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Tempe, AZ
Partnership
Arizona State University's Service Learning Program, Kenilworth Elementary School and the Salvation Army-Phoenix Citadel Corps.
Goals
To support adults' English literacy, parenting and job skill development through the Active Learning Project's morning program, and to provide Kenilworth children with college student role-models and productive after-school activities through the garden club and after-school tutoring programs.
Structure
Elementary school students have planted a garden, a living laboratory where they learn fundamental biological concepts. They cultivate fruit, vegetables and flowers with the help of college students and share their experiences through the creation of a new Web site in an after-school program. The project also expands an existing literacy program that pairs tutors from Arizona State University with Kenilworth Elementary students and adults.
Progress
Both the morning and after-school programs have been by-and-large successful. Although a lack of day-care facilities for parents attending the morning program made initial enrollment drop from 20 to 10-15 students, the Salvation Army Phoenix Citadel Corps has requested assistance from the Regional Headquarters in dealing with this problem. A thirteen-station computer lab was constructed at the Salvation Army Phoenix Citadel Corps with funds donated by American Express and has been furnished with ethernet capability and a DSL line. The facility is within close proximity to many schools and senior citizen centers whose participants all have access to the computers. ASU's Service Learning and America Reads students working at this facility learn about community and literacy issues first hand.
Contact
Janice Kelly, Associate Director, Arizona State University, (480) 727-6382 or jan.kelly@asu.edu
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University Partnership for Learning the Internet with Families Together (UPLIFT), California State University Northridge
Northridge, CA
Partnership
California State University Northridge and Community Charter Middle School.
Goals
To address the following five primary needs: eliminate the "digital divide" for Charter School students and members of their family, teach students basic computer and internet skills, integrate internet lessons into social studies curriculum, enhance students' understanding of ethnic heritage and pride, and integrate social studies curriculum with present day issues.
Structure
UPLIFT will establish a community computer laboratory where minority students from the university's computer science department will teach 300 sixth- and seventh-graders and their families basic computer and Internet skills. Youngsters will conduct neighborhood surveys about current local concerns, and make the information available to the community through a school-based Web site.
Progress
Although there have been some issues with transportation for this program, a shuttle is being arranged to take service-learning students from the university to the middle school several times a week. All students at Community Charter Middle School are automatically part of the UPLIFT program as computer and internet usage is fully integrated into 6th and 7th grade curriculum throughout the day. There are computers in every classroom that connect to the World Wide Web via wireless antennae. Basic computer skills, including world processing, Excel, email, Powerpoint, etc. are being taught to both students and parents and other adults from the community. Students use the internet to do research for various social studies class projects including one on ancient civilizations and another civic engagement concentrating on the subject of reducing violence in the community. Students' artwork has been placed on the UPLIFT web-page which includes a community calendar with listings of cultural and ethnic events that may be of interest to students and their families.
Contact
Maureen Rubin, director of the Center for Community Service Learning, California State University Northridge, (818) 677-7395 or maureen.rubin@csun.edu.
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TECH Equity, Sonoma State University
Rohnert Park, CA
Partnership
Sonoma State University, Solano Community College, Institute for Computer Technology, Resources for Innovation, and Mare Island Technology (MIT) Academy.
Goals
To create, implement, evaluate, and disseminate model middle and high school core academic curriculum that is technology integrated, service learning-enhanced, project-oriented, and standard-based.
Structure
The program will create, implement, and evaluate a model middle and high school curriculum that integrates technology with service-learning projects. It will provide the MIT Academy faculty with curriculum development support and technology support. The project will also provide teaching candidates from both Sonoma State University and Solano Community College with AmeriCorps opportunities.
Progress
TECH Equity has worked to integrate technology and service-learning into the standard curriculum of MIT Academy, a middle/high school in Vallejo, California. Because the program is a part of the MIT curriculum, all 370 students at the school in grades six through nine participate. Various computer programs are used to augment community-based projects. For example, students have made flyers to advertise projects, created children's science books that were distributed to hospital waiting rooms, and used the Internet to research anti-child labor organizations they supported through fundraising. All of the activities students undertake are designed to help them learn more about their community and how to help it. Students from Sonoma State and Solano Community College currently serve the project through AmeriCorps. Plans are also in the works for a Sonoma State-Solano Community College joint teacher preparation program designed to engage 50 teacher candidates in service learning at MIT annually. TECHequity was the foundation for a recent $250,000 award to Sonoma State, MIT Academy, the Omega Boys' and Girls' Club, and other community partners to establish the North Vallejo Community Technology Center; Microsoft and the PowerUP partners provided matching funds.
