Imagine co-leading a science field trip indoors in a large museum with questionable cell coverage, or outside and too far from the nearest cell tower. The goTenna system allows you to directly contact another goTenna equipped teacher using their smartphone independent of a cellular connection. The goTennas are their own communication network that runs between the phones. And there is no limit to the number of goTennas that can play together.

The goTenna solve a couple unique problems that make them indispensable if you need such solutions. By basically creating their own network between devices, the goTennas allow popular smartphones and Android and iOS tablets to gain text messaging capabilities and possibly map-based GIS locations over a range up to a mile.

The tablet or phone uses Low-Energy Bluetooth to talk to the goTenna through an App interface so the goTenna device and phone must no farther than 10m of each other. Then the goTenna’s take over and the distance between any two goTennas can traverse much greater distances depending on the amount of terrestrial interference (buildings, trees, mountains, etc.). The goTenna uses radio waves in the 151-154 megahertz range.

The operation of the goTenna is straightforward and intuitive. The actual goTenna device is a little larger than a Sharpie pen, and turns on when the antenna is deployed by pulling it straight up out of the top of the goTenna case. A white LED light indicates activity. To turn off the goTenna, simply re-stow the antenna by pushing it back into its case.

Charging the goTenna is just like a cell phone using a microUSB. However the connector shroud on some microUSB cords might be too short to fully engage the contacts in the goTenna. The pair of included microUSB cords has extended connectors so they should not mingle with the rest of your microUSB cords in case you grab a cord that doesn’t easily fit. I have modified some cords on the fly using a razor blade to shave down the size of the USB plug. The charging port on the goTenna is at the opposite end of the device from the antenna, and secure under a rubberized cap. The goTenna is weatherproof and seems fairly durable given the number to times I’ve dropped mine.

The goTennas are designed to be attached to a backpack or bag and away from the human body since proximity or touch to a person degrades the goTenna’s signal reducing its range. A strap with a snap makes for easy and versatile attaching to other objects, but the snap seems a little primitive compared to more modern buckles and fasteners. I also don’t quite trust a snap to keep my $100 (each) goTenna unit forever attached to a backpack daypack or shoulder bag while traversing the very country where a goTenna is needed.

For each user’s smartphone, the goTenna is two parts; a powered antenna system and an App. The free App is downloaded from Apple’s App Store and on Google’s Play Store so it should work on any recent iOS and Android device regardless if phone or not. This means you can load the app onto a basic tablet and essentially give it cellphone-like text messaging.

Before You Go

The App shows the battery life of the goTenna, but only if the App is installed. I’ve encountered a few times where I wanted to use the goTennas on the fly, but the reason for the goTenna is when there is no cell or wireless service, so you certainly cannot download the App at that time. Further, any maps that need downloading (which is all of them) must be done while in traditional connectivity like within a wireless network. 

There are three options for messaging between any two goTennas; a 1:1 directly to a specific goTenna, a group chat to all goTennas within range, and an emergency setting that identifies the message as a priority. A variation of the messaging is a request for the other user’s GPS location which the app can share if the phone or tablet is GPS enabled and the goTenna app has access to that data.

But wait. There’s more!

Taking this a step further, the goTenna antenna device also contains some onboard memory to remember messages it receives when the host device is out of range of the goTenna, switched off or has a dead battery. When a charge to the tablet or phone is available again, the saved messages are loaded as soon as the phone connects to the goTenna.

An exciting update to the goTenna family is the upcoming release of a mesh-network compatible version named the goTenna MESH. This new option allows each individual goTenna MESH device to create a bridge a between other goTenna devices. So you could imagine each goTenna MESH being at the center of a transmission circle perhaps with a two mile or more in diameter. Any overlap between goTenna MESH circles provide a continuous wireless network as long as there is a connective pathway between all signal circles.

While cell networks are fairly common, around the country, there are still plenty of places with spotty coverage, or no coverage. Walkie-talkies are a great solution for general speech contact, but they have limitations and require realtime attention. Leveraging the wonderful asychronious capabilities of text messaging, and GPS location sharing makes exploring new directions in so-called “off grid communication” something all teachers should be aware of when leaving the classroom with their students.

After a long and contentious confirmation battle the Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education on February 7 after a highly partisan 51 to 50 vote. Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote to confirm DeVos after two Republican Senators—Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—joined Democrats and voted nay during the full Senate vote, days after both voted yes to the nomination in the HELP committee (which moved the confirmation to the full Senate.)

Prior to the vote, Senate Democrats staged a 24 hour “talkathon” on the Senate floor to oppose the DeVos nomination and to encourage a Republican to vote nay on the confirmation. This came after a huge public backlash in opposition to the DeVos nomination.

DeVos became the nation’s 11th Education secretary.

Reactions to the confirmation came quickly after the vote. Senate HELP Committee ranking member Patty Murray said DeVos would be “one of the most controversial and embattled Education secretaries in the history of the department.”

AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement that “DeVos’ confirmation battle has a major silver lining: The public in public education has never been more visible or more vocal, and it is not going back in the shadows.”  

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García noted “Americans across the nation drove a bipartisan repudiation of the Trump-DeVos agenda for students and public education. Today’s outcome marks only the beginning of the resistance. Students, educators, parents, civil rights and special education advocates—along with millions of Americans—are speaking loud and clear: we are here to stay…we will protect public education.”

Ed Patru, a spokesman for DeVos, told POLITICO, DeVos overcame “an unprecedented personal assault” from teachers unions, noting “Betsy DeVos’ confirmation marks a critically important shift in federal education policy: from now on, the needs of kids will supersede the political interests of adults, and education policies will be decided by states and local school boards, not Washington.”

Read more here.

House Overturns Rules on ESSA Accountability and Teacher Prep

As expected this week the House overturned the Obama Administration’s accountability rule under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the regulation governing teacher preparation programs.

The House and Senate have until early May to use the Congressional Review Act on regulations issued in the last half year of the Obama administration. 

The ESSA Accountability regulation was issued to help states design and implement new accountability provisions required in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Many Republicans believe the rule was too prescriptive and gave the Secretary of Education too much authority in state decision making. Democrats issued a statement saying that eliminating the rule would create uncertainty as states developed their ESSA plans. More here.

Most in the education community are opposed to the teacher preparation rules and believe changes made by the federal government should be part of the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) Action Alert system is working to rescind the teacher prep regulations in the Senate. Go here.

And finally . . .

The House education committee held its first hearing this week about higher education in the 115th Congress in anticipation of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The hearing focused on ways to strengthen the nation’s system of higher education “for students, parents, institutions and taxpayers.”

On the day that Betsy DeVos was confirmed as ED Secretary, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie introduced H.R. 899, a bill to abolish the federal Department of Education. The one sentence long bill states, “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”

Stay tuned, and watch for more updates in future issues of NSTA Express.

Jodi Peterson is Assistant Executive Director of Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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