Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES
(310) 944-3655
[email protected]
Borderlink and Generation Y Impact the Lives of High School Students Through Technology
El Centro, California � June 18, 2003 � Generation YES, Inc. and the Borderlink project today announced a 2-year partnership to teach local students how to provide professional development and technical support for Borderlink hardware and programs. Borderlink, a federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, will incorporate two Generation YES programs to ensure the long-term sustainability of their successful project. Generation Y � also a former federal Technology Innovation Challenge grant project, will teach students to provide support to the teachers in their schools using the Borderlink school technology services. Generation TECH, also based on the exemplary Generation Y model of student involvement, will provide training for student-based technology support of the Borderlink hardware.
"Generation Y and Generation TECH are proven programs that provide cost-effective ways to sustain the success of Borderlink. Borderlink provides essential technology and services to our most remote schools and underserved students. As our technology challenge grant comes to a close, we determined that the best plan for sustaining its continuing mission was to incorporate the exemplary Gen Y model of student involvement," said Todd Finnell, Director of Borderlink and the Learning Technologies Department of the Imperial County Office of Education. "We believe that with student involvement, we can both maintain the equipment and keep the mission of Borderlink alive for years to come."
Long-term Sustainability
"Sustainability is a key issue for grant programs because it can be difficult to continue innovative programs and services when the funding ends" said Cheryl Garnette, Director of Technology in Education Programs for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement which administers the technology discretionary grant programs. "Having two successful grant programs like Generation Y and Borderlink partner to provide sustaining services for underserved students beyond the terms of their grant funding is exactly the kind of effort that we intended to spark with the seed money from the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant program. States can benefit from the projects to model, expand or refine opportunities for other students, teachers and administrators."
Increased Need, Reduced Budgets
Even as more technology makes its way into schools, schools and districts have to make do with smaller budgets for teacher training and technology support. Although many schools use students to provide ad hoc support as technology aides or tech support assistants, Generation YES provides comprehensive, research-based curriculum, tools and training to ensure that the impact is positive, academically enriching, with significant cost-savings over traditional methods of technology professional development and tech support.
These innovative programs use an overlooked resource, students, to help teachers bring classrooms into the 21st century. By teaching students how to use technology skills to help teachers, both students and teachers benefit. The collaboration between teachers and students improves the use of technology in schools by providing time-starved teachers with the ongoing support they need for creating technology infused lessons and making sure that school equipment is in working order.
Generation Y
Generation Y has won awards and national acclaim since its introduction in 1996 as a federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. Hundreds of schools in the United States have implemented Generation Y classes, and extensive research has demonstrated the program�s effectiveness in improving student learning and changing teacher practice in the use of classroom technology. More effective than traditional forms of professional development for teachers, years of evaluation and research studies demonstrate that teachers, students, and taxpayers benefit from this model.
Generation TECH
Created as a companion to Generation Y, this model of student technical support services is especially timely in the current budget climate. Providing schools with an academically rigorous model, complete with professional development, curriculum, and assessments, Generation TECH moves student technology programs beyond �just helping out� to an essential school service that can save schools time and money while simultaneously providing 21st century workplace skills to students.
The BorderLink Project
The BorderLink Project is a Technology Innovation Challenge Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project is designed to impact the lives of the high school students of Imperial and rural San Diego Counties through the use of technology in education. By removing barriers to post-secondary opportunities for rural, under-served students through the use of technology, Borderlink will increase the number of students who qualify for universities and highly skilled careers.
Over the past 3 years, Borderlink has placed state-of-the-art technology in schools to support these goals.
- Use of computers, fiber optic technology, mobile technology vehicles, mobile video production vehicle, videoconferencing, web-delivered resources
- In-depth professional development in technology, and use of technology for other subjects
- Delivery of advanced courses and test preparation for students
- Student counseling services including detailed college information and guidance
- Tutoring and mentoring by university students
- Career awareness and training learning modules
Generation YES, Inc.
Generation YES, Inc. works with schools all around the world to plan, implement and enhance student technology programs through consulting, innovative curriculum and research-based support services. (https://www.genyes.org)
For more information:
Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES
(310) 944-3655
[email protected]
Press Release site: https://www.genyes.org/news/0603
Generation YES site: https://www.genyes.org
Generation Y program information site: https://www.genyes.org/products/geny
Generation TECH program information site: https://www.genyes.org/products/gentech
Borderlink: https://www.borderlink.org/
