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Google is Equipping More Rural School Buses With Wi-Fi and Chromebooks (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fight-for-attention dept.

Google on Monday said it was formally expanding its Rolling Study Halls program, or school buses equipped with WiFi, computers and on-bus educators to help rural students with work beyond school hours. From a report: Google today announced an expansion of its Rolling Study Halls initiative to over 16 additional school districts, giving "thousands" of students access to Wi-Fi and Chromebooks on their buses. Google has piloted the program in North Carolina and South Carolina over the last couple years, focusing its efforts on rural communities where some students have lengthy bus rides between home and the classroom each day.

Providing students with dependable Wi-Fi before and after school is a boon for those who might lack broadband internet at home, giving them two opportunities daily to complete assignments or study for exams while on the bus. Google contributes mobile Wi-Fi routers, data plans, and Chromebook devices.

34 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory conspiracy theory by thejeffwhite · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is this really meant to get students used to the idea they will have to work outside of work hours when they grow up and get a career? :P

    1. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, because "work hours" and "careers" won't exist then. Instead, it'll be all gig economy things. This is to get them used to the idea that they should spend 100% of their time giving Google data.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    2. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, because "work hours" and "careers" won't exist then.

      Of course they will. Lazy commies are going to keep complaining that they should get shit for free, but rational people will be working.

    3. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by WallyL · · Score: 1

      I doubt the data from the students is valuable. Getting them used to being tracked 24/7 is far more valuable.

      Quoted for truth. Additionally, getting students used to using only "cloud-based" services and not relying on their own tinkering will keep them locked into this ecosystem.

      Man, I am so glad I'm not a student in today's school systems.

    4. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Informative

      Okay, campers - put the tinfoil aside.

      Out here in the sticks (yes, I'm rural), kids routinely spend upwards of an hour or more on the school bus each morning (and afternoon), as their classmates and themselves are picked up from (or dropped off to) their somewhat remote homes. School hours are typically either a bit shorter in response, or that extra time spent on the bus eats into the time kids spend on homework.

      May as well let the kids get the homework done before they get home (and/or before they get to school), and as a bonus, the kids won't be eating into the bandwidth caps at home that most Satellite Internet providers impose, which is what most folks in the sticks end up having to use if they want to get online (if there's Internet at all at home, which brings up another point entirely.)

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    5. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Something can be both good for the spied upon and be done for tracking reasons. In fact, it results in more efficent use and tracking. Hell, Google gives away internet searches for the purpose of better tracking.

      The fact remains that this is properly a governmental function being outsourced to a private company that will track the kids. Google's claims not to do so with their educational offerings have proven false before.

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      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    6. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Kids on a school bus... that's pretty standard stuff, even without a tracker.

      Otherwise, said kids will be connected to the school, or researching assignments, or...? It's not like you're going to find farm kids looking up bomb-making materials (they prolly already know how) or soaking in ISIS propaganda.

      Finally, the demographic doesn't really lend itself to having much disposable income (rural families don't really have much of that, the kids especially.) Before you say it, unlike suburban/urban kids, yelling at mommy and daddy to buy ${product} isn't really going to get them anywhere, especially with a simpler lifestyle and not as much free time. So that kind of blows away any real useful advertiser data insofar as Google is concerned.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    7. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Targeted advertising is no longer the primary use of data. Now, it's being used to train AI (cue argument on whether DNN are AI; call it whatever you want.)

      I'm not sure what exactly you're saying in the first part of your response - kids on a school bus are standard what? What's this about connecting to the school? I'm quite confused by what you're saying.

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      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    8. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      I mean, I had a good 40 minute bus ride back in school. My goal was all homework done before I got off.

    9. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      that extra time spent on the bus eats into the time kids spend on homework.

      Umm, how so? Do they have window blinds that make it too dark to read or something?

      Wait, you surely weren't suggesting that internet access is a necessary condition for doing homework, were you?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I tried that but I never solved the problem of the ink bottle tipping over when the driver swerved to avoid a mammoth.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    11. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Nowadays, even out here, at least some assignments require an Internet connection (and for kids who don't have one, I believe they're given alternate homework, or they're stuck with doing their homework at lunch or study hall, etc).

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    12. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      "Targeted advertising is no longer the primary use of data. Now, it's being used to train AI"

      What data is being used to train AI for what ?

    13. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      What data is being used to train AI for what ?

      The value is in emerging trends. Election data sets. Unexpected local news that trends in a city, state, then goes national.
      Products and services that are sill in demand all over the USA.
      Any emerging fashions, slang, search terms, word use that is very local.
      State and federal police also want the terms searched all over rural USA.
      Shopping reviews and product searches.
      No part of the USA will not be collected on.
      The negative comments about pollution, water quality, prices, quality of food, cost of transport.
      Politicians and governments pay a lot for local trends that can sway elections.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    14. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 2

      that extra time spent on the bus eats into the time kids spend on homework.

