SWAT Newsletter

Karen Cator, Director for the Office of Education Technology, congratulates Lucy, Chuck and Jessica for their efforts with the SWAT program!

January 25, 2010-Microsoft and the Corporation for National and Community Service Launch New Initiative to Promote Student Leadership in the Classroom - SWAT forms new Partnerships, read about it here.

AWARD Winning SWAT sites are announced!

Link to SWAT Purchase Order Invoice-PDF

March 2010-SWAT is in E-School News-Page 8, click here

Keep up with other SWAT news and announcements, visit the SWAT Blog

START Serving Now! Talk to me about how to integrate Service Learning with your SWAT programs.

Just in! Learn More about The Virginia Student Training and Refurbishment program (or VA STAR) is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Departments of Education and General Services to introduce Virginia's students to the field of IT repair.

Attention all Active SWAT Teams! SWAT Is Partnering with The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and Microsoft's US Partners in Learning to support model Student Technology Leadership Programs. If you are an Active SWAT Program and use Service Learning or Help Desk Models in your SWAT efforts please contact me ASAP for potential funding and Model Recognition. Contact lucyganfield@gmail.com for more information.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and Microsoft's US Partners in Learning have formed a public-private partnership. This partnership will support the use of technology to transform how people work together to meet critical needs in their schools and communities. United by the shared purposes of ensuring that students reach their full potential, pursuing innovation, and improving the quality of life for all, this significant collaboration joins the power of technology with the energy of young people to develop initiatives that strengthen teaching and learning across our nation.

In Development......online Moodle classes for SWAT Leadership Training, SWAT HomeSchooling, and Service Learning efforts.

If you are interested in these resources please contact me at lucyganfield@gmail.com

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Do what Chip is doing!

"Hi...I'm Chip Hoover, Technology Coach at William Penn Senior High School in York PA. Over the past couple of years I've been mildly interested in starting a student tech club here at the high school. Now, with a large influx of stimulus money I've become much more interested in getting our students engaged to assist with our staff next school year as they utilize the equipment that will be purchased over the summer. Your SWAT concept jumped out on my internet search and seems to be what I am looking for to involve our high school students."

SWAT is published in Principal Magazine!

Click here to read the article

Forest Park's SWAT program becomes the 'best practice' model for the State of Virginia!

2009! SWAT and Virginia STAR Partnership

The Virginia Student Training and Refurbishment program (or VA STAR) is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Departments of Education and General Services to introduce Virginia's students to the field of IT repair.

The ultimate goal of the VA STAR program is to create a sustainable educational program that takes surplus hardware from state agencies or private companies in order to offer students IT repair certification. By August of 2009, the VA STAR program will have initiated programs in ten schools throughout the Commonwealth. "Governor Kaine's vision for career and technical education is furthered by innovative collaborations that Forest Park has offered to lead," added Secretary Morris.
Join the SWAT Linked In Group at
http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/ 1808089/

SWAT is not bound to a single technology, it is timeless with no significant investment needed. It is a synergic tool which allows you to get the most out of your current technology investments.

Fall 2008

The International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology hosted by the Singapore Ministry of Education and ISTE, was fantastic! For more information http://www.ictlt.com/index. html

Great quotes from the conference; "Children are the messengers to a time we will never see" , "we must be co-learners with our students", "create dynamic interactions and deeper learning with your students", "students should be using technology to improve learning" and "we should not just build an information society but more importantly, a creative society."

I was inspired by Mitchel Resnick's Keynote about MIT's Scratch program and I endorse it as a wonderful tool for the SWAT program, so I started a forum at http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/ viewtopic.php?pid=61525#p61525 to support the SWAT creative society!

Read all about SWAT in T.H.E. Journal, February 2008, Volume 35, Number 2

"Triumph of the Nerds, How Geeks Became Chic" by John K.Walters www.thejournal.com

I am always interested in partnership and cross-marketing opportunities for my SWAT program. If you are interested, please contact me at lucyganfield@gmail.com

I will return to the US in October 2008 after living in Singapore for the past three years. I am presently seeking full or part-time contract and/or virtual work in Education Interactive, Content Development, and/or Online Training.

