QUALCOMM, Presented by Irwin Jacobs, Founding Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Qualcomm
Just as wireless technologies have revolutionized the way business professionals work and enhanced their ability to compete, mobile can play a key role in preparing all students for jobs in the global economy.
With more than 6.3 billion mobile connections worldwide, there is an extraordinary opportunity to leverage what has become the largest information and communication platform in history and transform education for the 21st century. Always on, always connected mobile devices in the hands of students has the potential to dramatically improve educational outcomes by providing ubiquitous access to learning resources and the ability to collaborate with peers and advisors in and out of the classroom. Mobile technology enables the delivery of customized curriculum and real-time assessment, empowers students to become mentors to each other and increases their engagement in learning. Just as wireless technologies have revolutionized the way business professionals work and enhanced their ability to compete, mobile can play a key role in preparing all students for jobs in the global economy. In the world’s developing regions, there is an enormous opportunity to improve access to education through the use of mobile technology. Mobile makes it possible to connect students in remote parts of the world where the expense and complexity of deploying wireline infrastructure has, so far, made it impossible. And, while widespread improvements in technology and communications have modernized some aspects of the education system, mobile has the capacity to accelerate and compound technology’s impact by joining massive amounts of information with a student’s imagination. To achieve this vision, we must take proactive steps to overcome barriers and challenges. These steps include extending and expanding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Learning on the Go” initiative in the National Broadband Plan, developing new educational goals and metrics for 21st century learning, helping schools meet the 2014 digital assessment deadline, moving beyond BYOD programs to coherent and seamless mobile infrastructures, and overcoming teacher isolation.
