Original article can be found on Nibletz. Written by Peter Schaeffer.
Cradlepoint and Kajeet Are Turning Bus Time Into Learning Time
It’s that time of year again where the edtech discussion goes full throttle. From now until July it’s edtech conference season where educators from across the country will converge at events like FETC, TCEA, SXSWedu, ALA and ISTE 2018 to see the latest edtech products and discuss new trends in how technology is driving student success.
One thing often discussed at these edtech conferences, and sometimes in hushed tones, is that there’s still a big digital divide students face all over the United States. When it pertains to how that digital divide is affecting education, our friends at Kajeet call that the “Homework Gap”.
The Homework Gap exists where students may have access to devices at school, they may even be fortunate enough to attend a school with a 1:1 device initiative. But when they get home that device may be nearly useless, because many American homes still don’t have access to high speed internet.
Kajeet solves this problem in two ways, with the Kajeet Smartspot and the Kajeet Smartbus. Kajeet Smartspot’s are wifi hotspots that school’s can utilize in a number of ways. One of the most popular is allowing students to take the Smartspot home. Provisions within the hotspot make it easy for school’s to track where the devices are and to keep kids learning on the internet instead of surfing inappropriate content and dangerous websites.
Kajeet’s other offering, the Kajeet Smartbus, turns bus riding time into productive learning, studying and homework time for students that may not have access to internet or wifi in their homes. Research says that the average student bus ride for elementary school students in rural areas (often areas without high speed internet) is 30 minutes but can be stretched to 60 minutes and even in some cases 90 minutes. With the Kajeet Smartbus those minutes can be spent learning.
The Kajeet Smartbus is powered by Cradlepoint in vehicle routers for LTE WiFi. In October Kajeet announced an upgrade from the Cradlepoint COR IBR1100 to the Cradlepoint COR IBR900, which means more connected devices (and therefore more connected students), and the ability to choose two wireless carriers and switch between networks based on coverage needs. Further shrinking the homework gap for many students across the country.
Schools and districts nationwide are turning to the Cradlepoint technology to put WiFi on busses that are taking students to athletic events, fieldtrips and other long journeys, again turning the boring busride into productivity time.
You can visit with Kajeet at FETC in Orlando this week, booth #613 and at TCEA in Austin, February 5-9th in booth #1720. You can meet with Cradlepoint at FETC, booth #1643. Find kajeet online at kajeet.net and Cradlepoint at cradlepoint.com.