Through Reinventing Education, IBM and the Detroit Public Schools are working together to strengthen the connections between home, school and community in order to better support student learning.
Riverdeep Learning Village was initially implemented in public housing developments and the schools that serve their residents. Parents who lived in the developments were trained on the technology and provided with access to computers during the day and night to communicate with their children's teachers on homework assignments, performance, and other education issues. Because communication is asynchronous, parents could ask teachers questions about their children's progress at any time and from anywhere, and teachers could respond back in both a timely and convenient manner.
Since its launch, the project has expanded to 14 additional schools and seven other nonprofit organizations and churches as access points for parents. Technology training has progressed within the schools through the train-the-trainers concept, where experienced teachers instruct newly participating teachers. Parents also are trained in this manner.
In an interesting development of the partnership, the teachers and students within a Detroit elementary school are using Riverdeep Learning Village to communicate with their peers in a school in Mitaka, Japan. This project is allowing cross-cultural sharing and learning for both teachers and students. |
