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FCC is asking for teachers and school officials to help them analyze and give feedback on eRate data which has been collected. It seems like a great opportunity for teachers to be involved in larger decision-making processes and to be a part of research.

The concerns about federal regulation of social media continue

This is the FCC blog calling on people to give feedback on the eRate data (followup to last post).

Cable companies, as part of a new FCC initiative, will be offering broadband internet to homes with children who are elgible for free school lunches.  The initiative is called "Connect-to-Compete". While having broadband at the home isn't the same as always on, mobile internet available wirelessly for students wherever they are on any device they happen to have on them, this is a good start to lessen digital exclusion for these groups

Arnie Duncan, Education Secretary, and Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman, setting up an ambitious plan to get digital textbooks in schools within five years. This requires ccollaboration among the Government, business, and educators.

Key choices are now being made about the E-Rate in terms of both amount of funding and how that money can be used. I and others are advocating that E-Rate should fund mobile devices and networking outside of schools.

This ties into the discussion in class this week. A nice quick summary of the debate, along with a database for all the ongoing comments via the FCC.

Interesting to look at some of the federal policies that restrict internet use in schools. The incentive for schools to participate is access to an E-rate saver program. This is a bit controversial because it utilizes censorship and restricts the students' freedom to take full advantage of the information available on the Web. The reasons behind the CIPA act are pretty obvious- safety.