See my Linked In Profile

View Lucy Miller-Ganfield's profile

To Order ALL SWAT resources click here http://www.swatweb.net/materials.html

Ready now! The SWAT Assessment Tool Kit-Several Disposition and SWAT Integrated Standards Assessments, Rubrics, and much more, to use with your SWAT program. Order by email at lmganfield@gmail.com, purchase orders are welcome or pay now via Paypal

SWAT does it all! Anna Pollard, Technology Coordinator at East Garner Magnet School in Garner NC is Directing her SWAT Team to perform Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis. To see more of this model SWAT program click on the link.

http://www.eastgarnerms.inspiringteachers.com/swatclub_site.html

2008-Now Available! Technology TIP's For Children by TIP the computer character-EBook, 21 Published Colorful TIP articles for young children to enjoy, using Flip Album, reader included. to order click here http://www.swatweb.net/materials.html

TIP, (Technology Information Provider) (Singapore copyright 2007)a gender-neutral character who gives computer advice to children in Singapore, was featured in each issue of Reading Plus Magazine and is now in e-book learning format.

TIP's mission is to empower others with technology information and to promote Learning Values, Reading Literacy and Cooperative Learning through the use of Technology.

TIP ( Technology Information Provider)
Copyright 2007 Singapore

Technology Tips published by Lucy for Reading Plus and Snap Trap Magazine

Click on samples below or

to order the entire series on ebook click here

TIP Intro Issue TIP Homework Help

TIP Viruses TIP Cyberbully

Future Tech Trends
TIP -Brain Busters

TIP Issue Chat TIP Save and Back Up

** Order the SWAT Kit which includes the SWAT Camp Manual.

Now available! The SWAT Quick Guide and SWAT Overview PP Presentation.

Information Request! Joyce Lofstrom from Park Ridge, Ill would like to know if there is a SWAT program in the northwest suburbs of Chicago? She would like to work with other parents and administrators in District 207 to begin a SWAT program.

If you are interested in helping Joyce please contact her by email at joycelofstrom@hotmail.com

General News and Information

Posted December 2006 Read about Tomorrow's Leaders in the Infinite Thinking Machine Blog

U.S. Department Of Education Releases National Education Technology Plan

"There is a new fervor in American education and a new creativity that's being driven in part by this generation of tech-savvy students," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "We are already seeing some remarkable results, and I believe this trend bodes well for the future of our country. As the report noted, America's students are our ultimate constituents, and we need to listen to them."

Welcome New SWAT Registrants!

**Welcome EL Paso and San Antonio, Texas School Districts, and Sigourney and Cardinal Iowa School Districts, for your interest in developing district-wide SWAT programs.

El Paso adds on more SWAT Programs in their schools! Thank you!

Welcome Hamilton McElroy-St. Mary's Middle School, GA

Welcome John Staudacher-Wilkinsburg High, Wilkinsburg, PA.

Welcome Laura Ferrell-Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School, Oak Lawn, Illinois

