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Enhancing Computer and IT Skills of Rural South
Carolina High School Students
Dr. Jim Martin
Department of Computer Science
Clemson University
email: jim.martin@cs.clemson.edu
phone: 864 656 4529
Short cut to the current Rising Juniors Emerging Scholars Course
web site
Short cut to the current Rising Seniors Emerging Scholars Course
web site
The Clemson Emerging Scholars Partnership Program
The Clemson Emerging Scholars Program is an outreach iniitative that
targets students from public high schools in some of South Carolina's
poorest counties. The program's objectives are orientation,
motivation and preparation for post-secondary education. Each
year Clemson will
select 50 students from the 5 public high schools (Wade Hampton,
Denmark-Olar, Estill, Southside, Orangeburg-Wilkinson,
and Bamberg-Ehrhardt) who are completing their freshman year (9'th
grade). These students will participate in a 3-year,
multi-faceted, cost-free program.
There is voluminous research that documents the inverse relationship
between family income and college participation. It also confirms
that the college participation rate is dramatically higher for the children
of parents who went to college than for those of parents who did not go
to college. Accordingly, the impact of programs that enhance the college
participation of economically at risk students can potentially extend beyond
the students to affect entire families.
The major components of the program include three sequential on-campus
programs at Clemson University, beginning the summer after 9th grade. The
first summer for the "rising sophomores" will be a 1-week residential program
that will include baseline academic assessments, with emphasis on reading
and basic math skills, and experiential learning designed for self-confidence,
trust and collaborative learning development. The second summer for
"rising juniors" will be a 2-week residential program to re-evaluate basic
skills (reading, writing and math), and provide training in academic self-discipline
and standardized test skills. The third summer for the "rising seniors"
will be a 3-week residential program that simulates as closely as possible
the first 3 weeks of school for new college freshman. These students
are enrolled in 5 mini-courses (lab science, social science, art,
English and math). In addition, a series of workshops, seminars and feedback
sessions will be conducted for the students and/or their parents throughout
each school year, utilizing the resources available through the Extension
Service, alumni mentors, University student mentors, etc..
For more information on Emerging Scholars please see the following
pointers:
Clemson University's Emerging Scholars web site
In the news:
http://clemsonews.clemson.edu/WWW_releases/2005/March/Emergingscholars.html
Outreach Plan
The ‘digital divide’ continues to grow within the United States.
The problem is even more disturbing when high speed broadband Internet access
is considered. According to PEW, 24% of all Americans have high-speed
access at home however only 10% of rural Americans go online from home
with high-speed connections . Unfortunately, it is not difficult to
find counties in South Carolina where the penetration of broadband access
is significantly less than 10%. While this is in part due to availability
of broadband service in rural locations, a significant part of the explanation
involves the economic, educational and social barriers that impede rural families
from exposure to computers, information technology (I
T) and the Internet.
This proposal addresses the digital divide within South Carolina. By
leveraging the computer and IT skills of Clemson’s Computer Science Department
and the existing Emerging Scholars Program we can efficiently address the
core issues. We propose to develop and teach a set of computer related
skills courses to Emerging Scholars participants. To maximize this investment,
it is vital to have the participants share these skills with friends
and peers in their local school. Therefore, we further propose: 1)to
provide corporate donated laptops to each participating graduate of the proposed
computer training program ; 2)to train and facilitate program participants
to start computer clubs at participating schools; 3)to provide a computer
and software for each participating school.
The complete plan can be found here :
PLAN
Research Agenda
Validation
Back to Jim Martin's Home Page
last updated 6/11/2007