Internet Providing Education Opportunities For Many Students!

Online college work might come in even more creative formats and be quicker to complete, since the Federal Communications Commission in March provided Congress with a plan to expand broadband network access and speed up Internet services.  This very change may allow even more students to obtain college degrees online as services speed up.  

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan, required by Congress as part of a federal stimulus bill known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is said to be designed in part as a means of encouraging online education and online education tools and enhancing education connectivity.  This added boost of flexibility will be welcome to distance students everywhere.

The Internet is the biggest platform for commercial innovation and business success this country has seen, Congressman Rick Boucher of Virginia told CSPAN. A Strategy for American Innovation report, prepared by the National Economic Council’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, proposes the creation of online college classes where high quality subject expertise meets with the latest technological advancements.

According to the report, the federal government over the next decade wants to spend up to $500 million for creating online college classes at community colleges that, freely available to students, would allow for continued learning and coursework completion. Invitations would be extended to colleges, universities, publications and others to compete in creating state-of-the-art online classes, the report notes.

Many students already take part in online school programs, access a broad array of online databases and link up with worldwide scholars, a broadband plan news release noted. But while reports show that students in online college classes do at least as well academically as students in traditional college classes do, a pilot program at one university suggested that online school work might take more time to complete. 

Students enrolled in online school offerings and pursuing online degrees can access their class work through wireless services, dialup and high speed DSL services that telephone companies offer and by broadband services with wireless and satellite options. With broadband service a transmission “pipeline”, as the FCC calls it, carries content. Broadband also provides quality access to high-tech Internet features such as streaming media,

Internet telephone services, interactive offerings and games, the FCC’s broadband Web site notes. And many have expressed a desire to move toward HD video, Boucher noted. The federal government would continue to give money to local telephone companies, which have been expanding their DSL services, until broadband becomes more widely available and even telephone service is carried through the Internet, Boucher said.

Making higher education more accessible to students has been a goal for President Barack Obama, who recently signed an education bill into law that makes more financial aid available to students pursuing online degrees. Online college classes and online degree programs themselves make higher education more accessible.  Many offer flexible course formats that accommodate students with work and family responsibilities who might not otherwise be able to continue their studies.

The  broadband plan’s goals include increasing download speeds from what Boucher said is as few as 5 megabits per second to 100 megabits per second by 2020. Expanded network connectivity is needed as well, the FCC reported. There are still about 7 million people throughout the country who don’t have access to broadband network services,

Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns told CSPAN. Of the 95 percent of households that have access to broadband, 2/3 of them use high-speed Internet services, Stearns noted. Proposals within the broadband plan would reportedly involve establishing new laws and setting new agency rules.

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