Access: Equity and Home Bandwidth
As we explain in the Primer, the home equity issue of greatest concern is bandwidth. The speed of the connection to the Internet and the number of devices available to take advantage of home access influence what the students in a family can do (Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010). Furthermore, we would suggest that the potential of 1:1 and BYOD initiatives will be limited until students have reasonably equivalent access when not able to take advantage of connectivity within the school.
The FCC recognizes the need for greater place-independent access and has supported some pilot activity (Learning On-The-Go) to evaluate use of e-rate funds to support such access.
The most immediate opportunities may come through the private sector. For example, Connect2Compete is an effort of the National Cable and Communications Association and partners to provide low cost broadband access ($10 per month). The program uses student eligibility for reduced cost or free school lunch to establish that a family is eligible. You can learn more about this program at the Connect2Compete web siteand learn more about the regions in which this program is available from this map.
Future developments and perhaps partnerships will be necessary to support the momentum of mobile devices. It is encouraging that equity of access has been recognized as an issue