University of Michigan - Flint

Project Stream:  2005 - 2006

Project Stream - 2005-2006
Furthering its commitment to help strengthen nonprofits that serve people of all backgrounds and needs, the SBC Foundation - the philanthropic arm of SBC Communications Inc. -announced it has awarded a $44,250 SBC Excelerator technology grant to the University of Michigan-Flint.  http://www.sbc.com/gen/corporate-citizenship?pid=7414&state=Michigan

The grant title is "Project Stream" and the funding will support the development of instructional streaming videos for parents, teachers, faculty, and students. The videos will be on the Internet and will be available 24/7.

"The instructional streaming videos produced by this project will help parents, teachers, and students to enhance educational success," said Jack Kay, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

UM-Flint will be partnering with Lake Fenton Schools, GISD and Grand Blanc Schools in undertaking this project.

"We are very grateful to SBC for their generous support of our sponsored projects. This is a win-win arrangement for us as we try to achieve our mission of reaching our community in general and our local K-12 institutions in particular," said Vahid Lotfi, associate provost and dean of graduate programs.   read full story

Several ITS staff will be involved in setting up a streaming video server and a database plus a web site to showcase the videos.  ITS staff will also work with staff in the Office of Extended Learning to utilize UM-Flint's ITV room to videotape lectures.

. . . posted November 10, 2005

Projects for 2003-2004

In October 2003, UM-Flint’s Informational Technology Services received an $11,000 SBC Excelerator grant ( Read Full Story ) to form a partnership with Lake Fenton Schools to provide web design training to the district’s faculty and staff.  The Information Technology Services staff members will be providing all of the training, equipment delivery and set up of equipment as related to this grant.   For further information, please read the May 16, 2004, article in The County Times titled "Grant allows LF teachers individual Web sites" (PDF format).

• Project 1 - Lake Fenton Teachers continue Web Development Training
  
  Teachers from West Shore Elementary and Torrey Hills Middle School will received advanced web development training, held on November 15, 2003.
   
• Project 2 - Lake Fenton Teachers begin Web Development Training
  
  Lake Fenton teachers from all three schools (West Shore Elementary, Torrey Hills Middle School, and Lake Fenton High School) received basic web development training, held on January 24, 2004.
  
• Project 3 - Lake Fenton Schools receive equipment
  
  NEW equipment will be delivered to Lake Fenton Schools as part of the funding provided from this grant.  The elementary and middle school will each receive a new laptop computer, data projector and digital camera to support and promote the new websites funding as a part of this grant.
   
• Project 4 - Lake Fenton Teachers continue Web Development Training
  
  Lake Fenton teachers from all three schools (West Shore Elementary, Torrey Hills Middle School, and Lake Fenton High School) received advanced web development training on August 10, 2004.

Projects for 2002-2003

• Project 1- Lake Fenton Teachers Create Classroom Websites and Receive Web server
  
  West Shore Elementary School in the Lake Fenton School District received a web server, in March 2003, compliments of the SBC/UM-Flint grant endeavor.  The UM-Flint Information Technology Services (ITS) staff assisted with installing the server which houses teacher-made websites.  ITS staff trained the elementary teachers from West Shore in web design.  These classroom web sites are now live on the school's new web server.
  
  In addition, 14 teachers and one principal from Torrey Hills Middle School in Lake Fenton are developing classroom web sites.  In June 2003, they participated in the basic web development training offered by ITS staff. 
  
  ITS staff presented details about this initiative to the West Shore Elementary School PTA on 1/8/04 and the Torrey Hills Middle School/Lake Fenton High School PTSA on 1/20/04. 
  
  SBC's Excelerator grant awarded in October 2003 will facilitate continued training:
• Torrey Hills Middle School teachers received advanced web development training on November 15, 2003.
• Lake Fenton High School teachers received basic web development training on January 24, 2004.
• Teachers from all Lake Fenton schools will receive advanced web development training, planned for August 10, 2004.
  
  
• Project 2: Partnership is Created Between PTA's from Lake Fenton School District and Grand Blanc School District
  
  The Grand Blanc School District has an extremely successful fund raising program called GBSCRIP (www.gbscrip.com).  This program has brought in approximately $120,000 in profit thus far!  In order to bring this successful fundraising program to the Lake Fenton School District, U of M Flint SBC grant committee members established a program in which PTA reps from both districts met for training purposes.
  
  It takes numerous volunteers to run this fundraising program and instead of reinventing the wheel in Lake Fenton School District, they took advantage of the obtaining tips and tricks from the Grand Blanc Schools GBSCRIP/PTA coordinators.  Due to the coordination planned by UM-Flint and funding from the SBC grant,  the Lake Fenton School District will launch a scrip fundraising program during the fall of 2003! 
  
  
• Project 3- High School Students Act as Onsite Technicians for the LWL grant
  
  Fifteen High School Students from both the Flint Community Schools and Bendle Public Schools were trained to act as onsite technicians for the 675 wireless laptops that were provided as a part of the LWL grant.
  
  UM-Flint ITS staff trained these high school students, many of which were graduates of the Computer Systems Specialist Program, to troubleshoot technical problems related to the numerous wireless laptop carts.  These onsite technicians have proven to be invaluable assets to both technical staffs of the Flint and Bendle Districts.
  
  
• Project 4- Palm Pilot training for Grand Blanc High School teachers
  
  Six Grand Blanc High School teachers received training on the usage and infusion of the Palm pilot into their everyday instruction.  These teachers worked with several members of the ITS- U of M Flint staff to learn tips and tricks on utilizing these handheld devices in an effective manner to promote innovation in technology.  This project was very necessary since two groups of thirty students in the high school received Palm pilot handheld computers.  In order to meet the immediate need put before the teachers, U of M Flint organized an onsite training to prepare them.
  
  
• Project 5- High School Students Create Websites for Local Small Businesses
  
  Five Grand Blanc Community Schools High School students have been working with UM-Flint mentors to create websites for local small businesses.  This project will be completed by March of 2003, however, click below for a preview of their work thus far:
• Jemerson Sewing web site created by GBHS student Colin Clark
  http://www.jemersonsewing.com/    
• Flint Watershed web site created by GBHS student Anthony Byram
  http://www.flintriver.org/dev/  
• Flint Urban and Gardening Land Use Committee web site created by GBHS graduate Craig Beardslee
  http://studentsbc.umflint.edu/

 . . . November 10, 2005

The SBC (Ameritech) grant was first awarded in 1999 to train teachers in using web technology in the classroom and communicating electronically with parents.  Initially, the project engaged teachers in the Grand Blanc and Lapeer school districts.  In October 2000, the SBC project expanded to include the Flint Community Schools in a program designed to train students in hardware and software technical support, the Computer Systems Specialist (CSS) Program.   In January of 2003, the project expanded to include Lake Fenton School District as they receive web-related training opportunities.   In October 2003, SBC awarded an Excelerator grant to continue the Lake Fenton project.

The CSS Program consisted of a series of hands-on training sessions conducted in ITS labs and on site at the schools.  Certificates have been awarded to students upon successful completion of the CSS program:

• Eleven students in December 2000 (all from Flint)
• Ten students in April 2001 (six from Flint and four from Grand Blanc)
• In Fall of 2001 and Winter of 2002, twenty-six middle and high school students from Flint and nine high school students from Grand Blanc completed the program.