The University of Northern Kentucky proposes the Build it - Trust It - Use It ("BTU") demonstration project will, over a two year period, provide Hispanic teens in the Northern Kentucky / Southwest Ohio region with intensive hands-on family-centered training in computer information technology, with the aim of directing their long-term educational and career decisions toward the computer and information sciences. Faculty and students at Northern Kentucky University, drawn from majors such as Computer Information Technology, Computer Science, Social Work, and Spanish, will team up to serve as leaders of twelve-week workshops. Offered after hours and on weekends at a local Hispanic community center and on the university campus, these bilingual workshops will involve middle school students and their parents in informal but structured introductions to computer hardware and software. During the opening weeks of the workshop, families will work together to build their own personal computer from off-the-shelf components; individual computers provided free of charge by the program. Subsequent weeks will involve surveys of issues such as maintenance and troubleshooting, Internet usage, computer security, parental control, Hispanic-oriented web resources, and careers in computing. The program will engage Hispanic professionals from local corporations to serve as mentors in the program. Program teams will conduct and analyze surveys of participant attitudes toward IT before and after each workshop. It is expected that participating students will increase their technical knowledge and confidence in IT, as well as their interest in pursuing further education in the academic disciplines related to computing.
