Education
EXPLORE: United States | China | Guatemala | Indonesia | VietnamUnited States: Project K-Nect, Taking Education to a Wireless Level
 The early teenage years are a critical time in every person's life. Parents, friends and teachers will make an enormous impact on a child's study habits, commitment to learning and ultimately his or her future. Wireless Reach and its partners have launched a pilot project to determine how technology can play an important role in education, tackling a challenging subject - math. Project K-Nect is a two-year pilot program that began during the 2007-2008 school year. The project addresses the need to improve math skills among at-risk ninth-grade students in North Carolina using advanced wireless technology. To be eligible for the program, students had to have limited at-home Internet access, qualify for the free or reduced lunch program and have below average math proficiency levels. Qualified students were given EV-DO-enabled smartphones - mobile phones equipped with personal computer-like functionality - to wirelessly access the Internet both on and off school campus. The phones not only provide access to supplemental math content aligned to their teachers' current lesson plan objectives, but also allow students to collaborate with each other and contact after-school tutors who can assist them with mastering a targeted skill set. The program only allows authorized users to communicate electronically within the system and is monitored to ensure acceptable use policies are not violated. A grant provided by Wireless Reach ensures that the smartphones and service are free of charge to the students and their schools. The project will undergo continual testing, implementation and development in order to provide the most effective program to help students. Project K-Nect hopes to demonstrate that traditional teaching methods combined with advanced technology are successful and scalable in bringing education into the new millennium. PARTNERS
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“Project K-Nect gives us a tremendous opportunity to use a device as common as a cell phone to help close the digital divide. Students sometimes see their school work as unrelated to current developments and technologies or uninteresting altogether. We hope that by using current technology in a new way, we can re-engage students and help them reach important academic goals.” – Frances Bradburn, Director of Instructional Technology at the NC Department of Public Instruction |
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China: PKUnity, Bringing Internet Connectivity to Rural China
 While China has benefited from a huge expansion in computer Internet use, with more than 162 million users by June 2007 according to China Internet Network Information Center, there are many areas still lacking Internet connectivity, particularly the inland rural areas, where overall social and economic development is behind the eastern urbanized coastal regions. Wireless Reach partnered with PKUnity Microsystems to bridge the digital gap in China and improve people's lives through education and technology. The initiative provided eight schools in the Chongqing, Jiangxi and Yunnan provinces with wireless Internet access via CDMA2000 1X data cards, PKUnity servers and networked computers. Additionally, a special school in Beijing that serves the children of migrant workers was also provided with wireless Internet equipment. Wireless Internet access has opened an entirely new world to many of the teachers and students of these schools. Not only can they surf the Internet, they also can perform research and teachers can download materials to the server, then pass it along to the individual networked computers of the students - a system entirely more effective and flexible than traditional satellite education information broadcasting. By working with PKUnity Microsystems, Qualcomm supports the Chinese government's efforts to spur home-grown innovation and local manufacturing. PARTNERS
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Guatemala: Schools of the Future, Accelerating Education Reform with Broadband Internet Connectivity
 In 1996, one of Latin America's longest civil wars ended in Guatemala. In the war's wake, education in rural areas suffered tremendously. More than 10 years later, systemic educational reform is still happening, opening the door for innovative ideas and advanced wireless technologies. Recently, the Guatemalan Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) implemented “Schools of the Future,” a project which, in its initial stage, focuses on introducing advanced wireless technology into a small number of schools. These initial schools benefit from the introduction of technology into their curriculum. The schools are monitored every 18 months and, based on findings, improvements are continually implemented. The goal is to use these first schools to create a model for replication into all Guatemalan schools in the future. The project currently benefits 400 schools. Qualcomm saw an opportunity to assist MINEDUC through its Wireless Reach initiative. In addition to MINEDUC, Qualcomm partnered with the Fundación Sergio Paiz, USAID and TELGUA (a subsidiary of América Móvil) to provide the resources to assist rural-area schools. Thus far, the partners have selected 15 schools within the regions of Alta Verapaz, Escuintla, Peten, and San Marcos to provide infrastructure improvements, 17 computers per school, high-speed EV-DO wireless connectivity, teaching software and training. PARTNERS
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“Given our challenging topography and current communications infrastructure, a 3G wireless strategy is the most cost-effective way to bring connectivity to these rural schools. Parents, students and whole communities are very enthusiastic about the possibilities and improvements the wireless effort will be bringing them. This project will allow them to 'visit' and understand new countries and people, and allow them to share their culture and traditions with those outside Guatemala. The support we've received to date guarantees that the initiative will realize its initial goal - creating a benchmark for the value of technology in everyday education.” – Rodrigo Arias, IT advisor to the Minister of Education of Guatemala |
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Indonesia: Connecting Way Kanan and Pacitan, Bringing High-Speed EV-DO to Underserved Areas
 The Lampung province on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia has rural areas with minimal telecommunications infrastructure. Here, isolated villages, some reachable only after a drive of no less than six hours over bumpy dirt roads, now have secondary schools where students can surf the Internet. Wireless Reach, the local 3G operator Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia (STI), IndoNet, Axesstel Inc., the Indonesian Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the State Ministry for the Accelerated Development of Disadvantaged Regions, reached out to the remote township of Way Kanan in Lampung to increase teledensity and Internet penetration with EV-DO high-speed data access. STI uses the 450 MHz frequency band, ideal for providing extended coverage and advanced voice and high-speed data services in rural and underserved areas. The cornerstone of the program was the establishment of computer laboratories, which provide Internet access to more than 1,000 students in five high schools in Way Kanan: Buay Bahuga, Negeri Besar, Negara Batin, Rebang Tangkas and Pakuan Ratu. Similarly, a community access point (CAP) has been established in Pacitan, East Java, to serve as an Internet data center for local townspeople. This CAP in Pacitan consists of a computer laboratory equipped with an EV-DO modem operating at 450 MHz (CDMA450) to provide high-speed Internet access to the public. More than 2,000 students and teachers in the Pondok Tremas district are now able to access information worldwide via the Internet for use in education, research and training. PARTNERS
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“This innovative project serves as a model for how the government can partner with the private sector to address Indonesia's challenges in providing telecommunications for rural and underserved communities. We appreciate companies like Qualcomm, Sampoerna Telekom, IndoNet and Axesstel for their initiative and support.” – Sofyan Djalil, former Minister for Information and Communication Technology in Indonesia |
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Vietnam: TOPIC64, Access to Information Technology
 In Vietnam, Qualcomm has partnered with USAID, Electricity Vietnam Telecom, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and the Center for Research on Management and Consulting on the Training Online Programs in Information Technology for Communities (TOPIC64). TOPIC64 aims to empower underserved communities in each of Vietnam's 64 provinces by establishing Community Technology and Learning Centers (CTLCs) with computers, software and Internet connectivity via 3G. The project seeks to educate the public in basic IT, management and marketing skills by providing technical expertise via teacher training and technical support at each of the CTLCs. TOPIC64 reaches a wide spectrum of Vietnam's people, especially unskilled and previously under-educated adults. PARTNERS
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“That is one of the good thing about the TOPIC64 center, it offers training to the local people.” – Tran Manh Thieu, 27, owner of Hoa Viet Ceramics in Phu Lam, a village 45 minutes from Hanoi, who signed four of his employees up for classes to learn Excel and Web design at the TOPIC64 center |
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