The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox.


EngageCV, 3-D telepresence using the Kinect

Mozilla Ignite is an open innovation challenge sponsored by the nonprofit that makes the Firefox web browser together with the the National Science Foundation. The call was to create “civic apps”–software applications for the public good–that take advantage of some experimental technologies that can run the Internet at speeds up to 250 times faster than today’s broadband. Cities are piloting these networks around the country, from Chattanooga, TN to Portland, OR.

The winners, announced today, include several ideas applicable to education that use some combination of streaming video, 3-D, big-data analytics and other bandwidth-hungry functions: realtime 3-D videoconferencing using the Kinect videogame player, say, or virtual place-based learning with screen-sharing, enabling a video guided tour of a museum or other location. An app dubbed the Rashomon Project uses time and date stamps on video and other content to stitch together a timeline of an event from multiple perspectives, which could be amazing for projects based on history or current events.

It’s all very cool stuff, but there’s a huge irony. While almost all American schools have some Internet access, many lack speed for today’s software applications, let alone the ultra-fast experimental technologies.

President Obama has just pledged to bring wireless broadband to 99 percent of schools within five years relying in part on dedicated subsidy funds from the E-Rate program, but the price tag and method of payment for executing the full pledge remains mysterious.

What’s also ironic in this round of innovations, mostly created by non-educators, is that in many cases what they seek to do is use high tech to simulate, and in some cases augment, a real face-to-face learning experience. Why not just physically take your class to a museum or a forest?

The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn't mean it's free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

Join us today.

Letters to the Editor

At The Hechinger Report, we publish thoughtful letters from readers that contribute to the ongoing discussion about the education topics we cover. Please read our guidelines for more information. We will not consider letters that do not contain a full name and valid email address. You may submit news tips or ideas here without a full name, but not letters.

By submitting your name, you grant us permission to publish it with your letter. We will never publish your email address. You must fill out all fields to submit a letter.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *