providers to keep up with increasing demand will not be put to its full use, leading to spectrum shortages, reduced investment and innovation, and higher prices for consumers.

Only through truly competitive, open spectrum auctions will America’s wireless industry continue to thrive. After all, the best way to ensure competition is to encourage everyone to compete.

Genachowski and the entire FCC deserve praise for their tireless work to keep this critically important issue on the front burner. But given mobile broadband’s benefits — not just to consumers and the economy, but to communities, education, and the health care industry — ensuring spectrum incentive auctions are open to all those willing to make the substantial private investment to keep rapid deployment going should be at the top of the list. As Genachowski himself wrote in his op-ed:

Private-sector innovation in mobile broadband has been extraordinary. But maintaining the creative momentum in wireless networks, devices and apps will need an equally innovative wireless policy, or jobs and growth will be left on the table.

Encouraging Innovation

By Brad

Here’s something cool. Via Pete Kasperowicz of The Hill:

The House next week is expected to pass a resolution establishing a nationwide technology contest for students, which would initially encourage contestants to develop new “apps” for smartphones and tablets.

The resolution from Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) is scheduled for consideration next week. It would create a contest run by the House of Representatives in which students from every congressional district would compete in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM fields.

Education Means Access

By Jamal Simmons

A recent story in USA Today from Ron Barnett highlights some of the benefits students at a South Carolina high school are receiving from being connected:

Jennifer Southers has flipped education upside-down for her math students at Hillcrest High School.

Instead of coming to class and listening to a lecture, then going home and trying out what they learned on their own, they listen to a lecture on video before class and work on putting the new knowledge to practice in the classroom, where their teacher is there to help.

“The level of frustration has almost disappeared completely on those lessons when we do that,” she said of the “flipped classroom” concept that she and other teachers are using.

Unfortunately, as Barnett’s piece goes on to point out, America’s ongoing digital divide may be creating an uneven playing field when it comes to educating students:

[W]hat about students who don’t have broadband Internet access at home? How can they keep up with their peers in streaming instructional videos and doing online research?

More than two-thirds of low-income families in South Carolina don’t have a high-speed Internet connection, said Jessica Ditto, spokeswoman for Connected Nation, a nonprofit organization that works to increase broadband access in the nation. Overall, 57 percent of households in the state have broadband access, she said.

Increasingly, access to the Internet means access to improved education, which means students in the 43% of South Carolina households not connected with broadband are at risk of being left behind when it comes to innovative learning. But as Barnett reports, there’s hope on the horizon — for South Carolina and elsewhere:

Bill Brown, executive director of educational technology services for Greenville County Schools, says 4G LTE technology offers the most promise for bridging the digital divide.

With it, “You could blanket buildings, you could blanket cities” with high-speed Internet access, he said.

More powerful networks — beginning with 4G LTE (which, as anyone who has experienced it can attest, is remarkably fast) and continuing with the shift to all-IP based networks — will mean more access in more ways for more people. With the future of education tied to technology, encouraging investment in these networks should be an educational priority.

Digital Learning Day

By Brad

Today is the second annual Digital Learning Day, which highlights the use of technology to support teachers and how children are benefiting from technology in the classroom. You can find more information on this important event, including activities around the country, on the Digital Learning Day website.

The bridge between technology — especially broadband — and education has long been a passion of IIA. Last summer, we hosted this webinar with Kramer Middle School principal Kwame Simmons on broadband and education:

And in October, an op-ed by Simmons — based on what was shared during the webinar — was published by the Washington Post on how his school achieved a high-tech turnaround. From the piece:

At the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, Kramer logged barely double-digit scores on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS): 17 percent proficient in reading and 26 percent proficient in math. The school had a much-warranted bull’s-eye on its back. But after a year of planning and a three-year School Improvement Grant and two-year Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Education Department, we have high hopes for change. Our secret weapon and education equalizer? Broadband.

Most recently, our 2013 Broadband Guide featured information on how IP-based networks are improving education in a variety of ways. From page 7 of the Guide:

Thirty-two states have virtual schools delivering online courses to students in any district in the state, according to Evergreen Consulting.  In the United States, 75 percent of school districts offer online courses in K–12 education, and student enrollments are growing at a rapid pace of 30 percent annually, reported the Sloan Consortium.

Big Bird & Broadband

By Jamal Simmons

CES is an absolute avalanche of tech. Simply keeping up with the various announcements and news reports can be a challenge. But as someone very much interested in both education and technology — and where they often cross paths for the good of society — I wanted to highlight an app showcased during the convention earlier this week. It’s called “Big Bird’s Words,” and comes courtesy of Qualcomm and the Sesame Workshop. At Fast Company, Anya Kamenetz has a good description of the app:

Big Bird’s Words lets kids use their parents’ phone to scan the world around them for printed words. Big Bird then helps them learn to read by sounding out the first letter. (“You found the word Milk! It starts with the letter M.”)

