School: Yung-an Elementary School
    Taitung, Taiwan, Taitung

9 students, ages 11-12 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 14, 2007. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2004,2005,2006

Classes and Teachers: Neng-mu Shih, Ke-ming Lin, Wu-yi Shen

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.yaps.ttct.edu.tw

1. Description of Our Community

Luyeh Township Yung-an Village is situated on the southern mountain slope at the Huatung Rift Valley. The residents here farm for a living and the main crops are tea, pineapple, bananas. Life here is not a bed of roses. In terms of education, due to the remoteness and inconvenience of this area, information is scarce and the students here lack stimulants to learn. Economy wise, due to the implementation of a 2 days weekend, this place is gradually converting itself from traditional agricultural industry to tourism industry, hoping to taste a glimpse of success and survive in this world.

2. Summary of Our Project

“Shu-gen the name often reminds me of going back to my hometown!” Entrepreneur Mr. Shu-gen Li is from Luyeh Township Yung-an Village. His corporate headquarters is in Tucheng, Taipei County, with a factory being set up in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. He is currently basking in the glory of success after a monumental struggle and hardship. Due to his love and passion towards his native land, he started donating fund to his former school Yung-an Elementary School 20 years ago in order to help them set up a scholarship program to reward students with outstanding achievement. More recently, he even started to invest his time and effort in the operation of Bed and Breakfast in Yung-an Village in order to boost his homeland tourism industry, this according to him is his mission to “acknowledge this little piece of land in Taitung”. Through this project, we wish to learn more about this paragon alumna, to experience the process of his struggle and his persisting intention to give something back to his homeland. And with the help of the internet, we hope that more people can share his success and enjoy his amazing journey.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We have only one computer room which is shared by the whole school; there are 16 personal computers with Microsoft NT LAN. Our LAN is connected via an ADSL network cable to TANet, which is linked to the world, so we were always there to do our research, data gathering and reports sending. When it is after school hours, most of us can’t contribute much as there are only 3 of us have computers at home who can continue the project.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

1. We arranged a majority of our research activities during the holidays. However, most of the kids’ families are farmers, thus more often than not their parents demanded them to stay home and help out with the chores during those holidays. This always led to a highly inconsistent attendance rate during the holidays and the situation worsened during the winter. Though we have communicated with the parents regarding our problem, we couldn’t really force the children to come to school during the holidays due to family reason. 2. Our rendezvous with Mr. Shu-gen Li was often short lived and time constraint due to his business operation in Taipei and China, thus phone calls and emails are the only options to communicate with him.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Throughout the interview with Mr. Shu-gen Li, he kept emphasizing his appreciation and gratitude towards the things and people around him, thanking them for their support and encouragement. Thus when he had the opportunity and ability to give something back to the society, he would offer all his effort to create a beneficial society. And he also expressed his gratitude towards us for giving him the chance to be part of this project and he firmly believes “Give is more enjoyable than take”.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The primary subject of the Cyberfair category “Local Leaders” we enrolled in is Mr. Shu-gen Li, it is closely related to the courses of Grade 1-9 Curriculum such as “Social Studies”, “Miscellaneous Activities-Native Studies” and “Information Studies”. In “Social Studies”, there’s a segment which touch on the development of our homeland and through this project we can further understand this aspect and we can also learn from Mr. Shu-gen Li the social development of Taiwan and his payback towards the community. In “Miscellaneous Activities-Native Studies”, we learnt about the ethnic groups and economy productivity of Luyeh Township Yung-an Village, this provides us with the hands on knowledge we need to construct our database. Computers are an essential part of our lives. Whether it’s at school or during any activities, we have many IT courses and we would utilize our acquired IT knowledge to access the web and enjoy the convenience of the internet, we can use them to obtain information, communicate with other people, and compile data, all in a speedy and efficient manner.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

Equipment Purpose Digital Camera To capture images we need Digital Video Camera To shoot interviews process Scanner Scan photos into computer Recorder An important tool during the interviews with Mr. Shu-gen Li and the local residents Computers Search for data, design questionnaires, w\design webpage and communicate with Mr. Shu-gen Li via email Printer To print out questionnaires Cell Phones Contact parents to set up interview schedule Fax Machine To relay information Library Search for relevant information Live Interview Interview local residents, Mr. Shu-gen Li and other related information.

Software Purpose Word 2000 Draft interview sheet, data sorting PowerPoint 2000 Draft learning sheet, gather information Frontpage 2000 Webpage design PhotoImpact 8.0 Interview photos processing FlashMX Create animation InterNet Data searching

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

During our interview process with Mr. Shu-gen Li, we realized that his massive contributions towards the community and most of the residents here were showering him with praises and acknowledgement. He provides safety, ensures security and improves the standard of living for Yung-an Village by contributing funds, facility and equipment to the patrol teams and development of the community. Mr. Shu-gen Li also established a scholarship scheme at the Yung-an Elementary School to encourage diligent learning and reduce the financial burden of the parents. Through our website, the public would aware that “everyone could make a contribution regardless of the wealth” is a noble way to payback the homeland and unite the loyalty of the people of Yung-an Village.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

At the initial stage of this project, we have established a common consensus among the team members to respect the intellectual property rights of other people. However, for the information and knowledge that we gathered through interviews and research, we are willing to share them with the world unconditionally and hopefully people can use them wisely to accumulate more wisdom and create more knowledge. All the information in our project website is primarily based on the interviews we conducted and what we gathered from the field, with data we searched from the web as the secondary information. Besides giving credit and quoting the source of our information, we have also consolidated all the websites we browsed through for information and displayed them in the website and showed our appreciation to the various website creators in allowing us to complete the project smoothly.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Participants Items Percentage Students 1. Interview potential target or related individuals 2. Image shooting and process 3. Recording and arrangement of interview contents 4. Discuss and draft interviews outline 5. Write progress report 6. Data searching on the web 25% Directing teachers 1. To convene working group meeting 2. Data generalization and analysis 3. Webpage guidance and collation 4. Outline project name and scheme 5. IT skills counseling 6. Webpage creation 15% Volunteer teachers ---- Computer Workshop, Department of Art and Crafts Education, National Taitung University 1. Assist in interviews data management 2. Assist students in web designing skills 3. Website creation 10% Mr. Shu-gen Li 1. Taking interviews 40% Information and support provided by parents and community 10% http://www.yaps.ttct.edu.tw/e9/9-1.html

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

Mr. Shu-gen Li proudly showed us the scars on his limbs. He doesn’t think that they are ugly, for him it’s a humble reminder of the hardship he went through as an apprentice.