The Arkansas for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recently upgraded its Internet bandwidth to a gigabit service. The investment in the school’s digital infrastructure ensures ASMSA will have a robust and reliable Internet connection to serve as an important tool for academics while also providing students use of communication and entertainment services.
A gigabit allows up to 1 billion bits of data per second to be downloaded by the user. Faster download speeds and larger bandwidth permissions will allow students to access great amounts of information in a shorter period of time.
That is critical for institutions of learning who want to be able to offer its students the best learning resources, including one-to-one education institutions where each student brings or is assigned a laptop for classroom use. ASMSA is a 1:1 BYOD (one-to-one, bring your own device) campus. Through the upwARd Promise program, students who cannot afford a laptop of their own are loaned one for the semester.
The new bandwidth connection will provide each ASMSA student roughly 4.35 Mbps. That’s the highest per-pupil allocation in Arkansas, according to the most recent statistics from the state.
The State Education Technology Director’s Association recommended a minimum bandwidth of 100 Kbps per student as a minimum with a bandwidth-intensive institution providing 1.5 Mbps per device in 2016. ASMSA’s new connection far surpasses that recommendation.
In 2014, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a connectivity goal of 1 Mbps per student for schools to meet in 2017-18. Almost 99 percent of Arkansas public schools have met that goal. The national median bandwidth in 2019 is 776 Kbps, according to the FCC.
While having Internet access for classroom and other learning experiences are important for every school, having the same reliable access for students outside the classroom is just as important for a residential campus such as ASMSA. Students live both online and offline, and ASMSA is their “home away from home” for the better part of the year. This includes email, streaming video and music services, gaming and other uses.
The campus has made great strides in increasing the bandwidth provided to campus. In 2012, the campus bandwidth provided to students was 28 Mbps. Those speeds were too slow to allow video streaming — even from YouTube or other short-video sits — or music streaming much less interactive gaming and social media sites.
Investments have also been made in specialized labs throughout campus for both academic and social purposes. One lab serves as the home court of sorts for the school’s esports team. The Arkansas Activities Association has officially recognized esports, allowing high schools to form teams to compete against each other. For as many students are members of the esports teams, there are likely many more playing games online from their rooms.
Upgrading the Internet connection helps ASMSA provide the best learning and residential experience it can for its students
“As ASMSA continues to make investments in its digital infrastructure, we are always mindful of the role that technology serves not only for instruction but also communication and entertainment within the residential experience,” said Corey Alderdice, ASMSA’s director. “With students living on campus for much of the year, we want them to enjoy reasonable access to all parts of the Internet.”