 |
Online Schooling is now Demand |
Its really interesting Mr. Ike Seneres stated in his social media post
When the lock down policy was implemented due to the corona virus, the immediate action of the school administrators was to shift to online learning, meaning to say learning via the internet, in other words using broadband.
Well, we do not always call it that, preferring to call it WI-FI, not knowing perhaps that broadband is the means for the WI-FI to be delivered, in other words it is the carrier.
A few weeks into the lock down policy however, the school administrators realized that shifting to online learning was unfair to those who do not have internet access at home.
Of course, that is just one side of the problem, because even those who had internet access at home could not get a good signal, owing in part to poor connectivity in the area, and also the volume of users who were into “online working”, in other words those who had no other choice but to work at home or work from home, now known as WFH.
As fast s the virus spread, the prevalent thinking also spread that the root of the problem was the so-called “digital divide”.
Personally, I do not disagree with that perspective, but I do believe that the so-called “digital divide” is really just a reflection, an outcome of the very real social divide.
What do I mean by that? In many parts of the country, internet access is already available, but of course whoever wants to use it has to pay for the access. In other words, the barrier that causes the “divide” is money.
It is like having food available in the restaurants, but people go hungry, because they have no money to pay for it.
Not being able to go back to the classrooms and not being able to use online learning is like being caught in between the devil and the deep blue sea, with nowhere else to go.
But as if enlightened with a bright light that comes from an angel, I found a solution right under my nose.
Mind you, it is not new, it is not new but that does not mean that it does not work.
After consulting with Mr. William Sia, a fellow ICT practitioner, we arrived at the conclusion that old and new broadcast technologies could supplement the broadband based technologies. That sounded like it would work, but there is still one problem.
The problem is that the software that runs in the broadband solutions could not run in the broadcast solutions.
As simple as simple could be, the solution is to use common content format that could work both in broadband, and also in broadcast.
As simple as simple could be, that format is not other than video, a format that works in both carriers, albeit in various file types, but never mind that, because video is video and all videos are convertible from one file type to another.
Video is of course an old technology, but never mind that also, because it runs in all new platforms.
On the broadband side, videos could run using video streaming, which is what Facebook Live, You Tube and Netflix does.
There is no mystery behind that, and everyone knows that. On the broadcast side, videos could be played on Direct To Home (DTH) TV, Direct Terrestrial Television (DTT), Cable Access Television (CATV) and even the good old Free To Air Television, using either UHF or VHF frequencies.
In other words, the same lessons that are recorded on videos can be streamed via broadband, and shown via broadcast.
What is the difference between the two and who cares?
The bottom line is that all students rich or poor could watch the same lessons at the same time.