Who woulda thunk it? Giving WiFi to fidgety students on a bus actually makes them
more productive. Nearly three years after an Arkansas school
launched a trial that delivered laptops, iPods and wireless internet to a bus, an Arizona school district is discovering the merits of such a system -- though with this one, there stands a good chance for it to go well beyond the "pilot" phase. Students in Vail, Arizona have been able to handle school assignments, engage in research and even update their Facebook status on the lengthy rides to and from school, and the suits responsible for hooking Bus No. 92 up have stated that mischief has all but subsided and the bus has magically morphed into something of a "rolling study hall." As you'd expect,
Autonet Mobile is responsible for the technology (the same company
equipping select GM vehicles with in-car WiFi), and it has already sold similar tech to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, DC. We always dreamed of being whisked off to another lousy school day on the
GamerBUS, but this ain't a half bad alternative.
[Thanks, Nate]
posted February 14th 2010 9:42PM
Did anyone else think the kid in the pic got a major beating to the face?
@TheReturn IKR
@TheReturn yep :P
Quite possibly the most positive school program I've seen in the last 5 years.
you think kids will be productive?... this crap just means they get a 15 minute headstart on effin neopets
you think this crap will make them more productive?... all this does is let the little buggers get a 15 minute headstart on effin neopets
HAHA my old school district, who would've thought my hometown would be on Engadget. AH, I wish I was back at mesquite...:( good times, good times.
Wow this is actually old news. I wish we had enough money to do this in our school district. Our school district's budget is pretty much maintenance only and these kids get wi-fi on busses. The imbalance in school funding cuts in Arizona is crazy.
my old school has wifi in bus too, i used to do my homework on the bus, a 45min ride
man that kid looks pissed off, maybe someone is hogging up all the kilobytes per second
That's smart - give a bunch of tween boys access to mobile porn. I wouldn't want to be the person cleaning that bus at the end of the week.
@(Unverified) yep.. all those protein spills on the backs of seats
Washington, DC doesn't have school buses (except for the short ones) - that must have been a big win for the company...
This is amazing! On my bus we weren't allowed to have ANYTHING. CD players, gameboys, mp3 players. Crazy.