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1. Description of Our Community
Taipei Municipal Changan Elementary School is located Zhongshan District and south of the downtown Taipei City. School is closed to the business district and has convenient transportation. There are Songjiang-Nanjing MRT Station and Jilin-Nanjing bus Station. Junyi Academy is located on Qingdao East Road near the Legislative Yuan building. The route from our school to the foundation is pretty convenient. From Songjiang Nanjing Station to Shandao Temple station by MRT followed by a short walk. One can choose to take bus route 307 and get off at the old city council building on Zhongshan North Road. Either way, the foundation is within walking distance.
2. Summary of Our Project
junyi Education Platform is a free education platform which is designed to 1.Help children of underprivileged families or who live in rural areas by improving learning environment; and 2.Allow students to learn at their own pace.Given that this platform is free of charge, would be society endorse and support such platform? This platform helps reduce the difference in the education resources between provinces, ethnic groups and income classes. We want to increase the awareness of the public about the positive impact brought by the Junyi platform and, hence, the number of users. Taiwan needs equality and supreme education resources which are reflected in the name “Junyi”. We want to bring the resources to those who need them. One can carry them wherever he or she goes.
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: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 teacher built the Changan CWSC web platform for us to upload and update data as well as handing in assignments. When we had no time to meet together, we also used the website discussion forum to discuss. Our teachers also let us use the computers in the classroom of gifted students during lunch and recess to complete our study progress.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
The course of Interviews We run into a lot of difficulties especially during interviews. The interviewee had quite a number of last minute suggestions that consumed considerable amount of time. We couldn’t run through the original list of questions. In spite of that, we’ve learned to improvise in such situations. The team worked together in resolving the difficulties and obtained quite a sense of achievement. The pleasant experience strengthened the ties among team members. Data compilation Tiding up and consolidation of information gathered in the study were difficult tasks for primary 4 pupils, e.g. merging a few articles into one seemed beyond our capabilities and like an ordeal. Apart from adding up data resulted from the questionnaire based survey and the subsequent analysis, we had to discuss the significance of the various charts and the summary. It really took time especially during the beginning. After spending time and effect, we had gradually gained more momentum. The team initially has segregated the tasks and planned to wrap up the output together. We found that we become more effective as we went forward which symbolizes the growth of the team during the course of the study. Teamwork Teamwork is key. Every team member has to perform his own duty first and together we can be more effective. We didn’t worry about the workload but where to begin. During the past 6 months, we’ve participated in the planning and executing the study that includes interview, navigating the platform, webpage production etc. All six team members have practiced teamwork which brought this study to completion.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
During the course of the study, we’ve identified 3 corner stones of the platform that we consider extraordinary. Firstly, the platform has to appeal to children. Apart from being eye-catching, the platform has to enable transfer of knowledge. If such vehicle is effective, it may induce in the children habit of self-learning. Secondly, creation of the platform was a real challenge. Apart from the huge cost of operations and professional technical support, the platform has to develop its value, accrue its own resources and, from a different perspective, its uniqueness. Thirdly, free of charge usage is a unique attribute of Junyi but also a bondage. If it weren’t due to the passion of the management team in social services, the platform would not have come up regardless of the amount of supporting fund.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
The content of the interview must be shown in text. Interviewees sometimes used jargon or reserved words that are difficult to comprehend or differentiate. It was a real challenge for us. The questionnaire should emphasize key points and expressed our ideas. Good command of spoken language was required for interviews. One must not stutter or be nervous. We had to calculate in advance the amount of time, the routes and the transportation fees. The survey analysis requires abilities such as data tabulation, chart reading and interpretation. Through the visit to Junyi Academy, we get to visualize something that carries really significance to the society. We feel the open arms and the warmth. We wholeheartedly endorse the free education platform and the effort behind it. When I saw the photos taken at the foundation, I realize that good posture and smile are so important. Some of us didn’t like being photographed and posed funny faces which really look indecent. Such photos will have to go through further processing before being put on the webpage and the final brief.
We used computer for many tasks, such as questionnaire and interview transcripts. Also, we use camera, audio recorder for recording images and interviews which become logs of our study. At the same time, we made good use of tablets for questionnaire based survey. Together with cloud storage services, we took advantage of forefront technologies for the study which was somehow in line with Junyi’s delivery model. Everyone had to use its best maneuver and made sure things were done on time and to the right standard. If one doesn’t do so, the progress of the whole team would have been affected. For the whole team, everyone had to have a sense of calling and took initiative. During the course of the study, we put together a lot of elements which make the whole thing fun and comprehensive.
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