      Umm, how so? Do they have window blinds that make it too dark to read or something?

      Wait, you surely weren't suggesting that internet access is a necessary condition for doing homework, were you?

      Annoyingly, yes, it's starting to be a necessary condition. The assumption is that you can do research using the internet, and the homework itself may be online. A significant number of students I tutor are doing homework that's online, computer-generated and -graded, and sometimes you can really tell the computer-generated part because of the mistakes in how the questions are written.

      I did have some classes where the homework was online when I was in college, too, for my various math and math-heavy classes. Some of them were very good--you might not get quite the same level of feedback you would if it was human-graded, but in return you got to know instantly if you got the question(s) right and usually had a couple tries too.

    15. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Give it ten years and if Wikipedia goes down civilisation will grind to a halt.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    16. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      Ten years? A decent number of them would be convinced that the rare tree octopus exists in their area if you showed them a Wikipedia page that asserted this as fact.

    17. Re:Obligatory conspiracy theory by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It's sort of just believed that computers are a benefit education wise, but has it actually been empirically demonstrated beyond the extent that saws, Bunsen burners and voltmeters are?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re:wifi to where/what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google contributes mobile Wi-Fi routers, data plans, and Chromebook devices.

  3. Study? Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    My 12-year old son would LOVE this idea...it would make it much easier to play games on his school-provided Chromebook if he had internet access for the long bus ride home. I can assure you that Chromebook gets used for much more gaming and YouTube watching than for actual schoolwork. No, they can't install apps, but there are lots of games available via the browser...

  4. Let's be honest. Games + games. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    >> two opportunities daily to complete assignments or study for exams while on the bus

    My kids went through a mix of public and private schools. Homework is barely even a thing anymore.

    Let's be honest about what this will be: an extra 60-120 minutes of gaming per day on the bus, inside the closed Android/Chromebook ecosystem. (Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.)

  5. Re:Google knows by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    That's the point. This is to collect data at a young age and get them used to it.

  6. Re:Let's be honest. Games + games. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Homework is barely even a thing anymore.

    educating your kids is YOUR responsibility, if they don't have homework it's YOUR fault

  7. Re:Google knows by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    It will also help Google know if hentai tentacle porn is more popular than hentai furry porn.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  8. Vomit comets? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    Ever tried to work on a laptop in a moving car or bus, especially one with as crappy a suspension as a school bus? Motion sickness city.

    If Google was so damn generous, they'd donate laptops with 4G modems and access, so students can do homework at home, not in a rolling distraction-box.

    1. Re:Vomit comets? by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Even if you don't get motion sick, you're likely to get a few more busted units from the thing flying off their lap.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Vomit comets? by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      I developed an immunity.

    3. Re:Vomit comets? by steveha · · Score: 1

      If Google was so damn generous, they'd donate laptops with 4G modems and access

      You heard it here, folks: b0s0z0ku has spoken, Google's gift isn't generous enough to meet b0s0z0ku's standards.

      Note that TFA says this is an expansion of an earlier pilot program that has been working out. But according to b0s0z0ku's thought experiment, it won't work. Silly Google!

      P.S. I get carsick in buses too, but I'm not going to snark at Google over this. Maybe school-age kids can use a Chromebook in a bus without getting sick, or can learn to. Also Chromebooks can do some things without Internet. Bottom line is that the kids have more equipment and more options than before Google made the donation.

      Lakaysha says the program has helped her personally. Also the article I linked there says that the program includes parking the buses in public places, like community centers, so that some students can use the WiFi service from the bus even after the long bus ride is finished.

      Actual evidence the plan works beats a thought experiment that the plan doesn't work.

      --
      lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    4. Re:Vomit comets? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      I used to get MORE motion-sick in moving vehicles (esp while reading) when school-age than I do now. Parking at a community center is the only smart idea of the lot.

    5. Re:Vomit comets? by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

      "Google's gift isn't generous enough to meet b0s0z0ku's standards."

      Because corporations have a duty to maximize profit, I don't believe they can ever really be called generous.

    6. Re:Vomit comets? by antdude · · Score: 1

      That is why I avoid reading and watching in moving vehicles. I easily get carsick. :( I'd rather sleep!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  9. Next step by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    Now all we need is all rural school buses equipped with seat belts. At least they will be able to use the Wi-Fi and Chromebook's to say a final good-bye to their loved ones or report that they survived the crash.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  10. Re: Google knows by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Their parents are, you slack bastard.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  11. Disagree... by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    115 fatalities in 2017 alone, in school bus accidents. Whiles since 2012 the have been 138 fatalities due to school shootings. So despite what the news might say, there are more kids dying in school bus accidents than in school shootings. One just makes for much better ratings and is a current hot button issue for many liberal individuals and politicians, while the other is just business as usual.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?