On the first day of the 12 Days of Broadband, we take a look back to the summer when President Barack Obama announced the “ConnectED” initiative at Mooresville Middle School.
Preparing America’s students with the skills they need to get good jobs and compete with countries around the world relies increasingly on interactive, individualized learning experiences driven by new technology. President Barack Obama drove this message home in June speaking in a gymnasium packed with nearly 600 7th and 8th graders at Mooresville Middle School when he unveiled his new ConnectED plan.
The project calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take the steps necessary to build high-speed digital connections to America’s schools and libraries, ensuring that 99 percent of American students can benefit from these advances in teaching and learning. The president further directed the federal government to make better use of existing funds to get this technology into classrooms, and into the hands of teachers trained on its advantages. Finally, he also called on businesses, states, districts, schools, and communities to support this vision.
“In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee,” Obama said, “shouldn’t we have it in our schools?”
The ConnectED name is new, but the idea has been a long-time cause for many. According to the White House, the average school has about the same connectivity as the average American home, but serves 200 times as many users.
Former North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue applauded the president’s new plan after the announcement.
“We must make our schools an integral part of the broadband and technology transformation because this technology is real, it is available, and its capacity to improve education is profound,” said Perdue, who continues to be active in improving connectivity and digital learning across the country. “Having a 21st century technology infrastructure for all learners no matter their age should be the one effort on which we all agree as we continue to better prepare our students and workers for the worldwide knowledge economy.”
While in office, Perdue led the N.C. School Connectivity Initiative that connected all school districts to the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) through a public-private partnership with MCNC and the N.C. General Assembly. Perdue also was instrumental in leading MCNC’s $144 million expansion of that network through the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative, which also came to completion in 2013.
MCNC’s efforts through NCREN’s high-speed network were seen and used first-hand by President Obama while in Mooresville.
“It’s appropriate that President Obama and Secretary Duncan chose Mooresville Graded School District as the place to unveil ConnectED. Superintendent Mark Edwards and his team have done a great job integrating digital resources into teaching and learning as well as adopting a culture of learning that is focused on the individual learner,” commented MCNC President and CEO Joe Freddoso. “MCNC and its private-sector carrier partners including AT&T, TimeWarner Cable, Windstream, and CenturyLink are proud to supply Mooresville and all school districts in North Carolina the bandwidth they need to lead the nation in digital learning integration.”
Obama was joined for the announcement by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, whose department continues to work with the FCC to revamp the E-Rate program in order to provide local schools with Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. “Some people ask if technology is going to replace teachers,” said Duncan. “That’s not ever going to happen. The answer is always great teachers.”
Obama’s stop in North Carolina this summer was his first since he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at his party’s convention in Charlotte.
