How Can 5G Change Your Classroom?

Technology is advancing at breakneck speeds, and it continues to improve our daily lives. From construction to finance to medicine, almost every single industry imaginable has felt the drastic impact of technology’s rapid advancements. I’ve mentioned this before multiple times, but education has also felt technology’s influence quite a bit. From virtual reality to augmented reality, new and fascinating tech is constantly being introduced to the classroom. Now, the classroom will be getting a new update in the form of wireless connectivity. 5G Internet connection is the latest innovation that’s sweeping the nation.

It is said that 5G connectivity could very well be faster than most wi-fi Internet speeds. So, how exactly can faster speeds benefit the classroom?

The IoT Will Be Improved

Right now, 4G LTE speeds are fast, but much like anything else in this world, they can be improved. With 5G connectivity, it would be similar to going from “a garden hose to a fire hose,” as described by Gizmodo. This drastic increase in speed will allow for professors and teachers to connect to their classrooms much quicker, and even remove some roadblocks commonly found in the classroom. Most noticeably, administrative duties can be cut down allowing for teachers to put more of an emphasis on their students. For example, teachers can provide real-time feedback to their students for online courses and professors can login to their classroom as soon as they walk into the room with 5G speeds.

Lower Lag Time

Right now, latency, or the responsiveness of data upload and download speeds, is very good with 4G speeds. But with 5G, latency will be all but eradicated. This decrease in latency can drastically assist other technologies, like virtual and augmented reality. Particularly for VR, professors will no longer need to worry about their lesson plans being derailed by lag and a lack of access to the Internet. Additionally, 5G will simply increase download speeds. This can assist in the use of video sharing sites like Vimeo and YouTube, both of which are common educational platforms already.

This new and exciting connectivity doesn’t just mean our smartphones will connect to the Internet faster; it has the potential to change the way our professionals interact with their industries. It can also open the door to even more technology that can change our lives.