My friend Rick Allen has laid the groundwork and is very close to securing funding for a wonderful project and is seeking help for his project Vagabond Voyager. He says what it’s all about better than I can:
Dear Friends,
For the last three years, I have been working with a group of dedicated volunteers to create Vagabond Voyager, a non-profit, live, interactive science and math-based distance learning program that will take learners throughout the United States on virtual field trips to places they could never visit via the World Wide Web. Vagabond Voyager is free and anyone with an internet connection can participate in the field trip activities.
It’s been a long haul to find funding for this project, but we recently found out that we are earmarked for $1.1 million request in the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill. This is great news! However, unlike other appropriations bills, this bill’s earmarks are not put in until after the budget has passed both the House and Senate and then sent to conference, which will occur around the middle of summer. Many things could happen between now and then, including getting dropped from the bill.
Vagabond Voyager is based in North Carolina and at the moment we have the bipartisan support of North Carolina Congressmen Bob Etheridge, Robin Hayes and Brad Miller, who have all indicated support of Vagabond Voyager in their appropriations requests. It is always helpful to have several offices working on a request, especially when the budget is as tight as this one.
I am writing to see if you have any connections with politicians on the Hill who could shake trees in support of the earmark…House Representatives, Senators or lobbyists? If you know of anyone, can you give them a call, write them a letter or send them an email on our behalf? If you know of someone who might know someone, you can forward this to them.
Below is a detailed explanation of Vagabond Voyager. I also encourage you to look at our web site. I have attached a sample letter so you can send it on to someone you know.
My greatest thanks!
Rick
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An Explanation of Vagabond Voyager:
Vagabond Voyager produces three-to-five day virtual field trips to provide content and context for scientific and mathematical educational opportunities. Students and teachers will meet, learn and synchronously interact with experts and scientists from around the world. Vagabond Voyager produced its first models of web based, live, interactive, virtual field trips with the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch, an office of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, during the widely acclaimed DiveLive 2000 & 2001 which documented the possible wreck site of Blackbeard the Pirate’s, Queen Anne’s Revenge. This virtual field trip is still accessible here. Students and teachers from 15 states and two countries participated in the 5-day virtual field trip.
Our learning intervention objectives are to build a new generation of explorers in grades kindergarten through twelve who will uncover the latest information in scientific exploration and mathematics. By leveraging the cutting edge technologies of the World Wide Web, this intervention will enable rural, low-wealth schools, the home schooled and students with disabilities to participate on par with students who have more resources at their disposal. We are also working in partnership with Dr. Len Annetta, from the North Carolina State University Education Department who will use established research methods to evaluate our educational intervention. A mixed method evaluation strategy will entail pre and post intervention testing of science content, student and teacher attitudes and qualitative analyses from observations and participant interviews
Through a partnership with The Rubicon Foundation we will develop mentoring and curriculum activities for pre- and post-web cast field trips. A six-member educational review board will review event curriculum. Through web-based classroom experiments and curriculum, learners are provided with real world applications of math and science principles. Experienced scientists and researchers will serve as online mentors and encourage learners to further explore the fields of science and math and investigate potential career paths that might be of interest.
Our field trips are made possible with the support of Apple Computer, Inc. who will provide platform independence, technical assistance and streaming video. Apple will also help to provide students and teachers with the most up-to-date technical tools for use within the classroom. We plan to web cast three field trips during the school year and these programs are free and available to any learner with access to a computer and a phone line. Vagabond Voyager’s goal is to provide educational equity and does not discriminate along racial, ethnic, gender or economic lines.
We plan to begin our virtual web casts in October with a trip to the wreck site believed to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge.