Champaign Parents "DeMystify the Computer" in Digital Literacy Workshop

Roxana Ryan
Published: September 27, 2013

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois, Sept. 27, 2013 -- Parents and guardians of elementary students in Champaign are “Demystifying the Computer” in a free digital literacy workshop this week.

Led by Martin Wolske, senior research scientist at the University of Illinois, and his Community Informatics students, the workshop guided Kenwood Elementary School parents in lessons on basic computer concepts, how to use and install an operating system, networking, troubleshooting and more. Participants also took apart and reassembled a computer. At the end of the week, parents were able to keep the computer they assembled in class.  

The technology initiative falls in line with the new mission of Kenwood Elementary School, “Technology and Literacy for the Community.”

“We are looking for ways to infuse technology into the classroom, but we also know that access at home is imperative to our students’ digital literacy,” said Superintendent Dr. Judy Wiegand in a press release. “This collaboration with the University of Illinois and Kenwood is one way that we’re looking to build that capacity for students at the elementary school level. Connecting the experts in our community with students and families is a recipe for our collective success in the future.”   

Wolske said the computers have been donated by the Carle Physician Group, Parkland College and Millikin University. They've been used, he said, but "they still have a lot of life left in them, in many cases."

The “Demystifying the Computer” workshop was also offered at the Urbana Free Library earlier this year as part of an Eliminate the Digital Divide Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

“The feedback from the community was great and we realized the program could be replicated to other locations,” Wolske said.