W6: Chat 1- History

Chat 1. Several years ago I was working on government funded training on a reserve on Northern Vancouver Island near Gold River. Neither the reserve nor the nearby community had any cell service (you never saw anyone walking around on their device!) and the reserve had extremely limited access to the internet. Essentially it had been brought into the lab at the school and that was it. I have to admit I was very surprised as it seemed to me that Gold River was much less remote than, say, Nunavut. As much of the program being presented was based on internet research, this presented endless problems for the instructors. Not only was there very little access, but as was pointed out in the OER, the adult students had very little experience at navigating the internet or even using Google. Emailing the students was impossible, and even phoning them was very difficult. As I was mostly administering the program from about 200 km away, many problems arose that I had not encountered over the years. It did demonstrate how much we relied on the internet in presenting and administrating training. The internet is definitely at least becoming an expectation in education.

Chat1: @cbrumwell I agree that connectivity has shifted to be a requirement for education in the twenty-first century. My best friends is a librarian who constantly advocates the importance of the library which I believe is still relevant in the world, yet it doesn't hold the same bearings as it once did as the authority on information. There is the issue of change starting from the level of teachers support of using technology, but I believe that there is also value allowing students to access platforms that they feel most comfortable using as means of presentation and for information gathering. We, as educators, can hopefully help to guide students to understand reliable sources and develop critical thinking skills.

Chat1: @steeve8 Hi Catherine: The north-south, urban-rural issues about accessibility are all important concerns and there is no doubt that power and connections play a large part in the desire, speed and authenticity with which governments determine regional priorities to be connected online. Communities that make the strongest case for access through protest, the media, identifiable needs and deficiencies will start the gyre moving that leads to future improvement. A fire for change needs to be light at small level but, even more importantly be persistent and visible. The change in the North should be initiated by teachers demanding it on the basis that in the current era, connectivity is no longer an option but a requirement for education - and it is education which is the right. Change should start with professional development and support for teachers using technology.

Chat 1: I do not believe that universal access is a right yet, as it is not 100% necessary to function in a meaningful manner in society. I am more interested in the idea that if it does become a right, what will be the responsibilities? Furthermore, how can you protect the right and enforce the responisibilities, wihtout the equivalent of big brother?

Chat #1: There was a bit of misinterpretation about what I was calling "racism". No, lack of Internet access is not rooted in racism, but prioritization in allocation of government resources often is. Again, I would point you back to the Vice article about water on reserves, for a bit of perspective.

Chat #1: Although it is certainly interesting to hear about connectivity issues in Canadian schools and student's homes, as far as I can see it is not any better in the US. And probably worse. In 2013, President Obama put forth the ConnectEd Initiative whereas by the year 2018, 99% of all schools would have access to high-speed internet (the initiative is not directed to the student's homes but the schools). Some are saying even this estimate is wishful thinking. The non-profit group Education Superhighway is a watchdog that monitors progress towards this federal initiative. Apparently right now there are 65 million kids who attend schools that do not have high speed internet (about twice the size of Canada). This is also an impressive website with relevant and timely work, and highly funded by investors. http://www.educationsuperhighway.org/ The ConnectED initiative also indicates in 2015 there were 9 publishers who would provide $250 million e-textbooks to students with low socio-economic status. In a 2013 report by the Pew Research Foundation, they reported 31% of American students do not have broadband internet access at home.

Chat 1: @Merill I'm not saying it's a silver bullet; I'm saying it's a start. There is no single-edged solution for equalizing opportunities for impoverished minority students, education or access inclusive.

Chat #1: My other thought on this is the importance placed on internet connectivity by individual school districts. At the beginning of last year my school had access to a 50mb line and had 8 high quality routers placed throughout the school. The problem was the district capped the access to bandwidth so tightly, that students couldn't access YouTube without 15 minutes of buffering. Throughout the year man Principal's pushed and there was a revision to the "basic necessities" mandate in which internet connectivity was placed on the same level as running water and heat. Ultimately they doubled our internet speed and number of routers. This changed perception from internet as an accessory to internet as a necessity has benefited the students in our school on a daily basis and enriched their learning.

Chat #1: I agree with Michael and Tine in my belief that a lack of access to internet is not indicative of racism. I live in Alberta where we feature the Alberta SuperNet, meaning every school in the province has high speed internet access, no matter how remote the school may be. The province in the past had to get creative with supplying this internet, but as more fiber makes it way into the ground, it is getting much more cost effective and internet speeds are going up. While most Native communities do have access to this SuperNet, schools on reservations do not fall under the Provincial education umbrella. They fall under Federal jurisdiction, thus how they deal with internet within their school is vastly different from the majority of Alberta schools. If anything it would be a problem between two levels of government and their operating practices. Not racism.

Chat #1: Of course everyone has the right to internet access... nobody in Canada should be denied access based on race, sexual orientation, or religious belief. However, there is often confusion between a "right" and an "expectation to provide". This is similar to basic education. Every child in Canada has a right to basic education. However, just because someone chooses to live in an isolated place does not mean that the govt. has the responsibility to build a school in that area. Internet connectivity will continue to improve. It was not very long ago that we could not use the phone and be on the internet at the same time thanks to the beauty of "dial-up". The important thing to remember is that, as both educators and entrepreneurs, we need to be cognizant of the lives of our students and should not assume every student has access to a computer and internet.