Bringing silicon valley closer to under equipped bay area schools

Hello,

Just wanted to update this forum about a cause we are working on through our organization (http://www.redbasin.org).

The mission is to bring the tech education to the school children who have pretty much been counted out of the silicon valley race for excellence. I am specifically talking about East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD), where people from our organization are volunteering our time to bring new hope to students who can learn CS and seek internships and college admissions.

We are using open source software to educate the students. All education is classroom based. The primary goal is to motivate these children. While there is already an online education boom, we observed that certain children are left out, as they are not motivated enough to take advantage of this boom. What they need is more person-to-person interaction in a real classroom. This also makes them aware of the community as students learn together in a classroom, and can share their motivations among others. So they have this feeling that they are not alone in this world. (This is usually not a problem with motivated students in more equipped schools).

We started this as a free after-school program about 1 year ago, and building class size has been a challenge ever since. As the school does not have many resources, we, as volunteers spend a greater part of our time working and trouble-shooting things like classroom projectors, computers, internet, and printers. To begin with, the students are expected to have no background in CS, as they have never taken any other coaching previously. Some of these are senior students who will graduate out this year, and would potentially have no CS coaching, if we didn't give them an opportunity. So this is where the tech coaching class helps them. Typically students from affluent neighborhoods in better school districts take expensive computer science training that are generally 2 week crash courses, or summer camps. And these usually cost $500+. So these students have pretty much ruled out any such opportunities. (Besides, I don't personally believe anyone can learn CS in 2 months, leave alone 2 weeks). If the other subjects like Physics, Math are full year (5 day a week) academic programs, why not have CS taught all year round? Now the answer is that certain schools in more fortunate school districts already have started such CS programs, as they have received funding from the CA Board of Education. This is usually based on overall school performance. They even have AP Computer Science programs. It turns out that many years ago, when the economy was not doing so well, as lot of schools (such as the one we are volunteering in) pretty much dropped out of the radar when it came to any sort of state or federal funding. Ever since then, there seems to be no easy way to get these programs back into the school. In the meanwhile, we have about 10 batches (academic years) of students graduating from such schools without any CS background, and they seem to have no prospect of finding jobs in the silicon valley in the field of CS (which seems to be the majority of opportunity). Rather than working in tech jobs, they would end up working in malls, salons, and other blue collar professions.

One thing I observed about many of these students, is that the good students from these schools are no different from the good students from other schools which are considered better. So the aptitude is not an issue. The big issue is the lack of available opportunity. So that's where the role of our organization Redbasin.org comes in. We decided that we could turn this around in a few years, by picking a small section of the school district and making our ideas work. Will providing better opportunity produce better results? We think it would. We are already seeing that the students are feeling more confident and have started dreaming about a different future for themselves.

During the year, we spent a large part of time teaching them the theory of computer science. Since the internet is not working about 90% of the time, this was a challenge to teach them, so we had to resort to paper based handouts. Even the library computers were difficult to use, since they are not allowed to use the disc drive to store anything. So installing things like Firefox or Chrome on the computer was not possible. We had to take the help of the administrator, but even the administrator was not able to de-freeze the computers. The de-freeze would have allowed us to install software like Netbeans, Java, Spring and more. So we are still working on that issue. They have done this obviously for computer security issues, due to the school district policy, and they are justified related to that. However, the problem is simply the lack of available resources from the IT administrator to trouble-shoot various issues such as de-freeze.

So while the library computer issue was being resolved, and was taking very long, we decided to focus back our attention on the theory of CS. It was however getting increasingly difficult to keep the students motivated without giving them hands-on training on actual computers. So then we decided to scrounge some old laptops from our homes and started installing linux on them. The plan was to have the students use these laptops to learn this. We were able to do this for a few classes.

In the meantime, we were able to figure out using a cloud-based IDE (instead of NetBeans), which was capable of committing code to github. This looked promising, except the cloud-based IDE had limitations and bugs. Also, the library computers had issues with redirects/certificates that the cloud-based IDE required, and we were frequently battling those issues.

