The purpose of the Internet Kids Workshops is to provide the participants
with access to technology outside of the school setting. During the workshops
the participants learn how to operate a computer, use Internet software
to locate information about specific subjects and use word processing
software. In addition the workshops provide the participants with the
opportunity to build relationships with positive role-models in an academic
setting.
During the summer of 1995, an officer of Tau Beta Pi, a U of I undergraduate
engineering honor society, contacted the BOAST staff about ways in which
the society could become involved in the BOAST program. After some discussion,
it was agreed that offering a series of hands-on, Internet exploration
workshops would be of benefit to both the participants of BOAST and the
members of Tau Beta Pi. The BOAST staff then contacted Claudia Washburn,
manager of the the U of I Howard Hughes Program for Undergraduate Education
in Life Sciences, in an attempt to find a computer lab on campus willing
to host the hands-on Internet Exploration workshops. Claudia Wasburn
put the BOAST staff in touch with Barbara Meyer , Computer Assisted Instructional
Specialist and Coordinator of the EdTech Center for the U of I Life Sciences
. Barbara Meyer offered the use of a computer lab in the Natural History
Building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The first Internet Exploration Workshop was held in September 1995.
The workshop was planned by an officer from Tau Beta Pi and the participants
were helped to complete the workshop activities by Tau Beta Pi volunteers.
Before the semester ended, the Tau Beta Pi officer and volunteers had renamed
the Workshops, "Internet
Kids Workshops."
The Internet Kids workshops occur biweekly on the campus of the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The workshops are integrated into the
other components of the BOAST program and planned by the Tau Beta Pi
officer in charge and the BOAST staff. During the workshops participants
explore websites and write about what they have learned on the Internet
using word processing software.