Serendipity35

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently voted to repeal the net neutrality framework put in place by the Obama administration. This opens the path for restructuring internet traffic. There are many in education that this will have negative implications on both K-12 and higher education. The five-member, Republican-majority board voted along party lines (3-2) to pass the “Restoring Internet Freedom Order.” Efforts by activists, educators, consumers and U.S. lawmakers to stop or reschedule the vote until the commission had heard more public concerns on the matter were ignored.

At edscoop.com, they write that Net neutrality changes are expected to have big implications for education.

Excerpt: 

There’s a major concern that commercial, revenue-generating internet traffic will take precedence. The quality and consistency of access to research, libraries, educational institutions and learning materials could be degraded as those resources are moved to the slow lane to make room for commercial and entertainment traffic that can pay for speed.

 After Dec. 14, higher education will face a new online world — one in which the almighty dollar, not equity, will reign,” wrote Joseph South, the chief learning officer at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and Eden Dahlstrom, the executive director of the New Media Consortium, in a commentary featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month."