Learning and Discovery
It's no secret that you can find out about almost anything on the internet, which makes it an incredible resource for education and learning - but it doesn't have to be academic. Many people are planning their holidays, looking up recipes or deciding what seeds to sow in their garden in the Spring.
This information is increasingly available in much higher quality formats such as videos, photos, graphics and virtual tours that help you build a much clearer picture and make better informed decisions. Even without the extras, loading simple web pages over a broadband link is so much quicker that browsing the web becomes a much smoother experience.
Formal education is also embracing the internet. Learn Direct and the Open University offer complete internet-based courses. You can study them on dial-up but the experience is slow and forces some people to drop out.
Schools too are providing more course work online and teachers are increasingly accepting homework via email - which severely limits the excuses possible for losing one's homework!
Access to resources
Broadband gives children in remote areas access to a much richer collection of resources than was previously available to them. The Internet is a huge library that never closes. Children can tap into a vast array of information to help them with their homework and assignments.
This information is not limited to the written word. It includes photographs, diagrams, videos and animations, all of which can help a child understand a subject so much more clearly.
But trying to access this information on a dial-up connection can quickly become frustrating, especially for children. Broadband's high speed overcomes this problem and makes browsing even the most image-rich websites a pleasure.
Using the Internet, children can research their latest assignment, obtain help with their homework or ask for assistance from their teacher. Whatever topic they are researching, you can be sure that there will be information about it available on the internet.
There are also search engines that are specially tailored to children. These engines only find information that is pitched at a child's level of understanding. There are also websites dedicated to helping children with their homework. But it is only with Broadband that children can take full advantage of these wonderful resources.
Teaching
Broadband is a valuable tool for teachers, too. Teachers can post assignments, information and results online for easy access by students. Having broadband access makes this job so much faster, allowing teachers to get on with more important tasks, such as lesson preparation.
Preparing lessons is a big part of a teacher's job. Teachers need access to high quality resources to prepare interesting and stimulating lessons. A huge amount of material is available to teachers on the internet, but searching for the right material can be very time consuming. Broadband's high speed makes surfing the web a dream and helps teachers find suitable lesson material much more quickly.
Families
Using Broadband in education can benefit families and the community as a whole, not just individual students or teachers. Not all families can afford boarding school or a university education in the city. Widespread broadband access will give more children the opportunity to pursue higher levels of education, leading to better educated and more capable communities. Hopefully these children will then see the value of staying in their local community and contributing to further opportunities for other young people from Derby.