IT Trends
Students Get Mobile During Remote Learning
Students have been moving around quite a bit during remote learning —
sometimes studying at friends houses, sometimes studying from
multiple states.
That’s one of the ancillary findings of a report the Consortium for
School Networking (CoSN) issued this month, the Student
Home Connectivity Study. The findings are based on data collected from 13 school districts representing some 750,000 students.
According to the report: “During the study, many students
participated in online school activities from locations outside of
the student’s home. Students accessed school learning resources
from other student homes and even other cities, states, and
countries. In the study, many students shared an IP address with
other students that were not from the same household. Likely causes
include students wanting social interaction with other kids, finding
a faster internet connection at a friend’s house, and parents who
share childcare responsibilities.”
Given the popularity of K–12 institutions among criminals, the
report recommended “being vigilant about network security” and
using authentication to ensure security vulnerabilities are addressed
“before attacks can occur.”
CoSN offers a free
guide to internet security for remote learning during the
pandemic.
The full report is freely available at cosn.org.
See also:
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 29-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEDavidNagel (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).