 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Internet in the outback Carol Daniels cad@melbpc.org.au |
 |
Here's your chance to play a part "Taking the Internet to the Outback"!
Volunteers for Isolated Students' Education Inc. (VISE) is a non-profit organisation with an objective
encapsulated in its motto, "Serving the Bush through Education". And VISE is looking for volunteers of good
repute and good computing skills to work with VISE, to further its newest goal of "Taking the Internet to the
Outback".
In January of 1998 VISE started training its first group of thirty tutors at the University of Ballarat. Once
trained the volunteer tutors will be going out to families of children enrolled at various Schools of the Air
and Schools of Distance Education across Australia. These volunteer tutors will work closely with these
schools and will visit families who are seen by the school as needing assistance.
That's just the first phase of this ambitious project, and VISE will have an ongoing need to recruit
computer-literate volunteers.
That's where you, Melb PC members, come into the picture. VISE is looking for more volunteer tutors to
participate in training sessions (July and Sept/Oct 1998 and January and July 1999) and outback
placements.
All tutors will be trained by the staff of the Information Technology section of the University of Ballarat
at a one-week training program held on site.
Once trained the volunteer tutors will be asked in which outback areas they would be willing to work, then
allocated to an area under the control of Schools of Distance Education or Schools of the Air. The relevant
school will then allocate tutors to families, which the tutors will assist with whatever their particular
computing problem may be. It is envisaged that volunteers would spend a week at the school before heading out
to spend a week with each of five families.
More about VISE
Volunteers for Isolated Students' Education Inc (VISE) is a group of people who give their time to assist
families in outback situations in need of help.
VISE is a volunteer organisation and no money is spent on wages. During the last year it serviced about six
hundred families' requests for help and gave each family about six weeks assistance.
This year VISE has been allocated funds (through the Federal Government's "Networking the Nation" programme)
to extend VISE's work into the field of technology.
The annual Gympie Hyundai Country Music Muster also supports VISE, giving about $50,000 to assist in its
endeavours. The University of Ballarat works with VISE to train volunteers before they head out.
Practical details
- The one-week, residential training session at the University of Ballarat is
fully funded for accommodation and travel
- Reasonable costs from your home to the School of the Air and return are
refunded, based on one return air fare from your capital city plus bus fares to the airport
- Accommodation and board are provided by the families, as required, as is
travel between families
- All tutors are required to provide the organiser with a police clearance
before they are sent out to families
- The "Internet to the Outback" project is co-ordinated by: George Murdoch
Ph: (03) 9369 6709
E-mail: gmurdock@tpgi.com.au (yes, his address is spelt that way)
Post: 31 Rebecca Crescent, Altona Meadows VIC 3028
George Murdoch is an ex-member of the Education Department of Victoria,
where he worked as a teacher, curriculum developer, principal of schools and regional administrator for over
thirty-five years.
A personal note from "Internet to the Outback"
Co-ordinator, George Murdoch
My wife and I travel as a team. We take our caravan with us and use it for accommodation when we can. In fact
we make the most of our volunteer work in that we usually head for the Northern Territory during our southern
winter and then at the end of our stay we are faced with a wonderful problem. Will we turn left and come home
through Perth, will we turn right and come home through Brisbane or will we do a u-turn and come home through
the Alice. It is a lovely problem to have to solve.
If you think that this lifestyle is of interest we would love to hear from you!
Reprinted from the March 1998 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
