Digital Service Fellows Program (DSF) meets the growing demand for full-time technology support for teachers and students throughout the School District of Philadelphia. Through mentoring and training, this innovative twelve-month fellowship program offers recent high school graduates the opportunity to gain new skills in information technology while providing just-in-time technology support to schools and teachers, as well as afterschool technology clubs for students.
Now in its fourth year with 15 Fellows, the DSFprogram serves as a vital resource. Annually, DSF members visit more than 225 schools, service more than 3,000 computers, set up 10-20 computer labs, conduct virus eradication and install protection, and save the District an average of $225,000 - $300,000 in service fees.
DSF are possible through a public/private partnership initiated by the School District of Philadelphia with EducationWorks, and funding from Apple Computer, Inc., Nortel Networks Corporation, Lexmark, Kaplan Education Services, OKI Data, Fast ForWord, Micro Technology Group, Berean Institute, and Microsoft.
How It Works
The DSF team is managed by the District's Educational Technology Group. Following the initial "Technology Boot Camp Training", Fellows work alongside School District of Philadelphia Regional Computer Maintenance Technicians, who serve as coaches and mentors, enabling the Fellows to acquire valuable professional and technical skills on the job. Under their guidance, the Fellows gain immediate assistance in performing their daily tasks. This role and mentoring relationship benefits both the Fellows and the Technicians. While the Fellows learn the ins-and-outs of the profession from their mentors, as well as through weekly trainings preparing them for the industry's A+ certification exams, it extends the range of the Technicians allowing them to service more computers and respond to more Help Desk tickets.
The Fellows fill the role of "troubleshooter" within the District. Everyday, assignments vary depending on the immediate as well as planned needs of the region. Four days a week, members provide direct IT service to students, staff and schools based on Help Desk Requests and the priorities of the region. In addition to providing basic telephone support and troubleshooting, Fellows travel to schools within their assigned region to:
• Provide first level support to schools and teachers on hardware and software issues;
• Assist users with instruction in use of computer software and hardware; and
• Perform special projects as required by the IT Office such as inventory, PC/Mac setup/assembly, and placing safeguards on all computer lab equipment to prevent them from being rendered unusable.
Fellows also conduct special projects to support student work and learning. In most projects, the Fellows are now in the shoes of "trainer/mentor" passing on their knowledge and skills. Students learn new software applications, the basics of computer operation, and how to access and work with web sites for school research.
2006-07 Highlights
SOPHOS Anti-Virus Deployment: over 2½ months the Fellows deployed new anti-virus software to the over 40,000+ fleet of District computers. Without a centralized server in place to push out the software, Fellows completed the project by renaming every computer, deleting the old software, and adding the new software.
Digital Miracles Project: In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Service Learning Alliance (PSLA) 25 Gratz High School students and community members attended a 40 hour after school computer instruction project. They learned to identify basic hardware components, the operating system, and how to install a modem. Students also refurbished a second computer for an identified community member or non-profit organization. As a closing final activity, students prepared and presented Power Point presentations to their family members, outlining the refurbishing process and providing a quick computer tutorial.
Youth Workforce Development: DSFs designed and facilitated classes around the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) certification for Out-of-School Youth Workforce Development participants. The ICDL is a recognized certification in the business environment demonstrating they are able to use end-user software such as word processing or spreadsheets.
Youth Workforce Development Summer Program: DSFs provided 3 trainings to prepare students for creating a podcast and an iMovie on gun violence in Philadelphia . The three trainings included Internet Research, Audio Recording – Podcasting, and Video Recording – iMovie.
Middle School Computer Fair: DSFs created 30 minute workshops for students while the judges were evaluating the computer fair projects. Activities included demonstrations on how to use Garageband, iMovie, and iPhoto. Additionally, they set up 2 networking rooms, and a fun room where students played computer games.
Training
All Fellows begin service in late summer with three days of AmeriCorps training concentrating on service professionalism, program development, and working with students and in schools. They then attend extensive training at the "Technology Boot Camp" focusing on computer hardware maintenance and repair, computer networking, customer service skills, and technical training skills. Additional training continues one day each week throughout the year to build more advanced skills and the concepts contained in the A+ certification exams taken at the end of the year:
Applecare Helpdesk Essentials
International Computer Driving License (ICDL) 7-module training in Basic IT Concepts, Managing Folders and Files, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases, Presentations, Emailing and Communication
