What should be done to teach students computer skills prior to enrollment in an Academy?
Academies should work with high schools, community colleges, and community-based organizations to ensure computer literacy and technology foundation courses are available to students in need of them prior to their enrollment in the Academy. Entry into an Academy should be viewed as a continuum with different starting points based on a student’s skills. This would enable students who are not computer literate — disproportionately women and minorities — to bring their skill and confidence level up prior to the fast-paced Academy program and thus increase their probability of success. See Focus Hope, Petit Jean College, Northwest College and Lakewood High School and Focus Group Report. Cisco Learning Institute’s IT Fundamentals that is currently being piloted is one avenue for this http://elearning.asu.
