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Online college work might come in even more creative formats and be quicker to complete, since the Federal Communications Commission in March provided Congress with a plan to expand broadband network access and speed up Internet services.  This very change may allow even more students to obtain college degrees online as services speed up.

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan, required by Congress as part of a federal stimulus bill known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is said to be designed in part as a means of encouraging online education and online education tools and enhancing education connectivity.  This added boost of flexibility will be welcome to distance students everywhere.

The Internet is the biggest platform for commercial innovation and business success this country has seen, Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher told CSPAN. Creating online college classes that combine high quality subject expertise with the latest technological advancements is mentioned in the Strategy for American Innovation report, which was prepared by the National Economic Council’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The federal government over the next 10 years intends to invest as much as $500 million to create online college classes at community colleges that would be freely available to students to extend their learning opportunities and complete coursework, according to the American Innovation report. Colleges, universities, publications and others would be invited to compete in creating state-of-the-art online courses, the report notes.

Many students already take part in online school programs, access a wide range of online databases and connect with scholars throughout the world, according to broadband plan news release. But while reports show that students in online college programs do at least as well academically as students in traditional college classes do, a pilot program at one university suggested completing online school work might take more time.

The Internet can be accessed via wireless services, dialup and high speed DSL services offered by telephone companies and by broadband services with wireless and satellite options. Broadband service, with content carried through what the FCC calls a transmission “pipeline”, provides quality access to streaming media, Internet telephone services, games and interactive offerings, according to the FCC’s broadband Web site. More people also want to move toward HD video, Boucher noted. Local telephone carriers have been expanding their fiber-optic networks to accommodate DSL and would continue to receive federal funding until broadband becomes more widely available and even telephone service is carried through the Internet, Boucher said.

Making higher education more accessible to students has been a goal for President Barack Obama, who recently signed an education bill into law that makes more financial aid available to students pursuing online degrees. Online college classes and online degree programs themselves make higher education more accessible.  Many offer flexible course formats that accommodate students with work and family responsibilities who might not otherwise be able to continue their studies.

The broadband plan calls for increasing download speeds from what Boucher said is as few as 5 megabits per second to 100 megabits per second by 2020 and for achieving upload speeds of 50 megabits for second.  Expanded network connectivity is still needed, the FCC reported. Some 7 million people in the United States don’t have access to broadband network services, Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns told CSPAN. According to Stearns, 95 percent of households have broadband access, and two-thirds of them use high-speed Internet services. Proposals within the broadband plan would reportedly require establishing new laws and agency rules.

It seems that a lack of time is one of the reasons students earn their online degree education via the internet as this allows them to take care of real life responsibilities as they go to school.  A faster connection, as well as access to their degree that are sure to arise as a result of that, and will make getting their PhD degree, quicker and easier for all students.