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A TLDR thread on issue of broadband connectivity for higher education (HE) students in coming semester! While recent announcement by @SimonHarrisTD on purchase of 17k laptops for HE students is welcome, issue of connectivity for students learning from home is just as important /1
Anecdotally, I know that broadband access was a big issue for @UL students last semester with many students driving to campus during the lockdown and working on laptops from their cars so that they could access the UL wireless network /2
Given most higher education institutions (HEIs) are planning to deliver courses either fully online or in a blended format in the coming academic year, student access to a stable high quality broadband service if they are forced to remain at home will be critical /3
Without detailed data and research it is very difficult to determine the extent of the connectivity issues that students faced last semester and how big an issue this will be for students in the coming academic year /4
In research conducted with @beta1hat, @darraghflanner1, @jasonharold & @ESRIDublin's Seán Lyons, we combine national data on domiciles of students enrolled in Irish HEIs with detailed spatial data on broadband coverage to estimate # of students 'at risk' of poor connectivity /5
Our measure of ‘at risk’ areas includes electoral divisions (EDs) where access to NGA broadband services (>30 MBps download speed) is less than 50% which we identify using the NBP map provided by the DCCAE /6
Overall we find that 1 in 6 higher education students are at risk of poor broadband accessibility, with undergrad and full-time students more likely to face issues relative to postgrad and part-time students. We also find significant variation in at risk students across HEIs /7
The eight HEIs with the lowest proportion of at risk students are located in Dublin, while HEIs located in the west or midlands have highest proportion of at risk students which is a function of the catchment areas of HEIs and the unequal distribution of high quality broadband /8
We also consider differences in the socioeconomic profiles of 'at risk' areas by using data on area-level deprivation and median household income and find that areas with poorest broadband coverage tend to be the most deprived which is an obvious concern /9
Some caveats: our analysis is based on ED level data and our broadband data is taken from NBP map. It's therefore possible some students in 'at risk' EDs have adequate DSL, FWA or mobile broadband connections for online learning /10
However, recent survey data from ComReg highlights that consumers with DSL or mobile broadband connections, as well as those in rural areas, had the lowest satisfaction rates in relation to the adequacy of their connection since the pandemic commenced /11
We also don't have any data on in-home capacity issues such as WiFi quality or the number of people sharing home networks. Such issues can impact download speeds available within homes regardless of whether a household has access to a high speed broadband technology or not /12
Despite these caveats our analysis does point to potential connectivity issues for a considerable number of students and implies that HEIs should pay specific attention to geographic pattern of their enrolments and potentially adjust online delivery methods in coming semester /13
By using their more detailed spatial data on enrolments, HEIs can better develop policies/supports for students with connectivity issues. For example, HEIs could prioritise access to campus for those from poor broadband areas that are living at home /14
Supports could also possibly extend to, for example, offering subsidised on-campus accommodation for disconnected students from lower income backgrounds to help ensure an effective and equal learning experience for all students /15
Our findings also lend strong support to the recent call by @HollyCairnsTD for targeted funding for HEIs to establish hubs or micro-satellite campuses to enable rural students to complete courses online /16 https://twitter.com/SocDems/status/1303631904353267712
While Ireland’s National Broadband Plan will address the connectivity issues faced by many households in the future, the rollout of this network will take a number of years and HEIs, @hea_irl, @IUAofficial and @DeptofFHed must proactively engage with the issue immediately /end
