Transmission Project

Naomi enhanced the existing curriculum for our Take Home Computer Program curriculum, adding about 10 additional pages to our training manual, which covers basic computer maintenance and internet safety. She also created various instructional handouts for our digital storytelling classes. She was directly responsible for an increase in the attendance of our Take Home Computer Program by at least 300 students, which is roughly one third more than last year. She also helped upwards of 270 students become confident in the use of multimedia software during our digital storytelling classes. She also increased her technology skills, both software and hardware. She went from having little to no experience using audio and image editing software, to being knowledgeable enough to teach others how to use them. She went from being slightly nervous speaking in front of a group, to being a commanding and effective presence in the classroom.

Although it isn’t particularly specific, Naomi’s digital story “California Dreaming” inspired many students to learn to use the multimedia programs. It never failed to get applause when we played it in class.

As the coordinator for the TechREACH Alliance Project, Will worked extensively on coordination, assisting with training, distributing computers, and capacity building. To begin his year of service he helped to coordinate and lead a Train the Trainer workshop for teachers and student leaders. At this workshop he also provided some new curriculum to the club leaders which provided more details about taking apart computers and troubleshooting.

After this event which kicked off the second year of the project he spent more time on supporting the after-school clubs. Checking in with club leaders to share and learn best practices was an important aspect of his work. As the year progressed he began to assist in distributing the refurbished computers at each of the ten clubs.

All in all, we’ve had nine clubs out of ten distribute computers and Will helped club leaders distribute at least 100 computers out to families. The distributions also required a lot of research and awareness of community resources such as training opportunities and internet services providers. His research in compiling these resources highlighted the need for training opportunities and internet access in Washington State. As well as utilizing partnerships with the Wilderness Technology Alliance and TEConnections to get the computers out to clubs, he created new ones with the Bridges Project of Central Washington University and Genext Communications. He worked with the Bridges Project to provide training in a rural area that does not have any local computer training options. Genext helped to provide internet access to areas not covered by our other ISP partner, Webband. The TechREACH Director and other TechREACH staff supported our VISTA in his work.

Will testified multiple times in front of Washington State legislators about the importance of broadband access and education. In addition, he helped advocate for a critical fix to the E-Waste legislation in Washington that would have prevented thousands of computers from being refurbished for distribution to low-income families.

Jeff has taken the lead role in building our second classroom. This was completed the middle of February. Jeff is very effective in identifying what needs to be done and completing it with quality. He is an integral part of all aspects of our home computer program including scheduling and coordinating families in our classes, coordinating the work of adult and youth volunteers, and many, many other things that are needed in a small organization with a big mission.

Jeff has also attended a KQED workshop on digital story telling and is working with Domingo Vaszuez, a multimedia professional, to finalize the curriculum for our upcoming digital story telling pilot workshop. The workshop has been scheduled, 20 students have been selected, and all is a go for the week of Spring Break, April 10-14.

We are currently working with project SOAR to schedule 200-300 7th graders into our summer technology workshop. This one week workshop, for 6 separate sessions, will run from June 26 to August 4. We will be updating our first classroom to also accomodate the students. The curriculum we will use will be that piloted in April. Jeff is involved in every detail of this large, (and new to us) endeavor.

Hilda Puente’s year of service with Technology For All was a positive and growing experience for both Hilda and TFA. She helped build and strengthen relationships with many of our CTCs, which accomplished her goals.

Ethan helped bring much needed training to four very small rural communities in Central Washington. Bi-lingual computer training was made available to hundreds of predominantly monolingual Spanish-speaking Hispanic agricultural workers and their families. Students were able to take advantage of their abilities to learn the technology quickly, accessing information as well as learning ESL and other skills. Young and old were able to learn together and the volunteer base grew. As more and more young students begin coming in, we are able to take advantage of their abilities to learn the technology quickly. We allowed them to teach each other as they naturally seemed to do. The labs in Mattawa and Royal City developed a sense of community, as people of all ages worked simultaneously and without fear in asking for help from one another.

The development of skills and confidence that was nurtured in the community labs led to more individual commitment to purchase computers for home use. As a result, these communities not only have new community labs, but a group of adults and children who are able to continue to deepen their knowledge and use of computers at home.

Margaret has been progressing remarkably well in her VISTA year. She has progressing well in developing a system of technical support for our computer center. Margaret has developed a system where most of our computers are using the same drive image. This allows us to re-image computers in just a few minutes if any problems occur. Margaret has also been repairing computers donated to our computer center and has distributed 50 computers to individuals and organizations through an earn-a-computer program.

Margaret has developed a system where most of our computers are using the same drive image. This allows us to re-image computers in just a few minutes if any problems occur. Margaret has also been repairing computers donated to our computer center and should be distributing between 50-100 computers to individuals and organizations.

Margaret has also developed curriculum for our A+ certification class and tested it with over 15 students last semester. About 5 of her students have returned this semester to volunteer to teach classes. Margaret has also developed curriculum for our Microsoft Certified System Engineer courses. Last semester she developed curriculum for our Windows 2000 Server course, and this semester she developed curriculum for our Windows 2000 Networking course, with about 30 students in total between the two courses.

There have been no major difficulties for Margaret in her VISTA year. After completing her year, we have decided to hire Margaret as staff.