Although technology is changing education rapidly, many schools in the U.S. still cannot take advantage of the digital learning tools because they don’t have high-speed Internet connections. That is why President Obama has recently introduced ConnectED, which is his breakthrough plan for connecting all schools to the digital era.

ConnectED aims at connecting 99% American students to the next-generation internet technology in the next 5 years and equipping them with the tools to make the most of it. President Obama has called on the government to take necessary steps to incorporate high-speed Internet connections and educational technology into the classrooms and libraries of all American schools. He is also asking businesses, and other communities to support this plan.

Although America was the one who broke new ground in connecting schools to the Internet, it is now lagging behind in digital learning and connectivity as compared to other countries. Even today millions of students in America don’t have an access to high-speed broadband internet which is ultimately putting them at a disadvantage and more than 80% school teachers are of the view that the internet connection at their schools doesn’t meet their teaching requirements. But now with ConnectED, all students and teachers, especially those living in rural areas, will have an easy access to high-speed Internet at schools.

Benefits of ConnectED

ConnectED will provide the following benefits:

Access to a highly interactive environment

The ConnectED initiative will also, with the help of the private sector and leading technology companies, create new feature-rich educational devices for teachers and students that will be supported by high-speed Internet in order to have an interactive learning environment. The teachers and students will also have an access to high-quality applications for education software that will provide content according to the standards of the schools and colleges of America.

The educational devices will provide a gateway of interactive learning to students and will give access to new learning resources and attractive representations of difficult concepts. The devices will also provide an opportunity to students to work at their own pace and get instant help whenever they need in order to enhance their skills. The personalized education software will also address the needs of students.

Improved skills of teachers

Besides improving the Internet connectivity in schools, the ConnectED plan will work on improving teachers’ skills and training them to use technological tools in education in order to enhance the knowledge of students. The Department of Education of America will work with different regions and states to spend the funds in this training for helping teachers to keep updated with new technology.

Improved connectivity in schools

ConnectED will connect all American schools and libraries to the Internet with improved speeds of 100 Mbps and moving to a target speed of 1Gbps within a period of five years. This initiative by the President will also provide improved Internet access to students living in villages. It will also make efforts to approach those areas of the country that have a poor technological infrastructure.

New learning opportunities for rural students

Students living in rural areas will also benefit from ConnectED by getting access to new learning opportunities and experiencing a digital environment. In this way, they will have the same knowledge and opportunities as the students living in the city. Reports show that less than 20% schools have internet connections that meet the needs of teachers and students.

This is how ConnectED initiative will promote a healthy environment for digital learning.

How ConnectED Effects Higher Ed

Apart from that the innovative project will also stir up the growth of higher education websites. Mainly because the primary purpose of the project is to connect students with the internet so that they can acquire valuable content that is in line with college standards or career-centric courses. In other words, unless there is an abundance of resourceful higher ed portals available on the internet, students can’t make the most of this grand project.

This post was written by Luna Smith