The Kahn Academy is at it again. This time it’s working directly with Comcast to make Internet Essentials, the cheap internet program, a household name known to millions.
The two organizations have joined forces and put together a multi-year, multi-million dollar project that will (a) promote Internet Essentials via Kahn’s remarkable non-profit educational content, and (b) promote cheap internet for low-income families. Of course, there are those who contend that (a) and (b) are two sides of the same coin, but we see a distinct difference.
We’ve described Comcast’s efforts to promote Internet Essentials many times here at CheapInternet.com. The corporation has done a tremendous job bringing high speed broadband access to financially-challenged Americans. Internet Essentials targets “low-income households with school age children who are eligible to receive free lunches under the federally assisted National School Lunch Program.” Any family that qualifies can get steeply discounted internet service (just $9.95 per month), purchase PCs for less than $150, and also get free internet and computer training. Any way you look at it, it’s a bargain.
But a lot of people are unaware of the incredible Kahn Academy. We first heard about it on the CBS-TV news program “60 Minutes” several years ago. The Kahn Academy is a non-profit dedicated to finding alternative, high tech ways to educate the world. It has delivered more than 330 million lessons and 1.6 billion exercise problems. Ten million users complete more than 4 million exercise problems every day of the year. It features more than 5000 free educational videos on an immense range of subjects plus 100,000 practice problems in subjects as varied as basic math to college level art history.
(video has become unavailable)
Comcast says the partnership will produce and air “hundreds of thousands” of PSAs (public service announcements), a significant bilingual digital campaign (Spanish and English), and a series of joint promotions across the country.
Obviously, we’re excited about the potential offered by this combination of powerhouse organizations and we like what we hear from both of them.
“While Comcast has made great progress connecting more than one million low-income Americans, or more than 250,000 families, to the Internet through our Internet Essentials program, there are many more families who are still eligible to participate, but have not yet signed up,” Comcast SVP David Cohen noted. “Research consistently shows that the number one barrier to broadband adoption is a bucket of digital literacy issues, including a lack of understanding of the relevancy of the Internet and of the value it provides. Khan Academy is almost uniquely positioned to help lower that barrier because its content is the ultimate proof point of the value of the Internet.”
“In order to scale our free resources to the world, Khan Academy developed our materials on an online platform,” Khan Academy founder Salman Khan added. “This approach helps us reach millions of individuals. In order to get the full value of Khan Academy, you need access to broadband. We’re excited to partner with Comcast, so we can help expand the number of people who can gain access to our site.”
This is the most exciting news we’ve heard about cheap internet since the programs first got off the drawing boards several years ago.
We have high hopes that the combination of Comcast’s Internet Essentials program and the Kahn Academy’s ability to creatively educate the masses can turn cheap internet into a concept that everyone knows about, talks about, and remembers.
Source: Multichannel
Lowell C Hunt says
How do I get hold of someone from Internet Basics? I tried Centerytel and was told they do not offer it and never heard of it.
Cheap Internet Administrator says
Info is on this page:
https://www.cheapinternet.com/low-income-internet/internet-basics
Jay Dillon says
I am earning about $10 per day assisting and monitoring an elderly relative. However, because I don’t have a child, I am not able to get your discounted internet service in Maine USA.
Cheap Internet Administrator says
You’re talking about Internet Essentials. Have you tried Internet Basics?