High-speed broadband under the NBN will bring a boon for education
The benefits high-speed broadband will bring to education were under the spotlight today at the launch of the fifth and final National Broadband Network (NBN) first mainland release site in Willunga, South Australia.
National broadband champion and Vice-Chancellor and CEO of the University of New England, Professor Jim Barber, attended the launch and said that the NBN will fundamentally change the role of universities.
"High-speed broadband will open the door to incredible new possibilities and give us the freedom to work from anywhere,” Professor Barber said
“For universities and other education providers, removing the technological shackles of broadband capacity and bandwidth means we can provide the same level of service to a student sitting at home in their living room that we can provide to a student on campus.”
"The NBN will fundamentally change the delivery of educational services. For example, instead of dragging students through a linear curriculum we will be able to better tailor a specific course to suit individual students.”
“By tailoring a course to a student’s learning needs we are going to maximise the best outcomes for students.”
National Broadband Champion and CEO of Open Universities Australia, Stuart Hamilton AO, said that until the development of the NBN, distance education would continue to face many technological limitations.
"Without high-speed broadband online education has been a relatively passive experience. You can download the content but if you want to contribute to discussion you might have to sit waiting for it while the class moves on.”
"With high-speed broadband, you can actually share files quickly and interact by high definition video with the teacher and the students. This level of interactivity will be a completely new and powerful feature of distance education.”
“The ability to access content quickly and share it with classmates opens up an engaged experience that until now has been missing.”
"The NBN will improve the lives of all Australians. In regional areas, by enabling people to live and work in their own communities, we are giving people the tools and skills to contribute and build their own future.”
Contact: Professor Jim Barber, Broadband champion – 0439 036 184
Stuart Hamilton AO, Broadband champion – (03) 8628 2502
DBCDE Media - media@dbcde.gov.au
