Technology, Learning and the National Broadband Plan

Representatives from the federal government, educational organizations, trade associations, and school districts came together to discuss the state of broadband in our educational system and what can be expected from the national broadband plan under development by the Federal Communications Commission.

The session, the January Broadband Breakfast Club, commenced with a presentation by Steve Midgley, Director of Education at the Federal Communications Commission. Midgley began with a brief background of the national broadband plan mandate and the national purposes behind it. He said that he believed that aside from the necessary deployment and adoption data that will be included in the plan, the success of the plan hinges on the agency's answer to this specific question of Congress: "why are we building this network?"

To address this question, Midgley paired the priorities of the Department of Education with the four core strategies of the broadband plan's education component. The Education Department's plan is to transform education by:

• Improving standards and assessments
• Developing advanced data systems
• Fostering support for effective teachers, and
• Turning around the lowest performing schools.

Midgley paired these priorities to the FCC's strategies of:

• Promoting and developing online learning,
• Digital content such as e-textbooks,
• Data standards and interoperability (including standardized education records), and
• Broadband infrastructure, including ways to drive more bandwidth to more schools where it is most needed.