Remote Learning Problems due to Technology
With the arrival of the Covid-19 Virus and its spread throughout the United States, all schools have shut-down and moved to virtual classrooms. Students and teachers are connecting through virtual conference applications like Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and more. They follow a regularly scheduled time-table where all classes are online instead of meeting in-person. For a fair number of college classes, professors have chosen recorded instruction mode where they post previously recorded lectures for the students to view at their will. Meanwhile, some professors chose real-time attendance required classes.
Notice how all of these instruction modes require a piece of functioning technology and a stable internet connection. In order to access the virtual conference platforms and other apps needed for classes, students need an average quality laptop/desktop and an internet connection that can handle live-streaming. According to research conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), approximately 14% of children, or about 9 million kids between the ages of 3–18, do not have internet facilities at home. Unfortunately for these kids, the transition between in-person learning to virtual learning during Covid-19 was not smooth. Additionally, around 11 million children do not have a home computer for online learning.
One may ask, cant all schools provide laptops for their students so that no one gets left out? Research by EdWeek Research center shows that only 56% of schools claim to offer a device per student, concluding that not every school has resources to issue 1:1 computing to their students. The pandemic has brought into light these educational inequalities faced by schools and students. So what is the Government doing to help these students gain access to their right to education? As expected, they are doing nothing. Students with either no internet facilities at home, or no computer access, or a combination of both, are forced to drop out or temporarily halt their education.
The future of technology will be computer access to all students through their respective schools. Since the number of students with limited technology access is very high, there will be demand for the Government to mandate 1:1 computing in all schools. Private internet companies either will have to cut down their prices or collaborate with the Government to expand their services to all households in the United States. If this is not possible, then Government funding for in-school internet cafes for students from low-income backgrounds will arise. With these implementations, not only will students exercise their right to education, but they will simultaneously learn how to use and improve their technological skills.
