This is not a “change the world” blog post. Rather, it is a “I heard something interesting last week that I’d like to share” report.
About two years ago, I compiled a Smart Rural Community (SRC) report that examined trends pointing to increased use of IoT and advanced manufacturing practices and suggested local/regional industries work with secondary and post-secondary educational institutions to develop curricula to create on-ramps for local students to acquire more tech-focused skills. Highlighting examples of several community-based rural broadband providers, I also proposed that distance education enabled by broadband connectivity can open opportunities in places where economies of scale do not support local provision of the necessary coursework. Stated differently, use distance education to connect students who are dispersed across a wide region so that they can take advanced or specialized courses that would remain otherwise unavailable.
Last week, I spoke at the National Rural Education Association Convention and Research Symposium; it was a fairly massive event, with more than 100 in-person and virtual sessions presented to several hundred on-site attendees and about as many virtual participants. After my first morning there, I wondered whether my audience should not be speaking to me – after all, I was covering nuts and bolts broadband, but they were the experts in making the technology meaningful. Here is one example that spoke to me because it seemed a parallel path to the aforementioned education report (it even encouraged me to dig a little deeper when I returned to the office):
In Kentucky, the average salary for a computer science job is $72,000. The average salary for all jobs in Kentucky is $42,000. The imperative to introduce students to computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) opportunities goes beyond the average salaries noted above: in Kentucky, 67% of new jobs are CS. Rural schools, however, are beset by not-surprising challenges when it comes to offering CS/CT instruction, namely, finding teachers who can survive the first several years of an entry-level teacher’s salary. Beyond those issues are the need to introduce students to CS/CT opportunities at a young age. And, even if introduced, other hurdles may remain. One speaker from the Midwest emphasized the need to make technology and its professional disciplines accessible and relevant to young students, citing especially the need to be sensitive to students who might think that CS/CT careers are “city jobs,” or to girls who think that CS/CT are outside the scope of their anticipated careers.
“Early intervention,” so to speak, is important; preparation at the secondary school level is critical for post-secondary success. CS degrees (typically a Bachelor of Science) usually require college algebra, Calculus I, II, and III and statistics. To be sure (and as covered in the SRC report), some jobs can be obtained with a two-year Associate Degree. But exposure, and creative opportunities, at the middle and high school level will be critical to engaging student candidates for these fields.
A National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 2018 helped support an inquiry into these issues. Rather than focus on students, this study measured the impact of a program to certify CS teachers in Texas. The study found that the beneficial gains of the program were more evident in rural than urban areas. Another effort in Kentucky focused on delivering virtual CS/CT training to elementary and middle school teachers in rural districts. Participants reported positive outcomes and exposure to a wider range of resources.
A popular aphorism states, “If you have seen one rural place, you’ve seen one rural place.” In the telecom industry, we are prone to note (often in the regulatory arena) that there is rarely, if ever, a “one size fits all” solution. So, what works in Kentucky or Texas might not work everywhere, but those examples offer guideposts or “jumping off points” to mold solutions for various places.
Some ideas from last week’s conference:
- Lending libraries for devices
- Working with local and regional businesses to create a model profile of a qualified employee (“grow your own”)
- Facilitate job shadowing and internships in the CT/CS space
- Create school tech clubs and organize tech and coding Olympics
- Investigate early-college options for high school students
And one more aphorism: There are rarely silver bullets; more often, there is silver buckshot. Broadband connectivity enables the gathering and delivery of information and opportunities. Communities with that connectivity (see this NTCA broadband survey report), working with local schools and businesses, can lead the way. And that can change this from “something interesting we heard” to something that can truly change someone’s world.