Welcome Orange Grove Elementary Charter School, Charleston, SC

Welcome Marie Cassell, Cumberland Valley School District, Mechanicsburg, PA

Welcome Inglewood School District-George W. Crozier Middle School, CA

Welcome Chip Hoover, Wm Penn Sr. High, York, PA

Welcome Carol Welsh, Riverside Middle School, Dearborn Heights, MI

Welcome Alta Allen, Roper, NC

Wecome Bernadette Roche, Shawnee, Kansas

Welcome Jeremy Jorgensen, Minocqua, Wisconsin

Welcome Carrie Grogg, Cupertino Union School District, Cupertino, CA

Welcome Albert Bricker, St. James School, San Francisco, California

Welcome Anthony Johnson, Overton Elementary School, Salisbury, NC

Welcome Rebecca Woodley, North Drive Elementary, Goldsboro, NC

Welcome Kirk Magill, Kirk's Computer Works, Sigourney Iowa

Welcome Joyce Klepacki, St. Lucy Elementary, Campbell California

Welcome Debbie Novalski, Winding Creek Elementaty, Fredricksburg, Virginia
Welcome Candy McDonald, Southside Elementary, Lebanon, TN
Welcome Barbara Langley, Bear Lake Elementary, Apopka, Florida
Welcome Jeff Thungc, Student Technology Programs, Kent School District, Kent, Washington
Welcome David Pearson, Director of Technology, St. Thomas More Catholic High School, Louisiana
Welcome Frank Mosco, Director of Technology, Cardinal Hayes High School, NY
Welcome Noah Spranklin, Director of Technology, The Unquowa School, Fairfield, CT
Welcome Londa Posvistak, San Juan Capistrano, CA
Welcome Phil Zaubi, Porter-Gaud School, Charleston, SC
Welcome Chris Fondaw, Christian Unified High School, El Cajon, CA
Welcome Tom Radcliff, Logansport High School, Logansport, LA
Welcome Monroe County School District
Welcome Mrytle Grove Christian School
Welcome Luling Elementary School, Luling, Louisiana, Mr. Howat
Welcome Blessed Sacrament Regional School, Morgate, NJ., John Garrity
Welcome Star of the Sea School, San Francisco, CA., Brian P. Fordyce
Welcome North Callaway High School in Kingdom City, MO.
Welcome West Memphis Christian School. Ryan Sumner would like to know if there are any "active or want to be active" Arkansas SWAT programs in his state. Please contact him at rsummer@wmcs.com
Welcome Dana Greenburg at Celebration High School in Celebration, Florida!

March 2004

Read all about it!

Role reversal; Young tech wizards teach their teachers a thing or two

By Amanda Long, Special to the Chicago Tribune.
2 March 2004

Summer 2003

Digital Media Center “A+” Youth Learn the ’Ins and Outs’ of Computer Repair

While thousands of Chicago youth played softball, went to the beach, or played in parks, 16 students found an alternative way to spend their summer. They learned to build, repair, diagnose, and analyze computer hardware.

The SWAT (Students Working for the Advancement of Technology) program helps students learn valuable computer skills through the use of numerous problem sets, hands-on lab exercises, and field training. The SWAT program was conducted by the Digital Media Center (DMC) on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Each student gained both technical knowledge and troubleshooting skills. The DMC’s SWAT was modeled on the nationally recognized SWAT program founded by Ms. Lucy Miller. The mission of the nation program is to promote student leadership training, address technology competencies, provide outreach to the community program was modeled.

Chicago area middle and high school students who participate in SWAT were trained to become technology assistants and are identified as resources to assist their schools and communities by using their newly gained technical expertise.

The SWAT students received hands-on training in a rigorous environment for 6 weeks, with sessions running 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. They learned how to diagnose and repair defective parts, to load software, and to connect networks. They gained knowledge necessary to disarm viruses, and they even built web pages.

In addition, SWAT students learned the value of community service by repairing computers through our partnership with Chicago’s very own Time Dollar Tutoring Program, an organization that provides computers to disadvantaged Chicago residents.

In order to continue the students’ education, The DMC has strongly encouraged their respective schools to consider them for positions as Technology Assistants. With the vast knowledge they gained in the SWAT program, they are sure to be a valuable resource.

Some student comments about the program were: “It was fun and interactive,” “SWAT taught me parts of the computer that I didn’t know about,” and “I liked the experience of working in the Time Dollar program and learning to work with computers.”

The students showed marked improvement in their computer knowledge and skills. They have improved their test scores an average of 230% over the course of the program.

The SWAT program is proof that it is possible, with the right curriculum and instructors, to teach 10-16 year old students significant computer hardware knowledge in just one summer session.

“The Illinois Institute of Technology is proud to be a partner by offering the SWAT Program to Chicago youth and play a vital role of career exposure in the Chicago educational system. We want to help develop the next generation of computer engineers and scientists, I.T. professionals, and technicians,” says Kevin G. Smith, Associate Director of Community Outreach of IIT’s Digital Media Center.

