B.Y.O.B. for School Systems : Bring Your Own Bandwidth
- Charles Shewell
- Jul 12, 2022
- 2 min read
A Better Education Comes From Increasing Bandwidth
School systems collect and use data for various reasons, whether it is to track student level data such as academic performance, see trends in demographics and provided courses, as well as evaluating programs and guardian communications. As educational technology continues to develop and become more integrated in the world of education, leaders and administration need to look at the importance of bandwidth expansion to provide resources through emerging technology such as learning management systems that would benefit educators and administrators through the collection of data and use of predictive analysis.
AFFORDABLE ACCESS FOR ALL
Access to affordable internet can be difficult for school systems as digital and online learning expands. More devices are being used and brought to school each day, whether it be by students or faculty, creating more demand for improved infrastructure. Many states are in need of building partnerships with broadband providers to help combat the growth of demand for bandwidth as schools rely on state funding. I would like to see the data describing the use of bandwidth and a future "plan of attack" as the school I teach at is continually growing. I know this year our number of incoming freshman has the same population as our juniors and seniors combined. As an educator, I would like to know how the school plans to grow as the population does. Expansion is inevitable, but if there is no plan, there is no hope.
IMPROVEMENT THROUGH INTEGRATION
With an updated infrastructure, schools can then implement emerging technologies for school improvement, whether it is in the classroom, across the campus, or creating compatibility for pre existing technology. School leaders need to be continually searching for and assessing possible technologies that provide institutional improvement. Technology can be used by educators so that students are provided more tools for a positive and engaged learning experience, while learning management systems can be used by administrators to collect data for future analysis. Having said that, there are many critical issues with bringing new technology into the educational ecosystem other than cost. Some of the issues are listed below:
Classroom effectiveness
Privacy
Implementation
Compatibility with other programs or applications
Student goal alignment
Staff support & training
Accessibility for disabled students
DATA DRIVEN
Much like an improved infrastructure can allow the possibility for implementing new technology, new tech can provide a variety of sources for the collection of data. Schools can use a collection of data through various systems in order to identify student needs, evaluate programs and instruction, and make cultural improvements. Integrating artificial intelligence for predictive analytics can be of great benefit to providing for student needs, predict to aid in efficiency, and help choose other technology systems for educational improvements. “By identifying trends, you can develop new classes, teaching strategies and other methods to give students what they need and want,”(Spear, 2019). The ability to effectively use this data can provide faster student intervention for helping students succeed, as well as allowing schools to create more personalized learning for the individual. For responsible mining of big data in education, there must be transparency in policies in order to gain public trust in the use of personal data. Leaders will need to be made aware of correct processes and knowledge of the framework and algorithms are of the utmost importance.
Works Cited
Spear, E. (2019, October 30). 5 Big Benefits of Big Data Analytics in Education. Precision Campus. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://precisioncampus.com/blog/benefits-big-data-education/
Reigeluth, C. M., Watson, W. R., Watson, S. (Sunnie) L., Dutta, P., Chen, Z. (Clare), & Powell, N. D. P. (2008). Roles for Technology in the Information-Age Paradigm of Education: Learning Management Systems. Educational Technology, 48(6), 32–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44429625
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