School: Tzu-Chi College of Technology
    Hualien, , Taiwan

5 students, ages from 17 to 18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 30, 2002. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s):

Classes and Teachers: Feng Shen

E-Mail contact:

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

1. Description of Our Community

Our school is located at the end of Hualien City’s Chien-kuo road in Hualien City. The school area is wide open, next to the mountains and facing the Pacific Ocean. Grass grows abundantly, the air is pure, and the scenery is like a painting. Combine this environment with the complete educational facilities and you have a perfect academic environment for students to settle into, far from the dust and noise of the city.

2. Summary of Our Project

Since Tzu-Chi originated in Hualien, its many Missions have brought hope and prosperity to this region’s every corner. In order to completely understand this Tzu-Chi Foundation, we have chosen to deal with the nearby Tzu-Chi Technical Institute as our first step along the way to comprehending Tzu-Chi and its ideal of saving others through compassion. The Institute is a highly refined place. It has strongly promoted Aboriginal culture and built a beautiful campus, and it is a school with a tzu-cheng (love and sincerity) yi-te (goodness and virtue) committee system. Thus, we take the Institute as our research topic and aim to reach an in-depth understanding.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:none

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

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

Our school use T1 to get onto the Tanet (Internet). It is not so quick and convenient whether to send out or download information. But it is the only way we can do best. One of us can get onto the Internet at home, if we went home on holiday. But the speed is quite lower.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We only decided to attend this competition in the first week of March, so time was tight: we had to finish all the tasks, which should have been spread out by normal procedure, at the same time. We also suffered a lack of human resources, so everyone had a lot of work and pressure. The most difficult thing was translating from Chinese into English as our English level is not high enough. However, we have worked hard at translating and have searched all over for a person with good English skills to help. We will finish for sure.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

“Learning through work and working to learn.” It just likes what Master Cheng Yen is always telling us: “Just do it!”

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

First, through exploration, we understood many aspects of the school, from the process of its founding to community development and the humane education of its students. We learned about the teaching methods and materials used at Tzu-Chi, and how this teaching process teaches students about many new people, events, and things. We discovered that only reading about it on paper is meaningless, so we went into the community to come in contact with people and things. Through this Cyberfair activity, we came to understand better a side of the school that not very many people know about. Second, we are happy about the help this project gave our writing, interviewing, and data organization abilities. We had individual tasks but there were also things completed through group cooperation. Specifically, we learned through this competition how to communicate with companions and proceed with research, and how vitally important and irreplaceable—and enjoyable—cooperation is in daily life tasks.

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

．Oral Interviews：Personally visited the Dean, teachers, and students, in order to understand more ．Internet：Looked up websites and communicated with even more web-friends via BBS ．Books and magazines：Read school publications and books on Aboriginal culture ．Sound recorder：Recorded interviews and wrote them out as Word documents–these formed reference information ．Digital camera：Used the digital camera to capture the images we needed ．Scanner, printer：Used the scanner to input images and the printer to produce relevant materials ．Telephone：Got in contact with interviewees over the telephone ．Computer software：FrontPage2000, Word2000, PhotoImpact6, ACDSee, Babylon Translator, WS_FTP, NotePad, Kkman.,…

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

We personally interviewed the Dean, teachers, and students, and we used the telephone to contact some student club executive members. Before the interviews, we explained what we were doing and let everyone know what a meaningful activity the International Schools Cyberfair 2002 was. Then we proceeded to ask the interviewees to provide relevant information (actually, we also exchanged information). The teachers and students were happy for us and hoped everyone would be able to learn more. We used e-mail to ask our many good friends to cheer us on and help us to enjoy great success.

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

Before the activity, we did not pay much attention to the school’s Humanities education,hospital volunteers and aboriginal culture etc. Tzu-chi Humanitarianism is build up by many, things. After the students came to this school, they were influenced by the environment and were used to them until they graduated. Many things were used to them and if you were to ask why did they do that, the answer you will often get is ‘habbit’.They used to have the thought that it is only getting the time flies when you do volunteer work at the hospital. And when our surrounding people realized that we have participated in this competition, like building the website, questioning the crowds, gathering information from the teachers and students, they learnt more things when they browse our website. They have a deeper understanding about the humanities education,social care, Tzu-chi Humanitarianism and many more culture education.

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

We are extremely grateful to the Dean, to Yu Jung and Teacher Yi Wen of the Humanities Office, and to the representatives of this school’s student clubs. The Dean explained every aspect of the school’s development, Yu Jung and Yi Wen offered relevant information concerning the promotion of Aboriginal culture and community service, and the club representatives explained club activities and community service. Thank you to everyone for giving us so much valuable information, which has been a great help to our research project. This team is putting all its energy into the competition!

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

During the activities, we learned a lot of valuable lessons. Everybody learned the preciousness of time, how you have to complete matters before the deadline! We also saw how important a group’s cohesiveness is, and how you have to have the ability to act before you can do things effectively. In the end, group unity equals power. This competition also helped us better understand the school and how hard it works to improve its students. What moved us the most was all the types of volunteering, which were opportunities for growth for everybody: listening to patients complaining of their pain, carefully making “Lucky and Wise” Red Envelopes (containing money for those in need), helping the earth by recycling, putting our energy together to raise charity funds. Through each of these activities, you could bring out your heart of goodness and cultivate thankfulness for your whole life…and this is just the same love attitude the school has for its students.