Project Plan

The Digital Divide

Tallahassee Housing Authority (THA) is an organization that provides safe and affordable housing to low-income families in the Tallahassee area and works with resident families to enhance and expand their quality of life. Many of these residents suffer from the digital divide, which refers to the economic, usability, and empowerment disparity between parts of the population with access to modern technology and parts of the population without this access.

The Economic Divide

The digital divide affects THA residents in different ways. Most of them do not have the financial means to purchase computers or computer-related services like Internet access in the first place. This is a problem for residents of all ages: children are unable to access Internet-based sources of information for school projects or supplemental learning material. High school students are unable to take advantage of online services like scholarship providers and online-only college applications. Adults suffer from lack of access to job posting sites.

The Usability Divide

THA residents often do not have access to opportunities to gain technology-related skills. In some ways this is a side effect of the economic divide – simply “playing” with computers leads to familiarity with them that makes it easier to learn new software packages in the future, and the technology available at community centers, libraries, and other public venues are their only exposure to computers. Because computers are not an integral part of their lives, computer skills will not “come naturally” to them. At the same time, THA residents do not currently have access to classes that teach basic computer skills. In addition to basic computer access, residents need comprehensive training in order to “catch up” with the current standards for computer literacy that are necessary to avoid the aforementioned problems.

The Empowerment Divide

The empowerment divide is the final barrier for populations without access to modern technology. Confidence in one’s ability to use appropriate technologies is a critical part of modern careers and pursuits of higher education. When people attempt to rapidly catch up with modern computer literacy standards, they need a way to monitor their progress in order to stay motivated and avoid burnout.

Recommended Solution

Project History

In the spring of 2007, faculty at Florida State University’s College of Communication and Information recognized the need to develop new programs that would help bridge the digital divide. Working with Lutheran Social Services of North Florida (LSS), the college established a work-study program that gives students practical skills while producing refurbished computers that can be given to individuals and community centers in need. THA maintains three community centers, and each includes a computer lab furnished by LSS. This program addresses the economic divide, but does not address the usability and empowerment divides. To address the other two sections of the digital divide, the college began to work on a copyleft Digital Literacy curriculum that could be taught in community centers and to individuals to teach them basic computing skills and build confidence in their ability to use computers, which will give a sense of empowerment. Different teams of students have worked on this curriculum for about a year, but progress was slow and it is not yet ready for real-world use. The ultimate goal of this project is to create and test an adaptable curriculum that can be used and adapted globally. The college identified several problems with existing curriculums before deciding to develop a new one: existing curriculums are often provided by a company as an endorsement of its products, and therefore non-comprehensive, teaching only about those products; they are restricted by copyrights that prevent them from being modified for a different audience or expanded upon; and they often come with a price tag too high for community centers and other nonprofit organizations.

Project Summary

The project team intends to develop a few modules of the Digital Literacy curriculum and then partner with THA to teach the curriculum to the residents there, using the computer labs that are already in place. This addresses the usability divide. In response to the empowerment divide, program participants will receive a certificate of completion at the end of each module. Future project teams can expand the project based on this model, developing and testing additional modules until the curriculum is comprehensive. The importance of this project is to ensure that these children, who are eager to learn but deprived of the privileges, will be given the necessary skills needed for their future. There are many benefits to this project. It will help Tallahassee Housing Authority meet its goal to improve the quality of life for its residents, and will do so in a real and tangible way. The project team will benefit by gaining experience in areas in which they would like to work after graduating. It will give us an idea of what it is like to teach a diverse group of students, as well as how to alter our teaching skills based on the individual. THA residents and others who are taught with this curriculum will gain the most from the project. They will be able to gain a knowledge and understanding of how to use computers in an educational way to further their education. The project will produce a digital literacy curriculum that can be used indefinitely (with regular updates) by THA staff or volunteers. In addition, the project team will volunteer time at the community centers to hold computer workshops for residents throughout the summer. The residents will gain computer skills to be applied in all areas of life. After “successfully” completing this project, certain children will be able to leave each class session with a greater understanding of how to use a computer to do basic research on the internet, how to open up programs like Microsoft Word and create a document, and even learn which sites are credible and which sites to avoid. This project will be successful to us even if only a few students leave with improved computer skills. The project really would never be considered “complete” as there will always be children in need, now and in years to come, but we intend to develop each of the predefined modules to a fully teachable state.

