April 17, 2018 – Recent Santa Fe College IT graduates, Ronald Mills and Meghan Gertsch, in collaboration with Santa Fe College Blount Center, East Gainesville Instruction (EGI), and Community Code Inc., have started a technical community outreach project titled Empowering Education Through Technology. This project was born from an already existing EGI community effort that delivered refurbished SF computers to local community centers and churches in Alachua and Bradford counties. Collectively, in contemplating how to enhance that effort, Empowering Education Through Technology was born.
The main focus of Empowering Education Through Technology, styled E2T2, is the Train the Trainer program, which provides community members with important IT skills and empowers them to teach these skills in their local communities. The program is designed to provide core digital literacies which enhance opportunities to gain employment, strengthen underprivileged communities, foster technological awareness, and imbue empowerment. This past weekend, E2T2 ran their pilot for the Train the Trainer program at the SF Blount Center. Topics covered were basic lab maintenance, creating a Gmail account, utilizing Google Drive and the benefits of cloud storage, the importance of responsible digital citizenship, and uploading resumes to the Employ Florida database.
The final Train the Trainer pilot was held April 14th, 2018. Future Train the Trainer programs are currently in motion. E2T2 anticipates this first pilot train the trainer will impact more than 100 lives in Alachua and Bradford counties. In addition, this past year 58 computers were donated to communities in need. The next round of computer deliveries will begin during the upcoming summer term.