We are now at the point where we can teach them developing web-applications, and that's where Spring comes in. We, at Redbasin.org have been using Spring for many years, so this would be logical to introduce it here. Redbasin.org has a github project for this here (https://github.com/redbasin/redbasin-org). We are using some reference code base here and have decided to make it available as an open source license to the school. This software is being used by other companies and government space organizations. So it's well tested and also a nice way for students to get a comprehensive understanding of how web applications can be developed. We also have many other Spring projects developed, that are not yet on github.

The idea is to have students be comfortable with CS concepts, java programming and Spring based development in the next 2 years. We are now actively seeking donations of used laptops from large organizations. Our plan is to install linux on them, as it's then easier to teach them the theory of CS on linux laptops at a much lower cost. We will be creating a data center (private cloud) in the school, which will be separate from the library computers, so that the students have guaranteed access to these computers. This process will not be instantaneous but will evolve over the next 2 years.

We are depending upon receiving donations from local bay area companies to make this happen. It would be nice to have used laptops (with or without linux) and/or cash donations which can be used towards meeting costs of buying computer equipment, setting up data center and internet connection.

We are thankful that VMWare has supported our effort by donating t-shirts. We are planning on using these t-shirts to motivate students to attend the CS coaching classes. We have been giving them various incentives over the year from time to time, to make sure they are in class after school, rather than hanging out and wasting their valuable times. However, it is indeed a challenge, as it requires continuous monitoring. We also need to head back to various teachers' classrooms from time to time and remind them to attend the classes.

We believe that with enough foundation in CS, the students will be in a better shape to learn Spring and other open source technologies, which will make them career-ready. To date, we have spent about 500 hours over the last year, and it's only a drop in the bucket towards uplifting a forgotten bay area school.

Sincerely,

Redbasin.Org
Foundation for Competitive Education
http://www.redbasin.org

Wow!

This is amazing! Thank you for all the time and hard work you put into organizing this group and thank you for reaching out to us on this forum.

I just wanted to make sure that you're an official non-profit correct? Let me know and I can see if I can get some hardware to help for the group.

Also, you might want to Code For America as they might be able to help host an event for the group. Might even be a potential sponsor.

Also, if you need developer environments please visit preshavedyak.com to get free Cloud Foundry accounts for the students to use.

Best,

Danny Gamboa
SpringSource Communities, VMware
dgamboa@vmware.com

Hello Mr. Danny,

That is great to hear! Yes, I do have this all setup. I am getting this ready specifically for this, so let me get back to you in 2 weeks, to confirm the exact details.

Sincerely,

Manoj Joshi, CTO
Redbasin.Org
Foundation for Competitive Education
http://www.redbasin.org

Hi Manoj,

I hope you're doing well. Will look for your message in a week or so.

Best,

Danny Gamboa
SpringSource Communities, VMware
dgamboa@vmware.com

Hi Danny,

Thanks for checking. And sorry for the delay. Indeed I am doing well. The Redbasin.Org is a non-profit public benefit organization.

Just got busy last 1.5 months, as we were trying to host the Science Olympiad and also the AMC10 (American Mathematics Competition) in the schools, and these activities were successful. We had a record participation of 30 students in the Science Olympiad and 44 students in the American Mathematics Competition. This should help build awareness of Science, Math and Computer Science where we are primarily focused. This takes us back to the STEM program launched by the US govt. (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics), and we have been active implementers of this program. There is also the Next Generation Science website launched by the CA to solicit active inputs from teachers: http://nextgenscience.org/.

Part of our challenge has been connecting the dots for the teachers and the students, so that they see the relation between Computer Science and existing academic disciplines such as Science, Math and Engineering. The STEM was supposed to help bridge that gap, but the majority of the work is left to the implementers such as Redbasin.Org, who are largely dependent on private funding from local companies in the Silicon Valley.

