As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold and schools face the likelihood of extended closures measured in months not weeks, chief technology officers at districts across the country are scrambling to prepare and roll out e-learning programs.
It amounts to an unprecedented test of digital preparedness for the country's school districts. Most are facing a shortfall of available devices and Wi-Fi accessibility for every student and have yet to come up with an equitable way to serve special needs students through online instruction.
Forty one percent of school leaders said they could not provide remote or e-learning activities to every student in their district for even one day, according to data from a new Education Week survey that included 420 principals and 745 other district leaders. Only 22 percent said they could make those opportunities available "as long as we needed to." Resource for these figures from ewa.org and Nichole Dobo, The Hechinger Report.
However, a new IT survey from the Consortium for School Networking, or CoSN, a nonprofit membership organization for K-12 technology leaders, indicates that school districts are making digital progress. Nearly half of districts that responded have one device available for every student, and a quarter of districts support two devices per student, according to preliminary data released ahead of the full report.
Richweb Inc. is helping in these efforts by working with Rural Band CoOps https://www.ruralband.coop/ to provide FREE public Wi-Fi hotspots. This will allow those that do not have access from their homes to gain access at one of the hotspot locations around the State of VA. We have been working with Prince George County for years on different IT needs, however, this pandemic has brought about new priorities. HVENS (High Velocity Edge Network Services) https://www.hvens.com/ is a Richweb Inc. product and works with rural electric coops to provide broadband to rural communities.
As we all deal with a new normal at least for the near future, Richweb continues to pursue new and innovative ways to enhance the power of technology to our greater Richweb community.
For more info about this program or any other services please email helpdesk@richweb.com or call 804-368-0421 option#2