The clicking of keyboards and the buzz of anticipation quickly turn to sighs of frustration in the Multimedia classroom. In Multimedia, the focus is on creating interactive projects and digital art. With lessons that majority of the time rely on online resources, Kathleen Connelly, multimedia teacher, is left powerless without a signal. And she’s not alone.
The whole school is affected by the lack of internet, students and teachers.
Joe Costa, English teacher, tries to show his movie clips for Creative Writing, but all streaming services are blocked and unable to connect without the internet.
Research and Digital Learning Specialist, Suzanne Zellmannn, claims the issue is within the district’s framework.
“Our district has been maxing out available bandwidth.”
Connelly believes the poor connection creates problems for both students and teachers alike. Due to the lack of internet, Connelly deals with student complaints and struggles with lesson planning in every single one of her classes. But she is not the only one; many teachers have had to redesign lesson plans at the last minute, switching from interactive tools like video sharing and online platforms to paper worksheets or longer lectures than students are not accustomed to.
“Some days students complain more than others, and I’ve had to adjust my lessons in all my classes, which has been a struggle.”
Connelly also included a message to the IT department, “Thanks for all your efforts. Please pare back the restrictions.”
Multimedia student Blake Wichman, junior, struggles to complete his schoolwork when the WIFI is not cooperating. As the connection issues are worsening throughout the year, Wichman is facing growing challenges in nearly every one of his classes.
Although he is not alone, every student is aggravated by the internet because the poor connection is blocking all social media platforms as well.
“It’s limited my ability to complete my schoolwork. Sometimes, when it is bad enough I can’t open Canvas, I have to connect to my phone to use my hotspot. We have changed our lesson plans multiple times because we couldn’t use our computers,” Wichman said.
Zellmannn says the problem will be addressed in summer. Due to the 2025 school year nearing its end, Zellmannn is not sure any fixes will happen this year. Zellmann is aware of the student and teacher frustrations, but it is out of her hands, and she believes the district technology department is doing its best to fix the issue at hand.
“The MTSD technology office is actively working to increase the bandwidth for the entire district. Ideally, the increase would still happen yet this trimester.”
Zellmannn also added, “In my experience, a slow internet connection can be frustrating for all users when instruction and learning are impacted. I have found the district technology department to be very committed to supporting students and staff.”
