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Are computer labs in schools public telecenters?*
*The ideas, thoughts, and opinions expressed are not necessarily of the OAS nor of its member states. The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors.
1. What are some potential applications for school computer centers in serving the various needs of local communities?
They have to produce an Handbook for the student.
A good idea would be to take the same approach that public libraries do. Reduce risk of computer misconduct, misuse, and break down by restricting access on the internet, programs that users are allowed to navigate and use.
The schools community relationship can benefit from sharing the centers, however at levels where the centers are utilised by the community with controls and not in a adhoc manner. There are many program that can be hosted in the schools but can be controled by Non Governmental or other organs. Such programs will have the control of teachers while community members utilise these computer systesm. Being a teach at a small secondary schools (pop = 900), it was realised that the computers was most useful and cherished by community members that the students. Community memeber took better care of these computer systems than the regular students conterparts. Added too that fact, motivating the community for upgrade of labs was another added advantage.
The subject of telecenters, like everything related to educational
technology, is a sum of interrelated elements. If the teachers are not
well trained, if they don't see a need for the existence of telecenters,
little or nothing can be done so that the students and the rest of the
community feel involved. You can't start a fire without a spark, or
burn a log for that matter.
I consider computer labs in schools to be a space where individuals
from the community can have access to new technologies.However, simply opening them is not enough, it is equally important
that its users receive training. Frequently, there is either a fear
of technology or the belief that it is a panacea. There is a missing
piece in this line of thinking, that of human beings. Technology for
its own sake, if people have no use for it, makes no sense. The computers in the schools in my community and I believe in my state
in the U.S. are not used in this capacity. They seem to be only used for students during their academic studies
and maybe a little for community projects if the student's club or organization
is doing some social project. Oklahoma, the state in which I live, has
an extensive network of vocational schools, called Technology Centers,
which provide opportunities for computer training for the community
at no cost or very low cost. The public libraries also have computers
that the community can use to do research and access the internet. I
do believe that the computers in the public schools could be put to
more efficient use if they were used for community projects. One essential
aspect of the computer use would have to be the involvement of the students
in the process so that the students could interact with the community
and learn from the business people and citizens in a different context
then the normal academic classroom. From what I observe in my own country (Jamaica), computer labs are
almost exclusively used by students of the relevant schools. Public
access to these facilities are restricted mainly due to wider security
issues. Communities in which these schools are situated are not directly
involved with these computer centres or labs but indirectly through
the students that reside in such communities. There are cases however, where some schools permit their facilities
to be used for information technology training to members of the community. These classes are normally part of a curriculum leading towards a
local or regional examination. They should have up-to-date search engines that allow the user to
find the information that they need in as little time as possible. The computers should have audio and video resources. By using microphones
and cameras they could participate in many events that are delivered
on-line. They could deliver work-training courses in the area of information
sciences, such as those that we provide in our school, on topics such
as Basic and Advanced Operations, Graphic Design, the Internet, Accounting
Assistant, and Computer Skills for the Executive Secretary. They could be training centers for people with disabilities. They could be centers for promoting local businesses. School can be a good place to bring people together who are interested
in using information technology and communication tools. Academic centers
could deliver access to this technology and training to the community. Training should be focused on showing potential users how to use the
Internet more efficiently (as a means of communication, as a source
of information, etc.) It would also be interesting if these centers
provided assistance to individuals interested in creating and integrating
some kind of virtual community.
2. In what ways can local communities contribute to the sustainability of the computer centers in their schools?
Using pratical wayn to teach. By announcing to the community.
Offering computer training, classes at low cost. This helps gauge the community interest in learning how to properly use computers, seek out assistance from local IT techs.
Local community has the advantage of utilising the labs for real life business purposes. They see the computer as a tool for geting some activity done, thus they place regards and respect for this tool by their use, care and small contributions made ( cash or otherwise). Local community is small countries are demonstrating to students a very valuable lesson, that is, the computer is more than a machine for playing games or chatting on the internet. A full intergration of community and school in such venture can provide the balance for sustainability of the labs and equiptment and voluntary security of school premise and equiptment.
The charging of a small fee would allow the user access to these resources
and the institution to keep its equipment updated.
During vacations they should be free-of-charge so that those students
who don't travel and the residents of the communities could profit from
these services and would be a way to promote the use of these resources.
By organizing fund-raising activities that will contribute to the
upkeep of the lab.
Paying a reasonable monthly fee for the courses that are delivered.
Those organizations that increase their productivity by using these
centers should donate a percentage of their profits with the goal of
contributing to the upkeep and development of the centers.
Although it is the realities outside of schools that occasionally
create new missions for them, on occasion it is not viable for schools
to respond to these demands, which can then lead to new institutions
that make these missions their responsility. At any rate, I think that
although it is not an obligation for academic computer centers to be
converted into public telecenters, it would be a good opportunity for
the school and the community to renew that connection.