IIT’s Digital Media Center, is working to create new trends in community technology equity and integration; co-locating access, programs, services, and content within the community where citizens gather. Its focus is to providing learning experiences for IIT undergraduate and graduate students via community service through programming and services to help improve lives in Bronzeville and all residents of the city of Chicago.

For more information on IIT - DMC programs, services, and partnership opportunities call (312) 567-8839 or visit us on the web at http://dmc.iit.edu.

IIT Summer Article

SWAT in Chicago

Lucy visits Sister Mary Therese Freyman at St. James School in Chicago on October 21st, 2002.

Candice (SWAT student) and Lucy speak at parents night about how SWAT members become strong student leaders in their school and community.

Pictured are Candice and Iman (SWAT student leaders with Lucy and Sister Mary Therese) and Candice with Sister Mary
Therese. Sister Mary Therese is opening up SWAT membership from grades 1-8 and has engaged her parent community to support
the outreach efforts at her school.

Look what happened in Summer 2002 with SWAT!

Cindy Newton and John Davis take SWAT to new dimensions!
They have demonstrated how SWAT can be a summer camp at the elementary and high school levels.

Hence, the "How To Start a SWAT Summer Camp Manual" will be developed this fall for other SWAT Leaders to replicate.
Also in development this fall is the "SWAT Kit".

Please see the following links to their SWAT Summer Camp Websites:

http://fayette.k12.in.us/eastview/swatcamp.htm

2002 Activities

Cindy Newton speaks on behalf of SWAT at the Indiana Computer Education on January 24th. (ICE) for more information about her SWAT efforts click on "SWAT Teams in Action" or click here:

Eastview SWAT

( North Carolina School of Math and Science)

NCSSM SWAT Program

SWAT Programs Update 1/2002
by Jon Davis
Coordinator, State Student Technology Initiative
The summer of 2001 was a busy time for my colleagues and me. We hosted the second annual Cyber Campus SWAT Camp and the first NCSSM Student Technology Symposium, providing training to more than 100 student technology leaders.. I am happy to report that these programs, along with the new TechLeader Digital Media Workshop, will be funded in 2002 by a new grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The TechLeader workshop will be targeted at technology coordinators and Cyber Campus managers who will be trained in the areas of web design, animation, video production, streaming media management and server administration. In addition, the workshop attendees will discuss supporting student programs like SWAT teams, student multimedia projects, and the projects of teachers who would like to develop multimedia web content.

For More SWAT information please visit:
http://www.dlt.ncssm.edu/now/newsletters/november01pagetwo.htm

2001 Activities

NCSSM ( North Carolina School of Math and Science)
SWAT Camp 2001 is the second annual summer technology camp for North Carolina high school students. Students attend the camp at one of seven CyberCampuses distributed throughout the state where they participate in live video conferences with technology professionals at the NC School of Science and Mathematics. The primary purpose of the camp is to provide training to existing SWAT teams that have been established at each of the CyberCampuses. However, the events is open to other students of the CyberCampus school and, depending upon the discretion of the CyberCampus manager, open to students from neighboring high schools. The camp, part of NCSSM's Education Future NOW project, is funded by a US Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant.

SWAT Student is Published!
Elliot Peele, president of the NCSSM Student SWAT Team will be published in the April issue of Leading and Learning with Technology. In the article, he shares his experiences of learning technology by teaching others and working on multimedia projects for the school.

Forest Park High School IT conference on May 2

Forest Park High School and SWAT sign partnership agreement.

Chuck Drake, IT Coordinator, Leads the way with his SWAT Program. The goal of the Students Working to Advance Technology (SWAT) program is to provide citizens and students of Prince William County with the opportunity to expand their technological skills and knowledge. SWAT is a collaborative effort of the IT technology program at Forest Park High School. SWAT is made up of students in the technology classes of A+ (Hardware), Cisco (Networking) and Learn and Serve (Volunteer)

For More information about their SWAT Team please visit:students.http://www.pwcs.edu/forestpark/SWAT%20page/index.htm
Forest Park High School

NOW Open!

The SWAT Store at Cafepress.com

Please visit the SWAT Store for your SWAT Team needs.