Computing for the social good: experiences outside the walls

An alternative to bringing computing for the social good into the classroom through relevant projects and system development challenges is to offer it as a supplementary experience to the program of study required for the degree. Students will see this approach as a benefit as they prepare their resumes for their internship and job searches. They reason as follows:• All my classmates will have completed the same set of technical courses required for the degree. No difference among us.• A computing for the social good experience shows something extra, something important, something relevant to the good of the community.• This experience can act as a discussion focus during interviews.At Villanova there are several out-of-classroom projects that fit under the CSG umbrella. We report on two that have a number of contrasting elements and reflect on the successes of each.Common to both projects is the question: Is there time? Will the students decide that they can fit another obligation into their schedules? This question focuses on the great mystery of the allocation of the 168 hours per week that each student (and each person) has. Assuming a 16 credit course load and a rigorous university setting that requires about 3 hours outside of class for every hour in class, each student has over 100 hours per week to allocate to non-academic activities, which include sleeping, eating, personal time, etc. The conclusion is that there indeed is time if students do effective time management.A second question: Is there incentive to participate? What are the rewards to the students in addition to the important entry on the resume? Here our two projects differ.The Program for Website Creation and Evaluation (PWCE) is an on-going component of our Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology. PWCE is funded by a renewing gift from the Casey Feldman Foundation. Casey was killed just before she graduated from college in a tragic accident caused by a distracted driver. Her parents set up the foundation in her memory and have focused its work on Casey's interests. Her father, Joel, found that a number of small non-profit organizations such as the Francesvale Home for Smaller Animals and Nancy's House (a provider of respite care for caregivers) need expertise in web development. PWCE connects students with these organizations and pays the students the top-level rate (now $12.50 per hour) to develop or renovate the organization's website. The incentives for this project are the accomplishment of social good and some extra money for pizza or other passions.The second project is the Villanova -- Julia de Burgos collaboration, now in its fourteenth year. Each year a team of Villanova undergraduates, usually 4 to 6 students with one designated as the leader, has conducted a course on the basic elements of computing hardware, operating systems, applications software and Internet-based research for a group of twenty eighth grade students from Julia de Burgos Elementary School in North Philadelphia. This school is in a distressed neighborhood that is struggling to improve itself. The course, conducted at Villanova on four Saturdays during the spring semester, culminates in a ceremony held at Julia de Burgos in the presence of the students' teachers and families at which the students receive laptops donated by Villanova.Several students who were team members for the Julia de Burgos project have made compelling presentations to the computing ethics class about the effect of the work on the lives of students whose understanding and experiences with computer technology are far more limited than those of Villanova undergraduates. The incentives for participating in the project are the ability to make a difference in the lives of young students and to proclaim the success to a broader university community.Another question: Is the social good obvious? Definitely, in both cases, so participation speaks to the need of this generation of students to perform social good.Finally: How are the results of the project sustained? This is a difficult question for the PCWE projects because it involves a commitment to systems maintenance (updating, expanding, fixing). Although we have produced nice contemporary web sites for Nancy's House and Gilda's Club of the Delaware Valley, for example, the sites will need frequent attention for content and will need further renovation as the computing environment changes. For the Julia de Burgos project, sustaining the project depends on the efforts of the faculty leader, William Fleischman, and his willingness to continue to recruit students to help. It also depends on the evolving nature of the Julia de Burgos School as the School District of Philadelphia tries to cope with funding, politics, changes in structure and leadership, and the evolution of the neighborhood.