Internet Providing Education Opportunities For Many Students!

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:20:42 EST

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

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan, required by Congress as part of afederal stimulus bill known as the American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct of 2009, is said to be designed in part as a means of encouragingonline education and online education tools and enhancing educationconnectivity. This added boost of flexibility will be welcome todistance students everywhere.

The Internet is the biggest platform for commercial innovation andbusiness success this country has seen, Congressman Rick Boucher ofVirginia told CSPAN. A Strategy for American Innovation report,prepared by the National Economic Council’s Office of Science andTechnology Policy, proposes the creation of online college classeswhere high quality subject expertise meets with the latesttechnological advancements.

According to the report, the federal government over the next decadewants to spend up to $500 million for creating online college classesat community colleges that, freely available to students, would allowfor continued learning and coursework completion. Invitations would beextended to colleges, universities, publications and others to competein creating state-of-the-art online classes, the report notes.

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

Students enrolled in online school offerings and pursuing onlinedegrees can access their class work through wireless services, dialupand high speed DSL services that telephone companies offer and bybroadband services with wireless and satellite options. With broadbandservice a transmission “pipeline”, as the FCC calls it, carriescontent. Broadband also provides quality access to high-tech Internetfeatures 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, Bouchernoted. The federal government would continue to give money to localtelephone companies, which have been expanding their DSL services,until broadband becomes more widely available and even telephoneservice is carried through the Internet, Boucher said.

Making higher education more accessible to students has been a goal forPresident Barack Obama, who recently signed an education bill into lawthat makes more financial aid available to students pursuing onlinedegrees. Online college classes and online degree programs themselvesmake higher education more accessible. Many offer flexible courseformats that accommodate students with work and family responsibilitieswho might not otherwise be able to continue their studies.

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

FloridaCongressman Cliff Stearns told CSPAN. Of the 95 percent of householdsthat have access to broadband, 2/3 of them use high-speed Internetservices, Stearns noted. Proposals within the broadband plan wouldreportedly involve establishing new laws and setting new agency rules.

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Internet Providing Education Opportunities For Many Students!