Beyond the cool factor, Big Bird’s Words is yet another example of how technology is turning the traditional idea of learning on its head. This is something we touched on last summer in our “Back to School With Broadband” seminar (archive here), and the fact that Big Bird’s Words made its debut during Qualcomm’s keynote address at CES shows the collision of technology and education, specifically in the mobile space, is only heating up.

That makes ensuring broadband access all the more important. Not just by wiring schools, although that’s critical, but expanding the reach of mobile broadband. To get there will take investment — particularly in next-generation IP-based networks that can handle the constant deluge of data. It will also take a commitment from both the government and industry to make achieving the goal a high priority. If Big Bird’s onboard, we all should be.

Innovation of the Day

By Brad

GigaOm’s Ki Mae Heussner writes about some new education technology McGraw-Hill debuted at CES. Called the “SmartBook,” it’s an ebook aimed at adapting to a student. As Heussner writes:

Content is still structured somewhat like a textbook but instead of asking students to read it thoroughly from start to finish, it coaches the student on how to read the material and quizzes them on various concepts as they move through each section. Depending on their responses, they’re guided along to different highlighted passages. McGraw-Hill said it expects to release SmartBooks at prices starting at $19.99 for about 90 courses later this Spring.

Very cool.

Two Investments in One

By Jamal Simmons

Yesterday at the Huffington Post, John M. Burns wrote about a new report on education from the NAACP. 

Both Burns’ post and the NAACP’s report are must-reads for anyone concerned about how America can fix its failing education system, but I want to highlight one part of Burns’ piece that dovetails with one of IIA’s main missions as an organization. Burns writes:

Clearly, success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) disciplines not only requires the preparedness, education and skills necessary to navigate these waters but it is essential that the technological landscape provide the medium for growth and innovation. At a time when we as a nation have collectively conceded that we are lagging behind the world in these key disciplines, we cannot afford to be confronted with undue government and regulatory restrictions on the digital world. These types of restriction will do nothing but hinder our own sustainability and competitiveness in the global world. It is critical that U.S. policymakers show that it is our nation’s unequivocal policy to avoid undue regulation of the Internet at all levels of government. And that means the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory bodies must invest in the technological infrastructure to ensure that the regulatory environment meets the needs of our new technological reality while simultaneously removing old restrictions that suppress technological expansion and innovation.

Burns is exactly right. There’s no question America’s position in the global economy will depend on a healthy workforce fluent in the STEM disciplines. But just as important is the underlying infrastructure that workforce will rely on in order to keep America competitive. And key to upgrading our nation’s communications backbone will be billions in investment from the private sector — investment outdated and unnecessary regulations can easily stifle.

Well over a century ago, the government and the private sector made a commitment to connect everyone with a telephone.  Now we need to make another commitment to meet our new technological reality.

Investing in our IP future will be more than an investment in our communication infrastructure. It will be an investment in education. And as Burns and the NAACP both rightly point out, that’s an investment we should all be able to agree on.

Homework Phones

By Brad

Via Patricia Reaney of Reuters, a new report sheds like on how mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are affecting education:

Smartphones were used at home for schoolwork by 39 percent of 11 to 14 year olds, 31 percent of those surveyed said they did assignments on a tablet while nearly 65 percent used laptops, the poll by research firm TRU, which specializes in data on tweens, teens and twenty-somethings, showed.

For more on technology and education, check out our “Back to School with Broadband” webinar from August.

Touching Education

By Brad

Speaking of Apple — and its iPads — John Paul Titlow of Read Write examines how the company is quietly overhauling education:

When Apple made its first official foray into digital textbooks earlier this year, I was skeptical. It seemed clear that iBooks 2, iBooks Author and the new “textbooks” section of the iBookstore would not revolutionize the education market anytime soon, even if the longterm potential was obvious. Tuesday, Apple shared some early results from those efforts and revealed the next phase of its overhaul of education. It’s definitely onto something.

Most of the 100 million iPads sold worldwide were purchased by consumers and businesses, but a growing number of those buyers are school districts. In the last nine months, 2,500 classrooms have started using iBooks textbooks, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced. Their content now covers 80% of the core high school curriculum in the United States. It’s not a bad start, but Apple has a long way to go before iBooks makes an iTunes-like impact.

Embracing Technology in Education

By Brad

In an op-ed for Sunday’s Washington Post, Kwame Simmons — Principal of Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C. and recent participant in our education-focused webinar — wrote about how his school has embraced technology in an effort to better educate kids:

At the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, Kramer logged barely double-digit scores on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS): 17 percent proficient in reading and 26 percent proficient in math. The school had a much-warranted bull’s-eye on its back. But after a year of planning and a three-year School Improvement Grant and two-year Race to the Top grant from the U.S. Education Department, we have high hopes for change. Our secret weapon and education equalizer? Broadband.

