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ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Beyond Books Designer's Challenge Improving Mother Nature Bach to the Future Chancellor's
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They may have technology and global connectivity, but teaching at the northern tip of Alaska is very different than in the “Lower 48.” Poles Apart Imagine a place where Starbucks can't be found, and gasoline is even more expensive than in Southern California. Impossible, you say? Joe McGerald and Dea Brite, faculty at North City Center and Centre City Center, respectively, have been to that place. They not only lived to tell about it, they helped the people they met while also learning a few things themselves. The two instructors traveled to Barrow, Alaska, last summer to teach computer and Web basics to 14 native students ages 14-17. Barrow is the northern-most township on the North American continent. Somewhere around 10,000 people reside in several villages populated by about 250 people in each village. The college district covers about 88,000 square miles. "The students were quite different from young people here in Southern California," McGerald said. "Their heritage and life experience, in a remote area where the predominant culture is still very much hunter/gatherer, was apparent." The
local population is still dependent on the sea and the bowhead whales.
No matter what is happening in Barrow, when the whales are in, the mayor
declares a holiday. Same with the caribou -- school and businesses stop.
In fact, the instructors lost one student when the caribou came in and
he was compelled to return to his village.
WHALE OF A VIEW. Joe McGerald is dwarfed by the arch of whale ribs at the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Company, established in 1893. While these bones are old, the Eskimos -- Barrow has one of the world's largest Eskimo settlements -- still hunt bowhead whales. Tourists visit Barrow and pay $10 to jump into the cold water, becoming members of the Polar Bear Club. The water is 31 degrees, with ice chunks floating by during the summer. Also during the summer, there are 82 days the sun never sets. In winter, there are 67 days when the sun does not rise, so in effect, the sun rises in May and sets in November. Barrow, then, would be a challenge to two willing but uninitiated teachers from temperate San Diego. McGerald and Brite received a Working Connections grant funded by Microsoft to teach at Ilisaqvik College for 14 days. The two instructors are well qualified. McGerald, from the business information technology lab at North City Center on Aero Drive, developed the curriculum for the Web server maintenance and security certificate program. He also developed curriculum for the online PERL programming class he teaches. Brite has worked for the district for eight years, with two years earned as a contract associate professor for West City Center. Since last September, Brite has served as professor and instructional leader at Centre City Center. Working Connections was designed to help increase the number of skilled information technology workers. This particlar grant funded summer workshops as a way to recruit high school students into the college. In Barrow, there are currently only 3-5 students per class in the college. There is an effort underway to recruit more native children into higher education. "Although modern culture such as television and the Internet is available, it's not the same as the 'Lower 48,' or indeed as it is in the more populated areas of Alaska," McGerald said. "There are no movie theaters, baseball parks or paved roads, and only one blinking stoplight in Barrow. Transportation is mainly by snow machine." Everything that comes into Barrow arrives via air, so cars are expensive and gasoline costs about $3 per gallon. The Eskimos receive money from the oil companies, but they need to recruit students or the college may close. The college hosts some impressive, unusual projects, partnering with the government on tracking wildlife migration patterns and life spans. The campus itself consists of several airtight Quonset huts. The computer lab was housed in one hut where the temperature is about 80 degrees. McGerald said it was difficult to teach the students in an 80-degree room, as the students are accustomed to the cold weather. Classes were from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. McGerald had prepared topics, but about 15 minutes into the first class, tossed his plans aside. The students were not as prepared as he had hoped. "The Internet is available, with wireless connectivity common," McGerald said. "However, even with their high-speed connectivity, it's not like ours. Connection is via satellite, since there are no wired connections to anywhere else on earth." Brite presented an introduction to multimedia curriculum. She put together a multimedia survey course to cover something different every day, including music, video productions and other ideas geared toward the student age group. McGerald had some success with PowerPoint, and found that the students were excited about information garnered from the Internet. The students enjoyed the Internet for chatting and e-mail, but there was little interest in having their own Web page. As an incentive to complete the course, students received a Dell laptop on graduation day. In a community where families are close, but there are also numerous problems with alcohol and other social and economic issues common in this environment, such a reward was useful. There will be an attempt to keep such education programs ongoing. "Their culture is changing, and the young need more training in technology," McGerald said. "There should also be some consideration to funding programs for adults, since they seemed to be unaware of some of the advantages technology could offer. Being able to use the Internet to order items, and increase the competition for their buying dollars, seemed as though it would be worthwhile." The experience allowed the teachers to learn how they will handle such cultural divides in the future. "The eye-opener for me is that one needs to be aware of the culture you are working with when preparing lesson plans and projecting class schedules," McGerald said. "The interests of the students lay in directions that I had not imagined. I had to retrench and redo my lessons to be more in sync with their interests and backgrounds."
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