Page 25 - THE Journal, March 2017

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1,000 users (1 Mbps per student) by 2017–2018 and at least 3 Gbps per 1,000 users by 2020–2021.
Determining Actual Broadband Needs
Of course, the targets set out by SETDA and the FCC are generalizations, and actual requirements will vary from district to district depending on factors such as the number of devices per student and the degree to which they’re using digital content in the classroom.
“Don’t try to go after these broadband targets just because they’ve been put in a report and somebody says that’s where you need to be,” Weeks said. “You really need to spend the time to have that vision for what you want to be able to do with teaching and learning, and then make sure that you get all of the pieces around it to make those things happen.”
Marie Bjerede, principal of Mobile Learning and Infrastructure for CoSN, recommended using the FCC’s short- term goal of 100 Kbps per student as a starting point. Hurley agreed, saying “as long as you get first to that 100 Kbps per student minimum, knowing that’s the standard for being able to do anything technology-related in the classroom.”
Once that 100 Kbps per student minimum is in place,
districts need to monitor their usage and plan service expansion accordingly. “Follow the data,” Bjerede said. “The best way to get good data and get a good understanding of what data gets used for is to track your own data usage, and just stay ahead of the curve on that data usage.”
Planning for Growth
Regardless of which speed is right for a district, it needs to have the infrastructure in place to support current usage and future growth. “Scalability is the most important thing,” Bjerede said.
In most cases, scalability at that level requires fiber-optic infrastructure, which isn’t available to all districts. “We still have areas that our broadband providers just aren’t getting into rural areas. There aren’t as many people, so it doesn’t necessarily make business sense for a provider to get out there,” Weeks said.
“We are working on ways that we can hopefully spark an interest in making sure that we get access into all of those areas of our country,” Weeks added.
The FCC’s E-rate modernization order of 2014 can also help. “A lot of districts have received a very big boost from the new E-rate rules, which allow that kind of infrastructure to
be eligible, and I think that’s going to end up making a very significant difference,” Bjerede said.
Leila Meyer is a contributing editor for THE Journal based in British Columbia.
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