Contact
Lynne Vaughan, community partnership planner, Sonoma State University, (707) 552-2382 or lynnevaughan@earthlink.net.
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Denver, CO
Partnership
The University of Denver & Horace Mann Neighborhood Center
Goals
To build community capacity by expanding the number of youth and adults participating in computer and Internet training at the Horace Mann Neighborhood Center. To develop programs that incorporate computers and the Internet into middle school community research, and to provide greater access to computers, Internet and technology training in an effort to strengthen the scope of resources within the Northwest Denver community.
Structure
The Learn and Earn program at Horace Mann Neighborhood Center teaches middle school students and adults how to repair and maintain computers. At the successful completion of the program, the students get to take home their refurbished, corporate- donated computer. The program serves as an example of how to use information technology as a force for community revitalization and democratic action. Building off of the Learn and Earn Computer Program, students from the University of Denver will develop a new computer class to help youth and adults learn keyboarding and software and apply their knowledge to civic uses on the Web. University students and members of the Horace Mann Community will collaborate to develop a community Web page, host a community Web site, and incorporate training for these resources.
Progress
During the 2000-2001 school year, 81 middle school students and 21 adults earned recycled computers. Eighty-nine percent of these students did not have access to computers before this program. Upon completion of the class the Learn and Earn Program not only gives students their own computer but has also been making an effort to provide graduates with Internet access for use at home. Strides within the program can be seen in our successful collaboration with Dell Computers and Qwest Communications to gain more computers and modems. Dell Computers has committed over 4,000 computers nationwide to Learn and Earn and a large portion of the program's success can be attributed to programs in Denver Public Schools. Additionally, Qwest is looking into how they can support Learn and Earn's efforts with donations of modems to provide access to the Internet. Due to the success of the program, Denver Public Schools (DPS) has hired someone to look into expanding this program district wide throughout DPS.
Contact
Frank Coyne, Coordinator, Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, University of Denver, (303) 871-2158 or fcoyne@du.edu.
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Hamden, CT
Partnership
Quinnipiac University, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, Barnard Elementary School and the Roncalli Nursing Home.
Goals
Our goal is to create a sustainable partnership between university students and faculty, public school students and a long tern care facility. This service learning project provides opportunities for university volunteers, to work with elementary and secondary students and residents of the Roncalli Nursing Home in structured ways. Through a variety of intergenerational activities, students and older adults to rotate the roles of teacher and learner. Activities are designed to allow the students to learn from the older adults and the older adults to learn from the children. The students benefit from the focus on academic and social skills as well as character development through service to others. The intergenerational activities allow the older adults to function as both teachers and learners, and have demonstrable therapeutic value. A major goal of the Kidz Corps project is to improve computer access and computer literacy for both the children and the older adults. We hope to create a sense of community that links the various generations and reduces the digital-divide.
Structure
Middle school students from the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School and elementary students from Barnard Elementary School will "adopt" the Roncalli Nursing Home and begin a series of conversations with the elderly designed to build bridges of under-standing between the two groups. A set of structured intergenerational activities will be facilitated and enhanced by the use of technology. A variety of activities are planned including: video interviews of the elderly conducted by middle school students, reflective journal writing, interdisciplinary class discussions, group projects, and internet research regarding the problems associated with aging.
Progress
The partnership between Quinnipiac University, the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, the Barnard elementary School and the Roncalli Nursing Home has involved more than 150 Kidz Corps students from kindergarten, through 8th grade as well as dozens of senior-citizens. In addition to many activities, we set up a computer lab and media center at the nursing home with books and equipment donated by Quinnipiac University, SNET, and the Book Warehouse. Both older adults and students use this facility to learn how to use computers and the Internet. Equipment has also been purchased for the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School and the Barnard Elementary School to help students create videos of their experiences with Kidz Corps. This is a precursor to a student-made documentary on older adults that is a culminating activity of the project. Kidz Corps students have worked with Quinnipiac University students on a number of projects. We ended the first year of the project with a "Carnival" which allowed all of the Kidz Corps Partners to celebrate their successes.
Contact
Gloria Holmes, assistant professor of education, Quinnipiac University, (203) 287-3461 or gloria.holmes@quinnipiac.edu.
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Miami, FL
Partnership
Miami-Dade Community College, Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church, B.A.M.E. Development Corporation, Booker T. Washington High School, Bass Museum of Art, and Excellence by Choice-South Florida.
Goals
To provide members of Overtown and surrounding low-income communities with the opportunity to improve their technology-related skills and become more successful in school, the workforce, and their personal lives. To provide youth of Overtown with one-on-one tutoring programs to promote positive learning skills.
Structure
The Mattie Koonce Learning and Technology Center is housed at Greater Bethel AME Church, the oldest African American church in the city of Miami. The Center has 26 Internet-connected computers and is open six days a week to serve the community. With both full-time and part-time employees as well as a host of service-learning and community volunteers, the Center oversees an afterschool enrichment program, a summer computer camp, offers on-going computer literacy classes, serves children from a local charter school and the church's Head Start program, and often acts as a computer training site for community groups. The Center serves as the hub for a range of learning activities designed to increase accessibility to the world of the Internet, build information-processing skills, and provides a rich environment for collaborative community-building activities to take place.
Progress
During the school year, the Mattie Koonce Learning and Technology Center partners with Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church to sponsor the AGAPE After School Enrichment Program. This program provides the youth of Overtown and other low-income communities free tutoring, homework assistance, and computer literacy classes. More than 230 computer literacy classes have been offered since the Center opened in August of 2000. The Center was awarded a PowerUP grant through the Governor's Mentoring Initiative, which provided the Center with 20 Gateway computers, AOL accounts, and monies for additional staffing, equipment, and supplies. This allowed the Center to expand its programs by offering more advanced classes with faster computers. Greater Bethel AME Church and the Mattie Koonce Learning and Technology Center also sponsored an 8-week summer computer camp in 2001that served 70 youth from the Overtown community of Miami. During its first 15 months of operation, the Center has served approximately 140 children and youth, 340 adults, and 100 seniors from Overtown and surrounding low-income communities.
Contact
• Joshua Young, Director, Center for Community Involvement, Miami-Dade Community College, (305) 237-7477 or jyoung@mdcc.edu.
• Reggie Lucien, Director, Mattie Koonce Learning and Technology Center, (305) 379-6058 or creole64@hotmail.com.
• Christine Rumbaugh, AmeriCorpsVISTA Coordinator, Mattie Koonce Learning and Technology Center, (305) 379-6058 or mckermit@hotmail.com.
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Manoa, HI
Partnership
The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kapi'olani Community College and Leeward Community College.
Goals
To provide already existing community partner programs with stipends to support the development of information technology leaders who will develop community-based projects that incorporate computers and the Internet to address specific local needs.
Structure
The stipends are used to train technology leaders. These technology leaders are high school students or recent graduates, recruited directly from the communities, who oversee community-based projects that make use of existing computer resources to address specific local needs, with a particular focus on youth. Training and ongoing support for these technology leaders and their projects through service-learning initiatives involving undergraduates from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kapi'olani Community College and Leeward Community College.
Read more about the program in detail -->
Progress
The University of Hawaii at Manoa is also working with two community colleges in the area, Kapi'olani Community College and Leeward Community College to set up three distinct programs that work in different communities to address the needs of each particular community. Two of the projects work with housing project communities and the other works with a public school. The University of Hawaii at Manoa works with the Kuhio Park Terrace community, the largest public housing project in the State of Hawaii. Two Computer Technology Leaders have been trained to help promote and staff computer literacy classes as well as open-lab time at both the Community Teen Program and the Learning Center at Kuhio Park Terrace. Kapiolani Community College has established a partnership with the Palolo Tenants Association, which is the governing board of directors of the Palolo homes dwellings, housing approximately 4000 residents. Computer Technology Leaders were trained to work at the Palolo technology center, "The Hale" and keep it open and accessible to community members. Two surrounding schools, Jarrett Intermediate School and Palolo Elementary School, help refer students to "The Hale" and plans are underway to create summer technology enriched programs for each of the two schools as well as create their own technology learning centers. Leeward Community Colleges works with The Project Manager of Waipahu Department of Parks and Recreation and the director of the YMCA Cities in Schools Project to recruit students from the Waipahu Intermediate School. Students meet twice a week at the Intermediate School and twice a week at Leeward Community College to get technology instruction from the Service Learning students. Students are learning about the importance of college and the opportunities that are available to them beyond their community.
Contact
Atina T. Pascua, Coordinador, Service Learning Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, (808) 956-4641 or atina@hawaii.edu.
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Edwardsville, IL
Partnership
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and eight existing community-based after-school programs.
Goals
To enable the technologically deprived children of the East St. Louis area to gain greater technological expertise on the computer, and to access and use the Internet to better their community. To match East St. Louis students with successful professionals and college students in an on-line mentoring program, and to bring computers to some of their homes.
Structure
The project will enable 750 school children, ages 5 to 13, to gain greater technological expertise on the computer through after-school programs. Students will have access to the Internet and use it to better their community. For example, a group of students may research the problems surrounding lead-based paint using the Internet and identify methods for addressing the problem in homes in the neighborhood. The program will also match them with successful professionals and college students in an on-line mentoring relationship. A portion of the target population - those who tutor other students - will also receive computers for their homes.
Progress
Over 1,000 students in grades K-8 and 60 parents participated in this program during its first year. After school students came from their local communities to one of the eight project sites around the area to take computer classes and learn how to access the Internet, etc. Although there were some problems getting all of the sites wired for Internet use, eventually they were all online and available for students. Parents were required to take a 12-hour training course (4 3-hour sessions) with their children after which they were given donated computer hardware to use at home. In the first year of this program 33 families received computers and 60 more were available upon successful completion of the training course. In an area where only 2% of the population owns computers, getting computers into the home was an important goal of the project. Over 40 service-learning college students worked with site staff to teach their students about computers. At the end of the year grades from the first and final quarters of the year were collected for nearly 800 students who regularly attended the program and on average their grades improved from 10 to 26%. Although the improvement cannot be attributed solely to the after-school programs, they did provided additional study for the students.
Contact
Don Baden, associate dean, School of Education, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, (618) 650-3644 or dbaden@siue.edu.
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Amherst, MA
Partnership
Hampshire College, Holyoke Neighborhood Networks Center and El Arco Iris Youth and Community Arts Center.
Goals
To provide students with the necessary skills to design and create a webpage that can address the needs of the community and to provide students with leadership and job skills that will help them in the future.
Structure
Hampshire College students and faculty will teach Web design, writing and leadership skills to Holyoke youth through the creation of an on-line and paper community newsletter. By highlighting ongoing community revitalization efforts, and by giving youth a public voice, the newsletter will promote community involvement and provide a unique service to community residents of all ages. Residents will be invited to tap into the Web site to learn about what is happening in the community. The project also will familiarize Holyoke youth with a wide range of important job skills and potential career paths.
Progress
Life skills and Mentorship Program worked with 47 students in grades 6-12 during its first year. Of these 47, a core group of 10 students worked with their college mentors for two hours, three times a week to create a community web-site. The other 37 participants came from partner organizations in the area to learn how to make web-sites for their own programs. In May they held a Grand Opening for their web site:http://www.teenholyoke.com. Though there have been problems getting parents involved in what their children are doing, the students have still shown a marked improvement in their computer skills over the course of the year. By soliciting donations, the program has managed to provide each of the core group of students with their own Pentium computer for their houses so that they can continue to learn outside of the classroom.
Contact
Tom Murray, director, Digital Design Center, Hampshire College, (413) 559-5433 or tmurray@hampshire.edu.
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Grand Rapids, MI
Partnership
Calvin College, Alexander School, Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Campau Park School and New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
Goals
To improve student literacy with Internet-based teaching and tutoring, and develop an extensive collection of Internet-based curriculum materials.
Structure
Each church will partner one of the elementary schools (Alexander with Neland and Campau with New Hope) and act as an advocate, program developer, and program implementer. Retired members of the churches along with college students will be paired with elementary students in technology mentoring relationships. Students will visit Web sites that encourage them to perform integrative tasks in ways that contribute to the construction of their own Web sites. In particular, African-American cultural sites on the World Wide Web will be the focus for reading and writing projects.
Progress
This project had originally intended to include three different grades (first, second, and third) in the program each semester. However, it was concluded that students would not get ample time to learn the internet if they were only in classes for one-third of a semester. The project has been limited to one grade per semester. Seventy-two third and fourth graders were involved with the program along with 32 parents and eight seniors in its first year. Open houses have been held for those parents who could not participate to let them know what their children are doing. Although there were initially some problems getting internet capability at one of the elementary schools up-to-date, the school has been re-wired to meet the needs of the students. The success of this project has encouraged both churches to make their computer labs more available to the community and additional classes are being planned. The college students involved have gotten hands-on experience teaching students in urban schools, and urban teachers have gotten help and training in teaching their students about computers and the internet.
Contact
• Steven Timmermans, dean for instruction, Calvin College, (616) 957-6122, or timmers@calvin.edu.
• Rhae-Ann Booker, director of pre-college programs, Calvin College, (616) 957-6748 or rbooker@calvin.edu.
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Springfield, MO
Partnership
Southwest Missouri State University Citizenship and Service-Learning Program, Springfield Public Schools, Founders Park, the History Museum for Springfield and Greene County, and the Springfield/Greene County Library.
Goals
To design an innovative social studies curriculum for third and fourth graders using Internet and community resources; link university students, faculty and members of the community; and the development of a historical website that will disseminate information about the origins of Springfield/Founders Park and curricular information.
Structure
Nearly 600 third and fourth grade students will research the history of Springfield from 1829-1929 using the Internet and traditional resources, create a historical website, explore critical electronic resources for links to the website and develop an electronic portfolio for recognition of their accomplishments. The undergurding mission is to model community-building techniques that will enhance the education of pre-service university students and elementary students. An experiential learning model will be developed that can be shared with educators in higher education and practitioners via conferences, listservs, websites, and research publications.
Progress
A social studies curriculum focusing on Springfield history was developed for this project. The curriculum was set up into two phases, each phase lasting for one semester. Phase I focused on Springfield landmarks, while Phase II emphasized the period of the Civil War. Phase I was piloted during the first semester of the 2000-2001 school year at Storefront Elementary school with 21 students. Students went on various field trips to local museums and historical sites. Using the Internet and library research, students help to develop a website about what they had learned. During the second semester, Phase I was introduced to four other Title I schools. The majority of third and fourth graders met in after-school Computer Clubs, while two schools focused on the program during the day. Phase II was piloted at Storefront Elementary School during Spring 2001. Through field trips, pictures, and Internet research, the students were focused on the period of the Civil War. Over 100 third and fourth-grade students participated in this project during its first year with the help of 22 university service-learning students.
Contact
Dr. Debra McDowell, director of citizenship and service-learning, Southwest Missouri State University, (417) 836-4840 or dsm259f@smsu.edu.
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Family On-Line Computing Academy for Civic Investment, Alcorn State University
Lorman, MS
Partnership
Alcorn State University, A.W. Watson Elementary School, fourth graders, their parents, teachers and librarians from two predominantly minority communities in Claiborne and Jefferson Counties.
Goals
To provide training and exposure to computer technology for fourth-grade children and their parents in an economically depressed community.
Structure
A family technology center will be established at Alcorn State University for 60 families to use the Web after school and on weekends each year. The university will make available computer systems and e-mail accounts to each member of the participating families. Participating families will also mentor another family to ensure all fourth-graders and their families take part in the project on an annual basis. They will also receive assistance in locating resources to purchase or build a computer for home use and in securing Internet connections via a modem through Alcorn State University.
Progress
In its first year this project has managed to work with approximately 120 fourth-grade students and their parents. Students use a computer lab at Alcorn State University and have access to several other computers that have been purchased and strategically placed throughout the elementary school. Although the lack of computers in households has been an obstacle because students cannot practice as much, this project has attempted to refurbish discarded computer equipment and provide it those families who need it. Mentors who have participated in the project are used to promote it and recruit new parents and children. Children have reported increased interest in computers, including fore-going basketball camp to attend computer camp, and parents have reported job promotions that they attribute to their increased computer skill.
Contact
Napoleon Moses, chairman, Department of Industrial Technology, Alcorn State University, (601) 877-6482 or nmoses@lorman.alcorn.edu.
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Bozeman, MT
Partnership
Year One: Montana State University, Bozeman, Little Big Horn College, Dull Knife Memorial College, the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Tribal communities, and the Burns Telecommunications Center. Year Two: Montana State University, Bozeman, Fort Peck Community College, the Fort Peck Tribal community, and the Burns Telecommunications Center.
Goals
To foster connections between 4th-8th grade Native American youth and their tribal community using technology and the JASON project as the vehicle and to involve Tribal College students as service learners in this community involvement process who will act as trainers and mentors for the science teachers and their students.
Structure
The program will utilize a variety of new communication technologies to bring the nationally recognized JASON science education program to the Native American communities in Montana. Interested teachers receive the curriculum and training on how to use the curriculum as well as guidance on making community connections that relate well to JASON activities and exercises. The project will establish groups of Native American student mentors who will work with teachers, students in grades 4-8, tribal college faculty, and community leaders in order to successfully connect the youth to their community. The program will also engage in service-learning activities to promote community awareness and involvement.
Progress
The Making a Civic Investment in Montana Project worked with nearly 700 4th-8th grade students during the course of the first year. Montana State University, Bozeman partnered with two tribal colleges to get involved with K-12 schools on or near both the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservations. The program used JASON XII curriculum to provide students with hands on experience about things important to their communities. Among some of the projects the students did was to plant a garden of traditional foods to be harvested and given to the Tribal Elders during the fall of 2001. A class of biodiversity students at Little Big Horn College also spent over 3 weeks planning a one-day field trip for students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade to Lodge Grass Creek, one of the local riparian ecosystems. Students spent the day learning about the ecosystem and collecting specimens that they later had the opportunity to examine in a lab at MSU-Billings with more service learning students. The program encountered a few problems, such as transportation issues, a wide-range of computer and Internet capabilities between the schools, and the difficulties of keeping in touch with such a large group of participants but managed to find ways to overcome them.
Contact
Kathryn Tanner, director of Montana State University Office for Community Involvement, (406) 994-6902 or ktanner@montana.edu.
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Upper Montclair, NJ
Partnership
Montclair State University and community partner TEAM (Technology, Education, Access, and Mentoring.)
Goals
To provide an opportunity for low to moderate-income children and their families to participate in neighborhood Computer Learning Centers, to become proficient in basic computer skills, to receive a refurbished computer for at-home use, and to use the computer to achieve greater academic success.
Structure
Montclair State University Management Information Systems students will train community members to use the computers and software at the three established centers - Hollow Day Care Center, the Unitarian Church After School program, and Day Nurseries, Inc. The centers will serve approximately 400 low-income and/or minority children and their families each year. The college students and tutors will also teach children how to use the Internet to connect to Montclair's library, museum, government offices and social service agendas. Parents of participating children will be taught how to use the computer to connect to school teachers and counselors to foster better communication and involvement in their children's educational progress. Children completing the program will receive a free computer that has been donated to the United Way of North Essex (another partner of TEAM) and upgraded by TEAM with assistance from Montclair State University students.
Progress
TEAM was able to work with over 200 Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade students and nearly 60 parents during its first year at a total of four Computer Learning Centers. The Computer Learning Centers are located in established after school programs in community-based organizations or houses of worship. Two new CLC's are to open in September 2001 with hopes to open more during the course of the second year of the project. Computers are donated through the United Way for use at the CLC's and for donations to families involved in the program. Although there were some problems retaining adult attendance in classes, a few creative solutions to this problem were implemented and seem to have been successful. The Montclair Board of Education has partnered with Montclair State University and TEAM to assist in identifying those students within the community who do not own computers. TEAM hopes to expand the CLC's to many of the Montclair Public Schools' after school programs.
Contact
Richard Peterson, professor of information and decision science, Montclair State University, (973) 655-7038 or petersonr@mail.montclair.edu.
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Dayton, OH
Partnership
University of Dayton and Patterson-Kennedy Elementary School Family Resource Center.
Goals
To create a center for students and community members where they can learn and practice how to use computers and the Internet.
Structure
The Cyber-Café provides reliable, high-speed Internet access, instruction and programming to the underserved school children of Patterson-Kennedy Elementary School, their families and the residents of Rubicon Park, which includes two of Dayton's poorest neighborhoods. It links new interactive learning environments at the elementary school to the Internet. The elementary school (K-6) works with university faculty to develop technology-enhanced classroom instruction. It is a source of enrichment, self-esteem, and civic competency for elementary students, their teachers, their parents, and their neighbors.
Progress
Although it took longer than anticipated to finish the Patterson-Kennedy Cyber-Café, it was finally completed and ready for use by January of 2001. The Cyber-Café is available to students and teachers during the day, and many teachers take advantage of this by signing up their classes for weekly computer-time. Community members are invited to "Technology Tuesdays" between 8:30-10:30 A.M and 4:00-6:00 P.M. Plans are being made to possible extend the open lab hours to include one night per week. Service learning students help to staff the center and provide training to both teachers, students, community members, as well as general technical support. Of special significance was the opportunity to introduce students from the ESL classes to the resources of the World Wide Web. These students, some of whom had only been in the United States for several months, learned ow to use the Internet to research their homelands, import graphics, and work collaboratively to create a Power Point presentation to share with classmates. People of all ages and walks-of-life have taken advantage of the opportunity the Cyber-Café to look up everything from how to purchase airline tickets to how to thread a sewing machine. Start-up computers were provided by Miami Valley Hospital and additional funds have been provided from many different sources. With support from the University of Dayton, the Patterson-Kennedy Cyber-Café was able to stay open during the summer and provide summer classes to over 120 K-6 students.
Contact
Richard Ferguson, director of Institute for Neighborhood and Community Leadership, University of Dayton, (937) 229-4122 or dick.ferguson@udayton.edu.
