Section V: The Borough of Brooklyn

·  The Learning Café Project

1997-2000. $650,000. TIIAP (Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program), NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), Department of Commerce.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/tiiap/index.htm

According to the New York City Mayor's Advisory Task Force on CUNY:

"Improving public education at all levels is the most important public policy issue facing New York City, requiring CUNY and the New York City Public Schools to forge a new relationship." Executive Summary: An Institution Adrift: Report of the Mayor's Advisory Task Force on the City University. Clarion, vol. 28, n. 9, June, 1999, p. 3.

Brooklyn College's TIIAP Project, which concluded at the close of 1999/2000, helped to build this partnership, developing a foundation that can be used to expand the College's collaborative, leadership, and recruiting roles in Brooklyn high schools.

The Project not only provided Internet access to the four participating high schools, but also the means for the schools to begin to incorporate technology with instruction. Without the TIIAP Project, this goal would have been considerably delayed.
Improving teacher computer literacy was also an integral part of our Project.
TIIAP's support for creating Brooklyn College's first Web-based courses in turn benefitted our FIPSE Project: the experience of developing and delivering these Internet courses gave the FIPSE Faculty Developers a head start, assisting in the building of their Web modules.
The virtual Brooklyn courses also represent an excellent recruiting tool for the College, one that should be expanded and promoted.

·  Year 2 of the Learning Café Project Closes

The TIIAP Project began in the fall 1997 when Brooklyn College, four Brooklyn high schools (Midwood, Murrow, Tilden, and the Brooklyn College Academy), the City University of New York, and the College Board <http://www.collegeboard.org> formed a partnership supported by a $650,000 TIIAP grant to connect the schools to the Internet and develop Learning Cafés in each of them. The Project aimed to improve academic performance, graduation, and college enrollment rates. At the end of the Project's second year, evaluator Dr. Manuel Martinez-Pons of the School of Education reported that:

The program was successful in meeting its stated objectives. Attitudes toward computers in the learning setting were dramatically improved as a direct function of training in the use of the Web; and both the perceived usefulness of Web training and improvement in writing skills proved to be functions of the training the students received in the Learning Cafés.
This is the first time a program of this type has been tried in the field as a collaborative venture between a university and high schools. In the view of the evaluator, the diligence and responsiveness of the program's Principal Investigator (Barbra Higginbotham) and Coordinator (Miriam Deutch) resulted in very positive outcomes. The testimony of students that emerged during the focus group interviews was overwhelmingly positive.
It is recommended that future services involving Brooklyn College Web courses be offered directly to high school students, rather than via the public schools.
In summary, the Brooklyn College Learning Café Project, implemented at several high schools on a trial basis, has been successful. The concept and methodology of the Café have proven powerful ways of providing college-bound high school students with training in modern computer applications, Web browsing, and university-level distance learning.

·  Year 3 Begins

Owing to Project Coordinator Miriam Deutch's careful financial stewardship, some funds remained in our TIIAP grant at the close of Year 2. In late June, 1999, we applied for a 12 month extension and began planning for the 1999-2000 school year. In the Project's third and final year, we used some of the lessons learned from years one and two to shape the Project in these ways:

The grant continued to support Internet connectivity for all four schools.
The four original schools continued to offer the high school curriculum developed by Beth Evans and Diane Berardi (information literacy and the pre-Core writing/critical thinking courses).
The schools also used their Learning Cafés to deliver technology-assisted high school curricula developed by high school faculty.
Brooklyn College offered two Web-delivered courses, English 1 and Core Biology, to qualified high school seniors in twelve Brooklyn high schools, expanding the program four-fold. Students accessed the courses either through the Learning Cafés in their schools, or from equipment located in public libraries or their homes. Project Coordinator Miriam Deutch mounted an advertising campaign that included an attractive flyer <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/virtualcollege/> as well as posters. She followed the distribution of these promotional materials with telephone calls to teachers and guidance counselors, as well as PTA presidents. Student orientation was held on our campus on January 27, 2000. Students were required to come to campus only two more times during the semester: for their mid-term and final examinations. Instructors John Blamire and Diane Berardi of Brooklyn College believe that the TIIAP grant offered them the ability to learn an enormous amount about virtual teaching.
Project Coordinator Miriam Deutch created a kit that enables other schools to build Learning Cafés.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/initiatives/lcfranchise/

Among the Learning Café websites created by Brooklyn College faculty developers are:

http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~lori/TLC/tlc.htm
Lori Scarlatos
The Learning Café Project

http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~lori/TLC/tlc.htm
Beth Evans
Information Literacy

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/tiiap/diane/
Diane Berardi
Pre-Core Composition

http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/SDV2.html
John Blamire
Virtual Core 8.1: Biology: The Science of Life

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/virtual/core4.htm
Paul Halsall
The Shaping of the Modern World (Core Studies 4)

http://www.blackboard.com/courses/VE2933VE2934/
Diane Berardi
English I

·  The Brooklyn Transition Center

The Brooklyn Transition Center is an alternative high school that prepares students with learning disabilities for the workforce. This year, Research and Access Services hosted nine interns from the Transition Center: Elvis Coward, Shelwin Jones, Jessenia Maisonett, Denice Media, Leshawn Windfield, Patrice Williams, Scheron Williams, Joseph Williams, and Elvin Vecchini. Eight of these students picked up books left on tables and carrels in the Field and Roosevelt libraries, sorted books on carts to prepare them for shelving, dusted books and shelves, and stamped access cards with Library information. One student who is severely handicapped assisted the guard at the library entrance. The students were supervised by teacher and Brooklyn College graduate Lillian Greco.

The Audiovisual Center sponsored one intern, Malik Johnson, who assisted with the delivery and pick-up of audiovisual equipment. Harold Wilson, the AV manager, gave Mr. Johnson tremendous personal support, arranging tutoring for him in reading and math so that he could better develop his skills. Mr. Johnson is now signing up for a reading course with the adult literacy program here at Brooklyn College.