This is a big question in our District too. We’ve been piloting the use of internet in Extemp prep for the last two years, and we’ve found that it has greatly expanded participation in Extemp, without impairing the competitiveness of the field.
I would be interested to see what pilots are being used in other districts and what their experiences are, especially for internet usage. We have not been piloting this, and will not this year either. Our main concern is the ethical issue of peer to peer or even student to coach communication via messaging apps if connectivity is allowed.