WIMAX WITH WI-FI: OPENING NEW FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION

Connectivity is vital to any country to usher in economic growth, better education and healthcare and improved entertainment services as it has done elsewhere in the world. And the solution must be wireless, to avoid the overwhelming cost and resources that would be required to deploy countrywide fixed-line broadband Internet infrastructure. Some countries, where there is not an established wired communication network, are investigating the potential of broadband wireless technologies to support learning and teaching in remote areas. In order to widen the participation in Higher Education (HE) there is a need for more flexible delivery and study of courses to satisfy the needs of this wider audience. The lack of physical connectivity or telecommunications infrastructure and the cost and lack of broadband technologies are a big hindrance to more widespread participation of people in HE. Broadband wireless technologies like WiMAX with Wi-Fi are beginning to offer reliable alternatives to fixed-line access, offering the potential for widespread, affordable connectivity to every education institutions viz Schools and Colleges, in the rural areas. This paper addresses the potential uses of wireless and mobile technologies and identifies some recent technical developments. It considers how their use might be developed within existing learning and teaching paradigms and it identifies some new models for providing connectivity to rural Educational Institutions. 1