How High-Speed Broadband Could Revolutionize Education

Innovation How High-Speed Broadband Could Revolutionize Education Cheri Beranek Forbes Councils Member Forbes Technology Council COUNCIL POST Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based) Jul 14, 2022, 06:45am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin President and CEO of Clearfield , providing optical-fiber management and connectivity solutions across North America.

getty As of May 2022, the U. S. government has taken the first steps toward releasing $65 billion in infrastructure funding for broadband, expecting network build-outs and affordable access for all Americans by 2028.

Once in place, universal broadband has the potential to bring quality jobs as well as better healthcare and education outcomes to more people than ever before. As broadband provides access to better education , the effects of this funding could be monumental, but the money won’t advance society by itself. Our drive toward universal broadband has the potential to equalize and revolutionize educational access, but we need speed, initiative and innovation to make that happen.

What’s speed got to do with it? Leveraging broadband in education can take learning to new heights, but speed—both down and, more importantly, up—is critical to get us there. Until now, internet users have been mostly concerned with download speeds. Streaming entertainment like music, movies and video games requires fast downloads, but for truly interactive digital education, we need upload speeds to match.

Upload speed determines how fast we can send data from our computer onto the internet, and it’s critical for clear and fluid video conferencing. Slow upload speeds result in unstable, lagging or freezing video and broken audio. You may be able to download another person’s video with my high download speeds, but you’re not going to see or hear them clearly, much less interact and engage with them, if they rely on slow upload speeds.

MORE FROM FORBES VETTED Hop On These Back-To-School Prime Day Deals Before They Expire By Jason R. Rich Forbes Staff The Bestselling Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor Is $90 Off For Prime Day By Lex Goodman Contributor Currently, a measly three megabits per second (Mbps) is the minimum requirement for the government to consider an internet service as “broadband”— barely enough for a video conference over Skype or Zoom. Typical internet service providers offer max upload speeds of around a tenth or less of their download speeds.

Cable, DSL and satellite internet providers offer max upstream speeds up to 35 Mbps, still significantly lower than their download speeds. Fiber technology, on the other hand, supports the nearly symmetrical up and down speeds needed to enable more immersive digital activities. Beyond Teacher And Textbook A virtual trip to Bali may never replace the real deal, but with high speeds, more people can know what it feels like to be there, even if they can’t afford to travel.

Global access to broadband could equalize opportunities for more people worldwide. We know that technology benefits the mechanics of learning , but universal access to high-speed broadband will make them more dynamic. Already, today’s students can take virtual field trips to the Louvre or the Pyramids of Giza and tour different facilities while watching from their screens.

Once we get to true high-speed broadband with gigabit speeds up and down, we’ll be able to do more than just watch. I imagine my husband’s desk area with several curved screens wrapping 180 degrees around him, immersing him in the experience. With the upstream speeds needed to feed high-resolution, real-time video onto such screens, students will be able to interact with their surroundings—not touching, but feeling as though they can.

Even people without the time or money to visit the Louvre will have the opportunity to experience the educational benefits of being in the Louvre at a drastically reduced cost. Rather than a static learning experience that needs updating every few years, broadband enables a learning continuum that updates with the times. Teachers will shift from imparting knowledge to guiding students through a constantly changing sea of information, instructing them on how to distinguish opportunities to learn from biased attempts to influence.

More entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to innovate new ways to explore digital education, launching new tools and platforms daily to expand digital learning beyond the traditional textbook and improve our education system. These entrepreneurs will have a financial incentive to stay on the cutting edge of learning and create even more dynamic curriculums. To access this, however, schools will need funding and attention targeted toward partnering with their companies.

More young people can find their career paths sooner. By helping students identify career paths sooner, both schools and business leaders stand to benefit from the educational opportunities offered by universal high-speed broadband. Districts with poor funding, for example, may never have been able to consider bringing in experts from different industries, much less a broad array of them, leaving students in those districts with little exposure to various professions.

With universal broadband, all schools could schedule a continuum of speakers to present their experiences in a given profession and, unlike watching a video, interact and engage students in a classroom without actually being there. Through frequent visiting professional speakers , more students will have greater exposure to industry insights and be able to discover new and exciting career paths. Student career development and exploration will be more meaningful for young people entering adulthood and the businesses looking to recruit people into their field.

A chemical engineer could demonstrate their work in their lab. Someone in food production could give the students a tour of their processing factories. Especially with the worker shortage , there soon may not be enough highly skilled people to fill the jobs needed to keep them running.

By forming these public-private partnerships with schools, companies can reach more potential workers sooner and get young people interested in a career in their industry, no matter where they live. Government funding is on its way to bring broadband to more people, but we can’t stop now if we want to create the equalizing opportunities we want for education. Qualifying individuals and service providers need to proactively seek out those government funds to take advantage of them.

Schools need to consider how they can incorporate new technologies. Companies should start thinking of ways to work with educational institutions to bring their industries and innovation into the way we learn. When broadband benefits education by transforming that education into something better, it creates a stronger society and a brighter future.

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