Scope

Ultimately, the Digital Literacy Project will create a comprehensive curriculum that can be adapted to all age groups. Because we will only be working on the project for one semester, we’ve narrowed the scope to a single age group (elementary and middle school) and three specific modules (Internet research, word processing, and online safety.)

Goals, Objectives, and Critical Success Factors

Our overarching goal is to provide a means of educating youth in basic computer literacy and to empower them so they have the skills they need to compete with other students academically. To measure our success with this goal, we’ve outlined four objectives:

Create an online safety curriculum that appeals to elementary and middle school students.
- Teach about cyber bullying – how to avoid it, consequences, what to do if it happens to you
- Teach about protecting personal information (especially on social networking sites)
- Teach about digital media as it relates to personal safety (photos, videos)
Create a word processing curriculum that appeals to elementary and middle school students.
- Creating a new document
- Saving a document
- Formatting text
- Inserting clip art or pictures
- Numbered lists
Create an Internet research curriculum that appeals to elementary and middle school students.
- Credibility
- Google
- Have students find credible information on an interesting topic
Teach the above three curriculums to students at the THA community centers.
- Establish regular classes
- Teach the curriculum, working from an outline that we distribute to students
- Give out certificates of completion
- Give a survey at the end to collect feedback

Assumptions and Constraints

We make several assumptions in working with our sponsor on these objectives. We assume that the community centers will be available for us to use, which hinges on the assumption that the authorities at THA will approve our proposal to work with them. We also assume that students will be interested in completing a program in Digital Literacy. Finally, we assume that the equipment available in the THA computer labs will be properly maintained. While we certainly hope that our assumptions prove true, we are prepared to handle the worst situations. Even if THA were to back out completely, we could continue developing the curriculum, which we ultimately hope to use in different types of organizations throughout the country. We will test our curriculum with students to ensure that we have included elements of interest to them, and we will regularly communicate with the THA staff and volunteers to keep them accountable for the equipment we will be using. Our constraints, like all projects, include time and money. Time is a huge one for us – we only have a month and a half to develop and deliver the Digital Literacy curriculum. To deal with this, we’ve defined the scope to focus specifically on youth, and we’ve made our final objective (actually delivering the curriculum) optional. In some ways this final objective is like a reward that will keep us on track, as Charlene and I both would like the experience of actually teaching the curriculum once we develop it. Two other constraints specific to our project are bureaucracy and competition. There is a paperwork process that must be completed before we can visit the community centers and begin teaching there. This could set us back, but we plan to deal with it by working on our curriculum while we’re waiting to gain access. Competition is especially important since we are working with youth. If we don’t make our program interesting, students will turn to other after school programs and activities.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders in this project include THA residents, THA staff, FSU faculty, FSU students, and employees/volunteers of Lutheran Social Services. Indirect stakeholders include anyone who offers after school programs to THA residents. The THA residents stand to benefit from the project by gaining computer skills that will serve them throughout their lives. They face no risk but will need to commit time and effort. The THA staff will need to be accommodating to FSU students by helping them get acclimated to the community centers and helping promote the program. Higher officials at THA stand to benefit from backing the program if it is successful. FSU faculty will need to commit to coordinating the project from semester to semester, assigning new students to it. Students will need to commit to developing more curriculum modules and teaching the modules that already exist. An indirect stakeholder is anyone who runs an afterschool program that competes with the programs offered by THA. If this program is successful, it could potentially take students away from those competing programs.

Alternative Solutions

Alternative solutions include doing nothing and using an existing curriculum. If the suggested solution is not approved, or we do nothing, THA will not lose any money since these plans would have been given to them for free and volunteers would provide the lessons. They would lose the benefit of knowledge that they hope to share with the children of their communities. Another possible solution is that instead of preparing our own curriculum aimed at the youth, the lessons taught could come from an existing curriculum. The problem this poses is the cost. It is often expensive to use an open source software curriculum from companies such as Microsoft. In addition to the cost, this type of curriculum will most likely not be aimed at the youth. Also, the curriculums that do exist are usually expensive and/or designed to advertise a particular suite of products, such as Microsoft Office. There is a clear need for a new, comprehensive curriculum that is adaptable to all ages.

