The Tutor.com Blog

I spent Saturday November 13th at a MOUSE Squad Team Training event. New York City students from different middle schools and high schools spent the day learning technology and leadership skills to kick start their own MOUSE Squad at their schools.  These students, guided by the school’s MOUSE Squad coordinator and MOUSE, will provide technical support services to their schools.

“MOUSE is an innovative youth development organization that empowers under served students to provide technology support and leadership in their schools, supporting their academic and career success.” To learn more about the impact that MOUSE can have with your school and students visit: http://mouse.org/about-mouse/impact

This is my second time working with MOUSE to provide Team Training to students and I continue to enjoy it. I have the pleasure of working with the enthusiastic staff of MOUSE and students that love learning enough to spend a Saturday with us!

My Team Training partner and I had a great time running the Networking Workshop and meeting all the new MOUSE Squads. In our workshop students learned about network topology and network devices while staying true to the MOUSE method of having fun!

Having attended public school and taught at a public school for a short time I can understand how MOUSE is a good fit for schools and students. Technical support departments in the schools are often understaffed and unable to meet the needs of all the teachers and students. The sum of these small tech issues can ruin a lesson for a teacher or prevent students from having access to a resource. Having a MOUSE Squad at a school can help to alleviate the tech issues that surround the school day. Though the MOUSE Squad provides a valuable service to the school, it is what MOUSE brings to students that really matters: improved confidence and sense of responsibility.

Starting a local MOUSE Squad at your school will not only reduce technology support costs, but students will also learn plenty and develop the unarguably necessary technology and problem solving skills to be successful students.

Chris Leung, MSEd is a New York State certified teacher and helps keep all the systems running at Tutor.com.

Today Congress will vote on a $150 billion stimulus package that will be doled out over the next two years to school districts, education agencies, child care centers and universities.  The New York Times reported on the stimulus plan yesterday calling it the “..the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.”

So what does this mean for libraries?  We don’t have all the answers, but we do know that many of our customers partner with local school districts and education agencies to sponsor programs together and share the cost. More money to schools and local agencies should present more opportunities for libraries to forge community partnerships to fund needed education services for both K-12 and adult students.

We’ll be tracking this bill with an eye toward what it can mean for libraries. We’ve also been thinking about the new economic environment which has caused libraries to cut their budgets even while they are serving a record number of patrons.  Our “stimulus” pacakge for 2009 includes:

• More services for adults: one-to-one help for adults who find themselves facing a career transition, going back-to-school, applying for citizenship or taking the GED.
• 24/7 Resource Center:  Give K-12 and adult students access to needed resources such as tutorials, worksheets, resume guidelines, videos and more around the clock
• Flexible, Affordable Pricing:  Our new pricing allows libraries to work within any budget – no matter how constrained – to bring high quality education help.

2009 will be a tough year, but smart programs and smart partnerships (and more government spending) will help all of us get through it while still serving the communities we care about.