Regina Hopper
Executive Vice President
USTelecom, The Broadband Association

These days it’s less and less likely the family dog ate the proverbial homework, unless he’s into noshing on bits and bytes.   A growing trend of using hardware, software, access to the Internet and broadband networking in the classroom is changing the way children learn.  

Teaching software that interacts with kids like a video game, high-speed Web access, state-of-the-art PCs and broadband networks are combining to revolutionize learning in brick-and-mortar schools as well as in virtual academies.   A July 6 Reuters story, Technology Reshapes America’s Classrooms, captures some of the more compelling aspects of this new age learning.

You’ve heard it here many times before:   Broadband is redefining the way Americans, including those in the classroom, experience the Internet.   Broadband’s high speeds, large capacities and ability to deliver voice, video and data over a single network keeps pace with our children’s lightning-fast minds and imaginations, and feeds their hunger for knowledge.   That makes broadband the ideal transport, whether the application is research for a geography paper, solving a math problem or getting a little extra help for that spelling test from an e-tutor.

Among the interesting trends cited by Reuters, some “connected” schools are eschewing textbooks completely.   Laptops are given to students at the start of each school day.   Blogging is the preferred informal communication between teachers and students.   Parents and teachers IM each other to stay current.   Educational software is kid-friendly and often targeted by subject matter.   And homework is handed in to electronic mailboxes on schools’ Web sites — leaving no paper trail for the family dog to sniff out and ingest.   In addition, early returns indicate e-learning increases attendance and reduces discipline problems.

According to the North American Council for Online Learning, enrollment by U.S. students in virtual classes reached 1 million last year, 22 times what it was in 2000.   And 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online by 2013, according to Michael Horn, ED of education at Innosight Institute in Massachusetts.   Enrollment in virtual academies, like K12, is climbing steadily.

Practically speaking, e-learning is a way for schools to reduce costs, minimize the number of teachers needed and improve the quality of learning for students by tailoring lessons specifically to their needs.   Rapid-fire broadband, when teamed with Internet access, specially-designed teaching software and the latest hardware, represents the next frontier in education:   e-learning.  

Sorry about that, Fido.

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