CLIP
From StudentOrganization
Overview
The Computer Literacy and Instruction Program is project to teach computer skills to migrant workers at Education City. The project has been envisioned and is currently being implemented by members of NeoMotion, a student-run organization that was founded in the summer of 2007 in Education City.
Specifically, the project aims at providing migrant workers in Education City with computer literacy workshops and access to computers in three phases. Currently, in first phase, from January 2008 to July 2008, the computer literacy workshops are housed in the Liberal Arts & Science (LAS) building in Education City under the support of Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar (CMU-Q). Workshops for women are held Sunday and Tuesday, while workshops for men are held Monday and Wednesday. The workshops are held by students involved in NeoMotion and will include skill training in the logistics of using a computer, typing, word processing, working with office tools, using the internet and other computer resources such as cognitive tutors to learn English and other skills.
In addition to holding the computer literacy workshops, in the first stage, it is proposed, pending approval and funding from QF and ROTA, a small room in the LAS building be allocated to NeoMotion to place a maximum of 5 computers for the workers to use at their own disposal. This computer cluster will be equipped with computer stations donated by ROTA and will be staffed by NeoMotion members who will assist the workers with whatever computer need they might have. It is expected that this computer cluster will be open at times that are convenient for the workers. This first phase will serve as a pilot study for the implementation of the second and third phases of the project. Following the potential success of the pilot study and the relocation of CMU-Q to its new building in the fall of 2008, CMU-Q will be requested to allocate a room for the implementation of a larger computer cluster with a maximum of 20 computers to be donated by ROTA. The third phase envisioned to be implemented in the spring of 2009 would include the implementation of computer clusters around the universities in Education City: Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar, Texas A & M-Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University-Qatar, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, and any new university in Education City. These computer clusters are to be equipped by ROTA and staffed by students in the corresponding universities.
Documentation & Data Collection Group
Leader: Sid Arora (sa1@qatar) Hend Gedawy (hkg@qatar) Aysha Siddikue (ayshas@cmu) Amna Sultan (amnas@qatar) Fatima Al-Fakhri (fafakhri@qatar) Shahan Jamal (sjamal@andrew)
The purpose of this group is to design templates that will be easy to use to document information from our clients and to document what has been done each day of class. For example, we would need to have a record of how many clients attend the program, what their names are, where they are from, whether they have used a computer before, what their interests are, what they would like to learn, etc. In order to easily record that information, we need some sort of template. The first day of class, we might ask the clients, “raise your hand if you have ever used a computer” and then we need to be able to easily record that information and post it in the wiki. We also need an easy to use template for the student teachers to record what was done during their class period.
Syllabus
Introduction Explain with the help of diagrams how the internet works and how all computer machines are connected to one another. Basically touch on all the sub-topics.
Accessing the internet Since we are going to be exploring the communication aspects of the computer, we have decided to cover most of the bases of the internet. We will be showing them how to access the internet, as this would be the logical first step.
Web Browsing This aspect of the program revolves around exploring how to search through the web (for example using the www.something.com). Explaining the domain names and what they represent, and how each domain represents a different set of searches and links.
Identify and explain search engines Explain the use of search engines, for instance how they can be used to find a link to particular websites, identify the different search engines available for the type of searches they would be most interested in looking up.
Explore search engine capabilities Test out the search engines, so that the users can get a feel for how they work as well as how to narrow down the searches to their specific needs.
Accessing the news We believe that this section will be the most popular section and that the users will be eager to find out how to get the news links, and thus would have to go through the first four steps to access it.
Access and explore e-mail, create an email This section will introduce how the internet can be used to communicate with the outside world, but first we will have them create email addresses address, add everybody in the room to the friend’s list, and then begin to have them type sentences to one another, so that they can experience how the technology works.
Access and explore photo browsers This section can be used to show the users that pictures can be sent and received over the internet. Furthermore, it will also test their browsing skills in searching for photos.
Explore DOHA The internet led the way to the information age, and we want to show them that if they want to find any information about Doha destinations through tourist sites to help them get an idea what sort of entertainment options they have, places to go, to see, then the internet can be their tool.
Access articles such as Wikipedia They can access Wikipedia in their language, so as to gain knowledge about certain aspects of interest.
Access and explore blogs and blog search engines (radio and TV watching over the internet possibly under the entertainment section)
