Ten Students from The Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Queens, New York and Freedom Academy High School in New York, NY are going to be hosted by students from Amman, Jordan.

In April, 2005, Jordanian students spent 3 weeks in New York City receiving training to prepare them to provide assistance to Jordanian teachers and others in their school communities, as well as train new Squads in the future.

NYC students (Mouse Squads) from Baccalaureate School for Global Education (Queens) and the Freedom Academy (Brooklyn) will travel with an advisor to Jordan for three weeks from July 25 to August 15, 2005, to share their training model with Jordanian students and to experience Jordanian culture.

 

 

 

About MOUSE   

 

 The mission of MOUSE is to be a catalyst for the effective integration of technology in teaching and learning in urban public schools, empowering students and teachers to succeed in today's knowledge-based economy.

Goals:

 

1. MOUSE seeks to create a clear vision of what "best practices" looks like, and provide objective information on the progress of the school system against these standards.
2. MOUSE seeks to support innovative programs that model best practices in technology integration.
3. MOUSE aims to link students and schools to corporate and community resources that assist them with technology integration.

 

.MOUSE is based in New York City and was founded in 1997. http://www.mouse.org

 

"MOUSE is committed to serving the educational and professional needs of underserved youth, and poised to unlock the potential for these students to be vibrant and valuable members of our communities."

Congressman Charles Rangel

 

Imagine schools saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in technology costs -- all because of students. That is exactly what has happened in New York City. Students there have been trained to run computer help desks at their schools as part of the MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools & Education), program, consequently saving the NYC Department of Education more than $700,000 in technology support cost in the past four years.

His Majesty King Abdullah the second recently launched in Jordan ‎ an ambitious national initiative to bring computer equipment and basic technology training to the country's schools. Yet Jordan's educational system, much like its U.S. counterpart, has discovered that providing technical support for its new computer systems is an entirely separate challenge.

iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network. A pioneer in online learning and cultural exchange, iEARN has worked in Jordan since 1992. Partnering with MOUSE and U.S. State-Department-accredited exchange program AYUSA, iEARN is bringing the benefits of MOUSE to Jordan this school year through the new Linking Individuals Knowledge, & Culture ( LINC ) Program.

Funded by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, this new program will bring much needed technical help to schools in Jordan while building cross-cultures friendships along the way.

Many schools struggle to keep their students up-to-date on the latest technology. Money for computers is hard enough to find, let alone funds for technical support training.
His Majesty King Abdullah the second, who recently launched an impressive initiative to provide all of its schools with computers and basic technology training, was running into this very problem. A unique solution was to be found -- in far-off New York City.

There, financially strapped schools use MOUSE an innovative program that trains elementary, middle, and high school students to establish and run computer help desks and provides job shadowing opportunities to participants.

Since its inception nearly four years ago, 315 MOUSE members have provided technical support to 52,217 students and 3,675 teachers in 49 New York City and 8 regional schools. The subsequent cost benefits have been enormous: as of June 2004, MOUSE has saved the city's Department of Education an estimated $708,936 in technology support costs.

With a problem and a solution both apparent, all that was needed was a catalyst to bring Jordan and MOUSE together. That catalyst was iEARN.

Together with MOUSE, State Department-accredited exchange program AYUSA, and funding from the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, iEARN has established the U.S.-Jordan Youth Technology Leaders Program to bring the benefits of MOUSE to Jordanian schools.