Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home News Industries Education Parking lot hot spots succeed at PHCC

Parking lot hot spots succeed at PHCC

Published August 29, 2020 by Beth JoJack

Patrick Henry Community College student Rachel Brown connects to the school’s Wi-Fi parking lot hot spot. Photo by Don Petersen
Patrick Henry Community College student Rachel Brown connects to the school’s Wi-Fi parking lot hot spot. Photo by Don Petersen

Administrators at Patrick Henry Community College hustled to install Wi-Fi hot spots in its parking lots in March when the college closed due to the coronavirus.

Since many of the college’s students live in rural areas without access to broadband, creating these hot spots became an immediate need when the pandemic crisis hit, explains PHCC President Angeline Godwin. “If you look at our entire service area in Henry County and Patrick County, we have large swaths of areas that may not have internet access at all, may even have cellular coverage issues. Even if they have internet access, it does not necessarily mean it’s robust enough to handle a full online educational program.”

Rachel Brown, 20, has high-speed internet at her Collinsville home, but she’s found it less than reliable. “It goes up and down,” she says. “It’s been out for a couple of days.”

During the summer session, Brown used the parking lot hot spot a few times when her home internet was on the fritz. “It’s easy for me to be in the comfort of my car and chill out, listen to my music and do my homework there,” she says.

As students in colleges and public K-12 schools across the state return to a mix of virtual and in-person learning, more institutions are considering how to make online education broadly accessible.

Patrick Henry’s process was inexpensive and relatively easy, the college says. Employees in the information technology department partnered with campus maintenance workers to get the hot spots up and running at a cost of a little over $7,000.

In July, the information technology department logged 75 connections made from the main campus lot, 100 at the Patrick County location and 10 at the Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology Complex, says David Deal, PHCC’s dean of technology. This fall, students will be able to choose from a menu of remote courses, hybrids that combine in-person classes with an online component, and classes held entirely in-person.

Earlier in the year, the Virginia Community College System opened a portal that lists all 10,000 of its classes offered online.

If the development of a COVID-19 vaccine means that PHCC can return to normal operations later, Godwin says the school still will benefit from having expanded Wi-Fi. “We think that’s a positive and a benefit for students and faculty and staff long-term.”

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

 

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

K12 Inc. to hire 1,300 online educators during pandemic

Herndon-based company offers virtual learning for students

Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, and an expert in airborne disease transmission, stands (in front) with Charbel Harb (left) and Jin Pan (right), both Ph.D. students. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech

‘It’s not N95 or bust’

Va. Tech researcher finds three-layer cloth masks are 74% effective at protecting mask wearers, others

Virginia Business logo

ODU announces $3.9M cybersecurity scholarship program

University received funding from the National Science Foundation

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

13th annual Best Places to Work

Making strides

It’s back!

After the crisis

Fort Monroe development moving forward

Sponsored Stories

Working at Pinnacle Financial Partners

What Logistics issues will have the biggest impact on you in 2023?

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk