Hello Everyone... My name is Kallen Tsikalas. I'm the Director of Research & Learning Services at an organization called Computers for Youth (www.cfy.org).
CFY partners with high-poverty, public middle schools and provides *HOME COMPUTERS* to all families with students in those schools. While maintaining a low cost per family, CFY loads the computers with high-quality educational software. We provide technical support, mandatory and supplementary family computer workshops, initial Internet access and opportunities for students and parents to serve as models for their communities. CFY also works with schools and local departments of education to build ways in which TEACHERS learn to leverage home computing to 1) enhance children's learning, 2) promote more positive identification with school and 3) better support parents as learning partners. CFY has distributed over 6,000 high quality refurbished computers and trained over 12,000 individuals in NYC in the last 5 years. We're presently in the midst of a national expansion, with the goal to replicate our program in 4 additional cities in the next 5 years. I mention these details because.... As others on the list have suggested, it is not *sufficient* to just drop a computer in the home of a low-income, lower-literacy family and expect transformation. However, there ARE effective models for bringing such families to technology and for helping them incorporate computers/Internet into their lives in ways that will improve children's chances for success. Computers for Youth is one of these models!! It is comprehensive, community-centric, and NOT just about the computer. Research on CFY's program has revealed some interesting patterns of impact. For example, four years of data have shown that students associate home computer use with increased confidence and curiosity AND with improved family relationships. Even more interestingly, students who improve in language arts (as indicated by teacher reports of performance) are significantly more likely to say that their home computer improved their family relationships and confidence. We've also had some tremendous examples of low-income parents/caretakers stepping to the plate and really seeing that their children get the most from this incredible resource. Here are but a few of the ways that family members in our program tell us that they're using their home computers. (Keep in mind, we are working in VERY poor communities): - A father says that he and his son frequently use the Internet together to stay on top of current events. He thinks it's important for his son to know that there is a world beyond their neighborhood. - A grandmother reports that she often praises her granddaughter for going on-line to find better or longer explanations for difficult homework assignments. Without this extra help from the web, the child sometimes cannot complete the work on her own and her grandmother isn't sure how to help her. - A mother said that she asks her daughter to help her brother, who has a learning disability, with math. The girl, a 6th grader, finds websites to help her brother. - Because she knows that her granddaughter is interested in writing, this grandmother gives the girl writing goals. For example, one goal was to research specific authors on the Internet and try to emulate their writing styles. - A mother creates challenges for her son and daughter that use the science simulations on the computer. For example, one challenge was for them to use the "light lab" to write their own name in lights. In this program, the children learn about mirrors, lenses and refractive and reflective properties of light. Having worked in the field for about 10 years, I really appreciate Ronda's initial post and truly believe that CFY's model is one that can lead to the types of impact that we're all hoping for. Best, --Kallen :) Computers for Youth (www.cfy.org) [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Taran Rampersad Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 11:18 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] Bridging the Digital Divide in the US Kevin Cronin wrote: > List: I have given out hundreds of refurbished computers to low-income > families. I certainly wish they were in the hundreds of thousands. But > giving out computers, particularly to kids, creates new challenges > that would need to be addressed: > > 1) Without computer instruction, more likely to occur in a lab, I > don't see how you get adults to learn and use them to participate in > the current, let alone, future economy. Certainly the plan cannot be, > by giving computers to kids, to wait for 12 years to let a generation > with habits of use grow into the economy. You can lead a horse to water... what I've found is that unless people can solve a problem that's bugging them with technology, they really don't care too much. If you show a computer doing word processing to someone who has never felt the need to use one and don't see the need to use one now, it's unlikely that they would dedicate time to it. In low income households, especially if it's a low wage household, people get paid little for lots of work - they don't have cushy jobs where they sit around all day, they are usually on their feet. Then they have children, so when they get home they should spend time with the children, though that may mean snoring lightly under the same roof. There's a good book out, 'Nickel and Dimed', which describes what low wage life is like. Having lived on low wages - fortunately, alone and without kids - I identify with the book through that period of my life. > > > 2) Without computer skills, parents will not be able to participate > fully in their children's education, a missing, critical element in > schools. One key to success in big city schools (or any school for > that matter) is to have the schools, after school programs (preferably > available for everyone) and parents at home ALL working off the same > page, reinforcing each other. Gifts to kids could cause parental > involvement to decline even further. Kids with more gaming and > music/video download skills is not the goal. I think it should be noted that the parents in low income families may not be participating fully in their children's education without computers, because... it's been a long day. Every day. It's not an excuse, really - some low income families do take as much time with their child's lives (which encapsulates education). But what next? I guess I painted a 'gloom and doom' picture, but... I think that the real way that parents in low income families can benefit is by showing them how they can benefit. A spreadsheet for the checkbook. A calendar for paying bills, PTA meetings and planning family events (having a planned family event committed to usually helps the event happen), and so on. Doctor's appointments. Grocery lists. Something related to their job. I think if those are started with, the parents (if interested) may progress at their own pace - like my own parents did. > I have given out refurbished computers in nonprofit labs, in schools, > in probation deals, in rec centers and as back to school fair prizes. > But to succeed, a project needs to embrace the whole family, with a > lab being the best option I've seen. This is a very difficult problem. > If it were easy, it would have been addressed a long time ago -- > government and businesses love easy problems. Amen. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Coming on January 1st, 2006: http://www.OpenDepth.com "Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