With advances in technology, dissemination of knowledge through Information Technology (IT) has become simpler, and schools are starting to see the benefits of bringing more sophisticated educational platforms that will help bring computerized educational tools. So Redbasin.Org is right in the center of this evolution (if not revolution). One thing we have learned is that simply automation (which reduces cost on one hand) also reduces the interactive element, which is central to achieving success in terms of motivating children (especially in underprivileged schools) to rise up the academic ladder. So Redbasin.Org's primary objective is to make sure no children in underprivileged schools are left behind in this race to technological excellence. How do we do that? It essentially starts from grass-roots interaction with individual children and teachers. So volunteering physically in schools is one way to make that difference.

Due to the Math competitive tests being organized (as mentioned above), we had a higher class participation. So we would like to keep the participation higher going forward, and that will be our next challenge.

We are still using the t-shirts you donated as an incentive to students who participate in the CS coaching program. It's important for the students to learn Spring and other open source software such as Java, as there are many projects within the school that could be undertaken. Useful tools can be built to automate the local art, science and math centers, by creating a web presence. We are still in the beginning stages of this evolution. The curriculum for students which is already present in the school, makes their school year very busy, so we are going to incorporate some activities which can be integrated into this curriculum.

I have still not forgotten about the potential guest speaker opportunity, where we can have someone from VMWare come and visit the classrooms, and give a presentation on how VMWare could help Redbasin.Org with this CS education effort. Due to the academic activities we are already doing, we haven't had a chance to setup this meeting yet. I am potentially looking at the month of April-May as good months, where we can arrange this.

Cheers,

Manoj Joshi
CTO, Redbasin.Org
Foundation for Competitive Education
http://www.redbasin.org

Hello,

Hope everyone's doing well. Last month we distributed the Computer Science and Math awards in the high school. And the Principal of the school announced and congratulated the students, and mentioned about our program to the rest of the school. Our plan is to continue this activity next year, as we are really passionate about continuing the open source culture in the school. Here's a video where the Principal makes the announcement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyqVYXBF-08

Our plan is to install provide Fedora linux laptops with all the Java and Spring software, and teach students to use github to upload their code next year. This way, the students will have a sense of achievement, and find it easier to get internships at local companies. This surely helps with college applications and more. Again, since these students are from underprivileged backgrounds, they otherwise would not have the opportunity to succeed in the silicon valley race towards excellence. They would be left behind, and end up working on blue-collar jobs. There is a sense of satisfaction seeing them grow academically.
Cheers,
Manoj

Hello,

My involvement with championing Spring has a long history. My first was in 2005, when I converted the architecture for CNET/CBS Interactive to use Spring instead of proprietary software. The proprietary software was used by 40 programmers within the company. That seemed like a lot. So, I made the case by suggesting, that we use software that has been used by 40 thousand programmers around the world. None other than Spring!! I almost lost my job when I undertook this conversion, but managed to head another technology department as the senior most architect working on continuing the championing of this Spring use. 3 years later, CNET was acquired by CBS for 2 billion dollars, and I think our decision to use Spring and other open source software played a significant role in transforming the company. I was proud to see young engineers growing with the new Spring based philosophy. It almost seemed like they did two things. They ate high grain cereal for breakfast, and then they came to work and wrote tons of Spring code. Who can be more satisfied, other than me to see that change.

Meanwhile, another open source Spring project was brewing in Redbasin.org which Smita ran. And I didn't think twice before I started helping on this project. Here is the code for that:

https://github.com/redbasin/redbasin-org

This code is now being used a space research company that works with NASA. So that's really cool.

My next project now is working on a cancer research cloud that uses Neo4J, Spring and Mongo. Basically a flavor of Spring data and Spring along with tons of Java code. Cool dynamic real-time metadata streams that can perform bio-analytics while supporting high scalability. This will be used by the big Pharma and Biotech and also by the life science research guy on the street. We will have an open source flavor that can be used by anyone.

The idea of training the high school students, is that we see the need for a new breed of educators who can transform the academic landscape. We need a new generation of students who can handle the complexities of the future that is heading closer to the intellectual singularity. But then, it is hard to see the children in underprivileged schools left behind on this cutting edge front. This is where Redbasin.org will play a role, in using technologies like Spring and Java to transform the planet.