Wifi being piloted on three school buses in Guelph

Students at St. James Catholic High School are the first in the province to test wifi on school buses.

Three buses that travel from the Guelph high school to Mount Forest and Drayton, which are a 100 minute driveaway, and Fergus, which is 45 minute drive away, are now equipped with the technology to allow students to access the internet during their long commute to and from school.

Wendy Dobson, the general manager of Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation, said the long ride was part of the reason the Wellington Catholic District School Board approached them with putting wifi on the buses.

Guelphpilot a test case

"The catholic board is having discussions with the Ministry [of Education] on this pilot," said Dobson. "Everybody's watching it, because they want to see how the students are using it and how it's going. "

The board will determine how many students are using the wifi for actual homework, but Dobson said even if three are using it, than that is considered a success.

The students are also allowed to use social media, but access will be restricted, exactly the same as if the students were in a classroom.There are three levels of restrictions including no pornography, no downloading and no online lottery activity.

Wellington-DufferinStudent is paying $100 per month for the pilot program, which started in February and runs until the end of the school year.

If the programcontinues, Wendy Dobson said it would cost more and be put onschool buses that travel long routes.

Listen to Wendy Dobson's interview on The Morning Edition with Craig Norris: