Recently, students and teachers have expressed confusion over the state of Wi-Fi internet access on the Costa campus. While the Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s plan for complete Wi-Fi coverage at Costa is necessary, the large disconnect between the administration, teachers and students will make the transition of incorporating technology unnecessarily difficult.
Students and teachers have expressed confusion over the state of Wi-Fi wireless internet access on the Costa campus. While the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustee’s plan for complete Wi-Fi coverage at Costa is necessary, the large disconnect between the administration, teachers, and students will inhibit the transition of bringing technology into the classrooms.
Efforts began over the summer to make wireless internet available around campus, and the district is now in the third phase of installation. According to Principal Dr. Ben Dale, about a third of all Costa classrooms currently have Wi-Fi, with priority given to the classrooms that utilize iPads.
The current divide of information between students, teachers and administrators is immense. Students find themselves unable to access any Wi-Fi on campus, despite being told that they should be able to. Currently, the only student-approved Wi-Fi use, other than in classes on iPad pilot programs, is with the library’s wireless hotspot.
According to Dale, the district is waiting until January 2013 to enable complete Wi-Fi for high school students. As iPad usage continues to increase at Mira Costa, the district will be forced to increase the school’s bandwith to prevent crashes due to the high volume of devices.
Technology Service Coordinator Eric Sangalang believes that 300 megabits will be enough bandwidth to complete phase three of the installation, although he is willing to “monitor the usage on the bandwidth and increase the speed as necessary” as more students use Wi-Fi enabled devices. Sangalang says the total estimated cost for complete Wi-Fi coverage is $115,000.
While it is understandable that the district has been focusing on the middle school wireless connection because of the newly implemented one-to-one iPad program, access for the high school needs to be made a priority as a majority of incoming freshmen are to have iPads next year.
According to Dale, the administration is encouraging teachers to allow all wireless devices. This is a necessary step for Mira Costa, to allow students to benefit most from wireless internet. But because it isn’t available, many think it never will be, furthering the communication gap.
Many teachers push for distraction-free environments, and some maintain the philosophy that technology will give student opportunities for distraction. As proof of a disconnect between students, staff and administration, many teachers aren’t even on the same page with the goals of the iPad program and Wi-Fi that they implement.
However, the benefits outweigh the negatives with Wi-Fi. There will be distractions, but there will also be more information for students to use and learn from.
Our world is rapidly digitizing, and Costa students and staff need to be on the same page for this program to succeed.
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