Transmission Project

http://thecsl.org had a plain design emphasizing casual pictures of people in my old MCSE classes. Erik’s graphic redesign, while not so flashy as to be hard to use, has a smoother, more worldly look.

Other improvements to the look of our site included:
• the random display logos and pictures from our sponsors.
• A RSS feed from slashdot. (headlines)
• XHTML 1.0 compliance.

The CTCNet VISTA, Ben Pratt, has provided invaluable service to the Durham Literacy Center (DLC) this year. Ben has been able to collaborate with community partners and volunteers to specifically focus on technology and capacity building at DLC and other community technology centers in Durham. To date, he has completely overhauled DLC’s technical infrastructure, including our local area network, administrative computers, plus all computers at our CTC lab housed at our office. DLC also runs two other community labs at partner sites. Ben has made the labs more functional and accessible to our students and the general public. Additionally, Ben has spearheaded the development of an ad hoc technology committee where he recruited local leaders in technology and IT professionals to participate. This ad hoc committee has allowed DLC to establish standards for technology and implement best-practices for the use of technology with our adult learners. We foresee this committee as being adopted by our board of directors as a permanent committee and will develop a long overdue technology plan for our agency. We are also planning to get another VISTA next year to replace Ben. This technology committee will ensure a quick transition as well as training and consistent development of DLC’s technology infrastructure and instructional technology use.

Summary of Project Accomplishments

•Managed technical equipment donations
•Upgraded all PCs to W2K, installed Office XP or 2003
•Put web and mail services into production
•Managed PC Basics course
•Reorganized computer lab and replaced 8 aging lab computers
•Replaced or upgraded all of staff PCs
•Implemented and maintained Red hat Linux server with roaming profiles
•Wireless access is available throughout building by installing new Wireless Access Point
•Cleaned out technology closets
•Recruited technical volunteers and co-chaired technology committee that began the agency’s technology plan
•Came up with lab policies and implemented them
•Reorganized Network Neighborhood, making it easier to find files
•Got virus protection for all PCs
•Provided tech support to staff, volunteers, community/service partners and students
•Updated and maintained www.durhamliteracy.org website
•Organized and coordinated rollout of 40 new PCs from IBM which included software install and setup on servers and clients, hardware setup, and rollout
•Created documentation and materials for next VISTA
•Met with new VISTA to transfer knowledge and ideas

A pretest and post-test was implemented during the first section of CLICK, which underscored the need for CLICK and the quality of the lessons. The pretest/post-test was a shortened version of the skills portion of the North Carolina Computer Competency Exam. The mean score on the pretest of the students who completed CLICK was 22.5%, with a high score of 49% and a low score of 6%. Coming into CLICK the students were lacking the most basic of computer skills. The mean score on the post-test of those same students was 74.3%, with a high score of 89% and a low score of 60%; a drastic improvement. On an individual student basis, no student increased his or her score by less than 32 percentage points. With a mean score increase of 51 percentage points, it is clear that CLICK is both needed and effective.

Some of Chad’s major accomplishments have been that he successfully introduced the program to Lyon’s Park Community Center; revised all of the lesson plans and oversaw the development of new lessons for the younger audience at Lyon’s Park; completely redid the website; instigated the donation of computers from the Franklin Center to Rogers-Herr; put together background and procedural information for future coordinators of CLICK; instigated a relationship with Gary Ybarra in Engineering, which resulted in $5,000 worth of support in the form of assistant coordinators; and successfully set up the program for next year (so the transition is as seamless as possible).

The relationship between CLICK and the Rogers-Herr after-school program has changed in the past and most likely will change in the future. During the first semester of CLICK there were two sections meeting twice a week. One section was for students enrolled in the after school program and one section was for students who were not part of the after school program. Attendance for the after school section was very poor while attendance for the non-after-school section was good. This was caused, at least in part, by changes in after-school administration and staff shortages at Rogers-Herr.

Volunteer Training

Ian Bauer worked with staff and the project consultant funded by CTCNET/ATA to assess the current capacity and need for volunteers. Ian assisted in the development of the volunteer training manual; streamlining the process for coordinating assignments for weekly “Volunteer Days” and “Distribution Days.”

As MAFEI successfully completed the training manual within the projected three-month time period, Ian coordinated the weekly management of both student and adult volunteers who had received computers from OTX-West. To date, approximately 500 student and adults have volunteered at OTX-West including IT students from local vocational programs, high school and middle school students with varying interests in computer technology.

Ian coordinated interns’ weekly tasks—preparing computer labs for trainings, assembling training materials, staffing distribution days. Ian is currently developing a training model whereby interns will be able to successfully conduct computer training courses, having become proficient in basic computer software applications and increased their knowledge of computer equipment and basic hardware operations.

Website Development

MAFEI significantly benefited from Ian’s expertise and interest in website design. Ian increased his responsibilities in this area by successfully upgrading the organization’s website(s) www.mafei.org and www.otxwest.org, including:

• Reformatting website graphics,
• Updating and adding to website text for OTX-West offerings, including technical support information and computer class training on-line registration
• Creating links
• Providing easier navigation of website

Learning Without Boundaries Literacy Initiative

Ian contributed significantly to the development of this project. His role was central and continues to be a vital part of the continuance of this model. A portion of his responsibilities included:

• Researching software writing programs;

• Conducting assessments and creating computer labs in the classroom of 3rd grade teachers participating in this project.

• Developing a training manual for parents and students, integrating key components of the writing software program and Internet research. Students learned how to research topics, find the definition of words and phrases and successfully complete a creative writing assignment (training guide available).

• Conducting computer training classes for third grade students and their families.