Project Sponsors

As the project has two major parts, there are two major project sponsors. The sponsor for the curriculum development portion is Melissa Raulston. Melissa has been pioneering the Digital Divide and Digital Literacy projects at the College of Communication and Information for the past several years, and she has extensive research-based knowledge in this area. For the curriculum-testing portion of the project, Larry Simmons, Resident Initiative Coordinate at THA, will be the sponsor. Larry works with other organizations that are willing to provide services such as workshops or programs within the community centers. He has requested that we set up a training curriculum for their residents, who are of varying ages. The youth served by THA need instruction on basic computer skills, Internet safety, and online credibility. The adults need basic computer literacy skills that are useful in the job market, such as file management, web browsing, word processing, and email. Eventually Larry would like to see the program evolve to use the computer resources to teach a wide variety of skills to THA residents through web-based self-paced courses. Another sponsor is Jim Freeman, Executive Director at LSS. He is an important contact for questions about how the computer labs are set up and who is currently maintaining them.

The Project Team

The project team consists of David Schubert and Charlene Hickey, both students in the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University. There are also several other students who are working on setting up computer labs at local community centers by refurbishing machines, loading/updating software, and providing general computer maintenance, through Lutheran Social Services. Together we will develop a curriculum for youth (ages 10-18), and teach them the basic skills necessary to excel in their education and study skills. David has a background in education, working with the Leon County school district for the past three years as a Technology Coordinator for various schools. His experience includes developing training materials for computer workshops for teachers as well as creating lesson plans that integrate computer software. Charlene has volunteered at local elementary schools and has taken education courses including “Technology for Teachers.” We believe that both of our skills combined, as well as our passion to teach children, will be a great asset to this project.

The Delivery

The curriculum will be developed by July 25, 2009. The project team will present the curriculum as well as a work breakdown structure for future project teams to the sponsor and other interested parties the week after completing the curriculum. The project plan, work breakdown structure, and links to project blogs and other information will all be posted on the Digital Literacy Wiki.

Testimonials

David Schubert worked as my Assistant in the Technology Department at Lawton Chiles High for two years, September 2006 to June 2008. He brought a large skill set to the job. What impressed me most about David was his character as a person. He proved to have a high level of integrity and trustworthiness. He could be trusted with access to sensitive information and was very receptive to learning how institutional systems function and inter-personal dynamics.

David will be a fantastic resource for any IT company where he lands, but will be exceptional in an educational institution with his experience in the public school environment and his understanding of how those institutions work.

Buck Buchanan, Technology Coordinator

I've known David in three different capacities: As a student in two of the courses I teach, as our school's Technology Assistant, and as an FSU student who continues to assist teachers at Chiles - for no remuneration.

Of the many students I've taught in 30+ years in the classroom, David is without a doubt one of the brightest, most hard working, and caring students I've ever known - to both teachers and students alike. Those traits are coupled with a natural ability to understand technology and even more importantly, to communicate to others how to learn and utilize that technology. Of the many technology training sessions I've attended, those in which David was the instructor were by far the most effective and most easily understood--because he is a natural teacher. Any business would be extremely fortunate to have David working with them. I have never seen his equal - both in his personal qualities and in his technical skills as well.

Jan Dunlap, Teacher

David is a delightful young man who is talented beyond his years. On several occasions he has helped our family with our technology issues and is always knowledgeable, polite, and insightful in the process.

Angela Turner

David Schubert was a member of the Honors section of Fundamentals of Speech. His work was exemplary.... and he was the resident guru to whom we addressed all questions of a technological nature. David is quick witted, humble, smart, caring, and responsible. I wish all students at Florida State had his sense of maturity and a commitment to things greater than himself.

Mark Ziegler, Professor

I have had the pleasure of working with David in two of my classes. His evident competency in various areas of information technology (including information architecture, network administration, and instructional technology support) is a result of his dedication and enthusiastic attention to his coursework as well as diligence in seeking extracurricular and professional opportunities outside of the classroom. As a student, he has distinguished himself by engaging fully in all classroom activities, being open to learning and constructive feedback, and putting a stamp of excellence on all his projects. I am confident that David will be a wonderful asset to any organization he will dedicate his services to after he completes his studies at the University.

Dr. Mia Liza A. Lustria, Professor

It is my pleasure to "brag" about David Schubert. David worked as part of our Technology support staff at Chiles during the 2007-2008 school year and was absolutely outstanding. His knowledge is incredible, his demeanor is very upbeat and supportive, and his ability to help individuals understand what he is doing and to help them be able to help themselves is amazing. David has a tremendously bright future ahead of himself and, in my opinion, will make some company very fortunate to have him as an employee.

Stan Goldstein, Teacher