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The Arcadia/Leeds Gifts Scholars Project, Arcadia University
Glenside, PA
Partnership
Arcadia University and Leeds Middle School.
Goals
To provide targeted students with computer skills beyond those taught in their public schools and to encourage college and university enrollment.
Structure
Arcadia University students will mentor low-income inner city middle school students in com-puter technology instruction. The instruction is structured through an exiting scholarship program that names 40 eighth-grade students GIFTS scholars because they demonstrate academic potential but are otherwise at risk for dropping out of school. The program provides 50 to 75 percent of tuition to Acadia University once a student is accepted.
Progress
Serving approximately 40 high school students per semester, the Arcadia/Leeds GIFTS Scholars Program has been keeping on track with its goal. Next semester they have invited 15 eighth graders to participate throughout their high school years in the program. Current project goals include increasing the number of participants in both the parents' class and the high school class. The problem of transportation for students to their classes has been addressed by providing students with public transportation vouchers. Two of the project's larger events have been a field trip to Harlem, New York, and a campus Brunch for students and parents.
Contact
Barbara Fleisher, Assistant Professor of Education, Arcadia University, (215) 635-2061 or danfleish@aol.com.
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Providence, RI
Partnership
The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University and the Mt. Hope Learning Center.
Goals
To develop a collective expertise in technology education, web-based content development and public history, while both offering learning experience for residents of Mt. Hope and engaging young people in meaningful community work.
Structure
The university center and the community center will work together to develop a collaborative technology program that will serve the Mount Hope neighborhood. The collaboration will enhance the Mount Hope Learning Center's existing technology education program; create a public history initiative in Mt. Hope; develop useful, neighborhood-specific content for the Web; connect Mount Hope residents with other educational and economic opportunities in the city; develop literacy and visual arts programming and strengthen the ties between the Mount Hope and Brown communities.
Progress
Through the relationships developed from the Mount Hope T.E.C.H. Program, new community contacts in addition to the Mount Hope Learning Center were made. The university center and community center relationship opened an opportunity to respond to community needs and create adult ESOL classes that were to begin during the summer of 2001. Although this program is run by non-Worldcom funded service-learning students, the Mount Hope ESOL program continues to collaborate on computer literacy for the adult learners. The senior computer literacy class continues to operate this year on an individual and group level. With the continued learning sites throughout the community from year one, this project has been able to involve over 80 people from first-graders to senior citizens. The process of negotiating internet connection for some of the off-site locations has been met with some obstacles, including reluctance to offer learners the internet after abuse of this privilege occurred prior to this projects existence. Despite minor problems such as these, the classes continue to focus on the richness of the Mount Hope area's history. While adult classes focus on both English and computer literacy, younger students are learning how to analyze and create autobiographical information and translating that to the computer, and the high school students are involved in documenting historical landmarks, going to City Departments and historical societies to gather archival information and conducting interviews with residents to be used in a community based, youth created magazine.
Contact
Rachel Paras, Coordinator, Technology Education and Community History, Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown University, (401) 863-2338 or Rachel_Paras@Brown.edu.
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Columbia, SC
Partnership
Benedict College Service-Learning Program, Benedict College Honors Program, Carver-Lyon Elementary, W. A. Perry Middle, C. A. Johnson Preparatory Academy and legends of the Waverly community
Goals
To bring together resources to enhance literacy in a productive after-school activity, build leadership and character, assist with improving parental involvement, and increase technological awareness.
Structure
The program engages college students in service-learning activities that provide after-school tutoring, mentoring and enrichment opportunities for elementary, middle and high school students and their parents based on the use of technology to research legends from the local community. Community legends are people who attended the area cluster schools and went on to become notable in their fields. Seventy students in grades 2-12 will research local legends.
Progress
What was initially intended to be a triad partnership between Benedict College, a community center and an elementary school has had to be redesigned due to the financial stress of one partner. However, over 140 students and 20 parents have participated in the program thus far. After the first year students have had the opportunity to interview and speak with 11 community legends in fields as different as a proprietor of a restaurant to a college vice president. Through weekly meetings the staff of this project sets aside time to discuss various obstacles that the program is having such as a lack of parental involvement or the need for additional class time. In February 2001 students attended the 12th Annual Harambee Festivities on the Benedict College campus and in June of 2001 students took part in the Service-Learning Program's End-of-the-Year Celebration where 39 students and 2 parents were recognized for their involvement in Project Reflect.
Contact
Katrina Pitts, Program Coordinator, Benedict College, pittsk@benedict.edu or Gwenda Greene, Service-Learning Program Director, Benedict College, greeneg@benedict.edu, (803) 253-5253
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Life Skills and Mentorship Program, Hampton University
Hampton, VA
Partnership
Hampton University and Hampton city schools.
Goals
To provide high school students who are either on prolonged suspension, have been expelled, or are serving parole with the opportunity to learn computer skills that will better prepare them for the work force.
Structure
The program will initiate a technology training and application certification program de-signed to provide essential life skills to a specified population of high school students as part of their continuing education curriculum. Four hundred Hampton University students will serve as mentors to 200 at-risk youth in the community. The youth will receive valuable instruction in the use and application of standard office technologies. Those include hands-on training in labs equipped with the latest interactive multimedia technologies and will include paper-based, computer-based and web-based materials. Participants will have opportunities to directly apply acquired technology skills and knowledge in a controlled setting through campus-community work-study programs.
Progress
This program has had many challenges, from a constant change in leadership, to lack of service-learning experience, to poor communications between partners. Despite these problems, the Life Skills and Mentoring Program (LSMP) is beginning to incorporate service-learning mentors in their program, as well as increase the communication between partners. Within its first year, LSMP worked with 38 students to help them earn a MOUS, a computer-training completion certificate. This certification is awarded once they have shown an overall comprehension of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Project desktop applications, provides proof of their technical skills, and gives them a competitive advantage in the job market.
Contact
Debra White, assistant provost for technology, Hampton University, (757) 728-6988 or debra.white@hamptonu.edu.
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Spokane, WA
Partnership
Gonzaga University Department of Biology, Wellpinit School and Nespelem School.
Goals
To encourage and aid Reservation schools in developing science curricula. To increase numbers of educated Indian professionals, especially in the sciences related to sustainable natural resource management and conservation, who make decisions important to Indian rights, welfare, and sovereignty. To impact empowerment and greater self-determination of American Indian communities by helping them to get their voices heard through education, especially with respect to environmental science.
Structure
There are three parts to this project, the Outreach Program, the Summer Science Camp Program and the Summer Science Teaching Institute. The Outreach Program is conducted during the school year and gets approximately 20 Gonzaga University students paired up weith about 100 Tribal Partner students each semester to do a number of science activities. During regular visits to the GU campus and occasional trips to the Tribal Communities, GU mentors teach through presentations and help with the science curriculum at the Partner Schools. The Summer Science Camp Program involves an Outreach Coordinator working with a team of Tribal Fish and Wildlife scientists, Partner School science teachers, and chaperones from within the Tribal community to help Tribal students become involved in stream water quality and overall biological integrity evaluation. Chemical sampling and analysis and stream invertebrate sampling analysis will be conducted at stream sites on the Colville and Spokane Reservations, and at the Gonzaga University biology laboratory. Each summer, at the Summer Science Teaching Institute eight to ten Partner School teachers are offered a week- to two-week-long institute in science teaching using inquiry based methods as advocated by Project 2061 (www.project2061.org). Regular communications between all members involved in these programs are conducted via the Internet.
Progress
In its first year, this program has worked with 420 K-12 students and 13 parents. Because the University is at least a couple of hours from each of the two Reservation schools, contact was limited to email correspondence, web-page publications, and a few interactive visits between college student volunteers and the Reservation school students both at the University and also the Reservations. Activities during these visits included insect-collection and identification, basket-making, different science presentations, as well as games and eating and much more. By the beginning of the second year of operation, each Partner School visited the GU campus one Friday of every month to participate in a number of cultural and science activities. Overnight visits were arranged for Wellpinit Juniors and Seniors, and GU mentors are continuing and increasing the number of visits they make to each Reservation school. Transportation between the sites was initially a problem but ways were found around it. Also initially a problem was the retention of volunteers. Through increased communication via email, etc. more volunteers stuck with the program second semester. Crucial to achieving and maintaining a high quality of mentor performance was the establishment of one hour of biology 200 level course credit that GU students are required to sign for in order to participate in mentoring. The course credit was offered in Spring 2001. It was made mandatory in Fall 2001.
Contact
• Joseph Fortier, assistant professor of biology, outreach coordinator Gonzaga Indian Education Outreach Program, Gonzaga University, 502 E. Boone, (509) 323-6688 or fortier@gem.gonzaga.edu.
• Robert Prusch, professor of biology, Gonzaga University, (509) 323-6621 or prusch@gonzaga.edu.
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