Education and the NBN
While not all the new education initiatives are necessarily directly linked to the NBN a connection does in fact exist in every single aspect of education policies and initiatives.
From the very beginning we identified education as being one of the key trans-sector areas, and this sector now also features in OECD, ITU and UN initiatives. This shows how fundamental broadband is for education.
Australia is also right at the forefront here – not just with the NBN but also with the PC initiative, which will see every schoolchild in years 9 to 12 with a laptop. As a result of this initiative Internet consumption at schools has exploded. In NSW alone usage will reach 100Tb per month (up from 30Tb last year) at the end of the year and this is set to double again within the next year, putting an enormous strain on the underlying infrastructure, this is currently being upgraded from two 1GB connections to four of them.
It is not too difficult to see that this is only the start of e-learning the next step will be e-learning at home. A top-down approach – as is happening at the moment in education – might also be the best way to manage the introduction of other massive applications such as e-health– starting by providing applications for the first line of response people: doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.
Schools, hospitals and other healthcare and education facilities will be connected to the NBN well before the majority of households have a connection, so this top-level environment will be the natural place to start. This allows not just for a manageable approach but also for a learning and engagement process that will see the people at this level being able to take ownership of these new developments.
From there the applications and services can penetrate deeper and deeper into the market.
The latest development, the one that triggered us to revisit this approach, was the launch by the Federal Government of the National Curriculum. This is a typical application that will require time and effort by the first response layer to understand and work with, and it is not too difficult to envisage that these applications can be built out in many different directions to become a key gateway for a range of e-learning activities.
See also Aus e-education
Australia – National Broadband Network – Changing the media model
Australia – National Broadband Network – Competition and Regulations
Australia – National Broadband Network – Deployment Strategies
Australia – National Broadband Network – Early Projects
Australia – National Broadband Network – Government’s Trans-Sector Conference
Australia – National Broadband Network – Industry at crossroads
Australia – National Broadband Network – NBN Co and Infrastructure
Australia – National Broadband Network – Overview and Analysis
Australia – National Broadband Network – Telstra
Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model
Australia – National Broadband Network Municipal Networks
Australia – National Broadband Network Trans-sector projects
Tagged in: Australia, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific
