Wi-Fi in the classroom
How metro schools provide wireless service:
Atlanta: All classrooms wireless for about two years
Cherokee: All classrooms wireless for a few years
Clayton: All schools wireless since 2009
Cobb: All schools wireless since 2009
Decatur: All schools wireless for several years, with iPads for all fourth and fifth grade students and a “bring your own device” program for high school students piloting in the spring
DeKalb: All classrooms wireless as of this month
Fayette: High schools and middle schools have been online since last year. Elementary schools went online this year. There is a “bring your own technology” program at all school levels.
Forsyth: All classrooms wireless since 2005
Fulton: Not all wireless yet but installations are planned, using money from a local sales tax
Gwinnett: All high schools and middle schools wireless with all elementary schools to come online next fall. Many schools have started “bring your own device” programs
Marietta: All classrooms wireless since March. The high school has been covered since February 2011 and is trying a “bring your own device” policy
Wireless Internet connections have become as commonplace as cable television. Homes, offices, coffee shops, restaurants and countless other places offer full access. The one place where the wealth of information on the Web hasn’t been readily available: schools.
That’s changing though, at least in metro Atlanta, where many school districts are either just completing the installation of Wi-Fi clouds or plan to provide the service in the near future.
Schools that have the technology say it’s both a convenience and an educational aid, allowing teachers and administrators to monitor student performance more efficiently while letting students access the Internet from their classrooms instead of awaiting a turn in the school computer lab.
Others say they are hoping to catch up and soon. Those aspirations fit with a statewide goal to equip teachers with technology to calibrate their teaching pace with the learning speed of each student.
“Technology has the ability to really change how education is delivered,” said Bob Swiggum, the technology chief for the Georgia Department of Education. “Wireless is the backbone that you will deliver a 21st century education on.”
A task force appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal recommended last week that all Georgia schools install Wi-Fi and begin a shift to digital textbooks and the kind of “blended and competency-based learning” that futurists envision. It means, Swiggum said, that Georgia teachers should expect in the near future to use software to monitor how each student is absorbing material in real time, so assignments can be tailored.
“I can show you dozens of schools in Georgia that are doing this,” he said. “But I can show you thousands that aren’t.”
Most of Georgia’s 180 school districts are moving toward ubiquitous mobile access, but Swiggum estimated that less than 5 percent have reached the goal. Metro Atlanta is leading the way.
The city school systems in Atlanta, Decatur and Marietta say they have full coverage, with Marietta completing its build-out in March. The school systems in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb and Forsyth counties have had full Wi-Fi for several years. Forsyth has even partnered with the local chamber of commerce to provide access for students at doughnut shops, restaurants and other community businesses.
Cobb, the state’s second largest district with 110,000 students, says teachers have had time to experiment since the district went all Wi-Fi in 2009. Cobb is trying out the so-called “flipped classroom” model, where students watch lectures online and do “homework” in class, where the teacher can help.
“These technology-centered classrooms are becoming pervasive throughout the district,” Cobb spokesman Jay Dillon said.
Fayette County went full Wi-Fi this year, when its elementary schools got access. High school and middle school students have had full Wi-Fi since last year and the district has a “bring your own technology” program at all school levels.
Other big districts are playing catchup.
Gwinnett County, the state’s largest with 169,000 students, will not have wireless access for all elementary schools until at least next fall. But all high schools and middle schools have mobile connections and the district is out front with technology-oriented pilot programs, including an online school that enrolls students as young as fourth-graders. Most online schools are for high school students. Many Gwinnett schools also allow students to bring their own devices.
Fulton, with 95,000 students, has yet to extend wireless access to all students, but installations are planned with money from a local sales tax.
DeKalb County, the state’s third largest district with 99,000 students, just completed a full Wi-Fi installation this month. Last year, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools criticized the district’s lack of connectivity. Among the problems cited when the agency put DeKalb on probation in December 2012: a district initiative to purchase e-books when only 35 percent of schools had wireless access.
“We made it a priority primarily because it was one of the concerns raised by SACS,” Superintendent Michael Thurmond said of the hasty installation, which took less than a year. It started in February, the same month Thurmond was hired, though it was already planned and it was completed around the time SACS sent a review team to the district for an upcoming update on accreditation. The $4.5 million cost was covered by a voter-approved ballot initiative for a sales tax.
Thurmond called it a “step forward” into an era that began in January 2001. “We’re going to be providing a 21st century education,” he said.
DeKalb lacks the money to buy those e-books this year, but when the budget allows, they will be purchased, Thurmond said. The district spent nearly $6 million this year buying new textbooks and repairing worn ones, so the move to digital books might prove cost-effective. It would certainly put a spring in the step of students who would have lighter backpacks.
Thurmond said the new Wi-Fi systems will immediately enable students with computing devices — the district has 40,000 laptops and 10,000 iPads for student use — to access the Internet anywhere in their schools. It will also enable administrators to remotely monitor classrooms via webcams and give teachers easier access to test results and other student data.
Rick Mason is on a foundation that raised money to buy technology for Henderson Mill Elementary near Northlake Mall. He and other parents there pushed for Wi-Fi at the school and were ready to buy it themselves when DeKalb finally installed it at the beginning of this school year. Now, he said, the children get more mileage out of those computers and iPads.
“It’s like we bought some great new sports cars over the past couple of years, but could only take them up and down the driveway,” Mason said. “Now we can take those sports cars anywhere we want to go!”
All the new Wi-Fi access, combined with relaxed policies for use of devices from home, means more and more students will be able to use their Christmas tablets, smartphones and laptops at school after the holidays. Decatur high school students, for instance, will be greeted by a “bring your own device” program in the spring.
The new Wi-Fi in Marietta schools means the mobile access that many take for granted elsewhere is finally available in classrooms, libraries, lunchrooms and the teacher lounges. Students and staff previously were restricted to “hot spots” in their buildings when they needed to go online, said David Digiovanni, the Marietta schools technology director.
“Wherever they go now, they can use their laptops,” he said.
Rod Smith, the technology director for Clayton schools, said Wi-Fi in classrooms can help address concerns about a “digital divide” between the rich and poor. Increasingly, kids from every economic stratum are toting smartphones. Their use may be limited by the cost of cellular data plans, but inside a wireless classroom with unlimited Internet access, the devices can become a powerful educational tool, he said. “As long as they’re on our Wi-Fi network, they’re not being dinged on their data plan.”
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