Deployability and Reliability Key in Distance Education for Rural Australia
September 13, 2016 7:46 am
Access to quality education is important, and this accessibility can pose a problem for those living in remote and rural areas of Australia.
According to Farm Weekly, those living in far -away areas usually rely on online classes, but lack of telecommunication services, provider assistance and timely repairs are hindering students’ access to education.
These issues were identified by the delegates of the Isolated Children’s Parents Association (ICPA) as major hurdles when it comes to access to online education.
The 39 delegates, who came from all across Australia, voted on 20 motions on the telecommunications issues and all agreed that going days or weeks without a landline, mobile service and Internet, hindered their children’s education.
According to Federal ICPA President Wendy Hick, communication problems are nation-wide and parents are still unable to find answers:
“We hope, by having these discussions, we are going to put forward some ideas so this can be addressed. Not just saying what the problems are, but a solution and help everyone out there.”
According to her, the motions put forward from the branch members and delegates would be the base policy when it comes to lobbying the government.
“We are advocating, regardless of where children live, they need access to education and the resources and tools for that education, telecommunication needs to be Australia-wide.”
In addition, most of the motions came from the areas of Northern Territory and Queensland. Queensland delegates lamented that they were concerned about the technical difficulties of the drop outs of satellite Internet that affects student participation.
All of these problems are concerns for the state of distance education in Australia. A reliable and fast Internet will be essential when it comes to improving the quality of distance education in Australia. To address the call of improving distance education and allow rural Australians in attaining industry accreditation via online courses, the nbn satellite Sky Muster® aim to help by finally bringing a much improved Internet connection to remote and rural areas in Australia.
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