Kramer is the first school in the district to implement a new program that is predicted to elevate student engagement and drastically improve test scores. The grant funding has increased the number of laptops available for use in our classrooms, so that we now have a one-to-one student-to-laptop scenario at Kramer, a rare gift in the field of education.

That one-to-one student-to-laptop scenario Simmons mentions is impressive — and important. With school districts increasingly facing cutbacks and growing class sizes, technology like laptops and tablets — and the next-generation networks that power them — can unlock opportunities once out of reach and help students succeed. That’s something we should all be behind, but as Simmons goes on to note, the country still has a ways to go:

Unfortunately, this isn’t the norm in our country. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, only 37 percent of all teachers reported having electronic access to achievement data for students in their classrooms. Building out reliable broadband access must remain a national priority.

Simmons then touched on something we here at IIA have long focused on. Namely, the need for more investment in broadband:

I’m highly committed to proving him wrong and hitting our goal of boosting test scores by 40 percentage points in five years. As we closely monitor the progress at Kramer, let’s encourage the public and private sectors to invest in the networks that make online learning possible. Broadband is the bridge that will connect D.C. Public Schools’ goals to reality.

Check out Simmons’ full op-ed at the Washington Post. You can also listen to an archive of our education webinar featuring Simmons here.

Help Wanted

By Brad

Brendan Sasso of The Hill reports a major U.S. tech giant is concerned about the future of innovation in America:

Microsoft unveiled a lobbying push on Thursday to produce more applicants with the skills to fill technology and engineering jobs.

The proposal would boost visas for high-skilled foreign workers and invest millions of dollars in federal funding for education.

Microsoft is calling the lack of skilled tech workers a “genuine crisis” — the company alone currently has 3,400 job openings waiting to be filled.

Watch Our Back-to-School with Broadband Webinar

By Brad

On Friday, August 10, we partnered with iNACOL to host a webinar on how broadband is transforming education in America.

One of the speakers was Kwame Simmons, principal of D.C.‘s Kramer Middle School, which is one of the city’s 40 lowest performing schools. During the webinar, Simmons shared the school’s plan to implement blended learning — a mix of online and traditional instruction — to engage students with interactive lessons and achieve a 40-point turnaround in test scores by 2017. David Teeter, director of policy at iNACOL, a non-profit organization that promotes collaboration, advocacy, and research to enhance quality K-12 online teaching and learning, addressed digital divide issues, including the importance of equality in access to broadband, and discuss how schools are now relying on broadband to facilitate teaching and learning.

It was a great conversation, and we thank Simmons and Teeter for participating. If you missed it, here’s an archived version of the webinar.

Webinar Background

By Brad

This Friday, IIA is hosting a webinar along with education organization iNACOL on the effect broadband has on education. Particpating is Kawme Simmons, principal of the Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C. Simmons is implementing a blended learning – a mix of online and traditional instruction – to engage students with interactive lessons and achieve a 40-point turnaround in test scores by 2017. For some background on Simmons’ plan for Kramer Middle School, see this report from the Washington Post‘s Bill Turque from last May:

Educators are hoping that the interactive lessons will engage students below grade level, helping them to make up ground while teachers work personally with more advanced students. Dashboards will keep students updated on their progress and what they need to do to improve. It will also allow teachers to give more timely feedback and support in areas where kids are struggling.

About 70 percent of Kramer students are a year or more behind their grade level, according to DCPS. But principal Kwame Simmons said he believes students can gain 13 to 15 points a year under the new system.

D.C.‘s WJLA also aired this report on Kramer’s shift to blended learning. Check it out:

Back-to-School with Broadband Webinar

By IIA

This Friday, August 10, IIA will be hosting a webinar along with iNACOL exploring the real-life example of Washington D.C.‘s Kramer Middle School in utilizing broadband to drastically improve test scores over a five year period.

This discussion will shed light on the ever-more important role that high-speed Internet — including wireless broadband — is playing in today’s education system, such as in determining the level of achievement that students are able to obtain. Participating in the discussion will be Kwame Simmons, principal of D.C.’s Kramer Middle School, one of the city’s 40 lowest performing schools, and David Teeter, director of policy at iNACOL, a non-profit organization that promotes collaboration, advocacy, and research to enhance quality K-12 online teaching and learning, will address digital divide issues, including the importance of equality in access to broadband. Our own Co-Chair Jamal Simmons will host.

The webinar happens at 11am ET/8amPT. To join the discussion, visit here.

“Lighter Than a Bag Full of Textbooks”

By Brad

At Read Write Web, John Paul Titlow has an interesting look at how Apple’s popular iPad tablet is helping education:

Chicago’s public school district was one of those early adopters, having brought iPads into a number of its classrooms and even allowing students to take them home. While programs like this can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement, they can ultimately save districts money on textbooks, since e-books are cheaper than their printed counterparts. And of course, an iPad is considerably lighter than a bag full of textbooks.