A. Statement of Need
Background Information
National Educational Center of Youth – (referred to hereafter, as the Center) in AnyGorad, Ukraine, is a foundation of aerospace science mastering for school children founded to provide education for Ukrainian youths in the field of space science and space researches. Founded in June 1990 by the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, his decree is to provide education for Ukrainian youths in the field of space science and space research and for the creation of suitable conditions for intellectual growth of the future generation. It is the first aerospace educational institution in Ukraine created to teach children the space science through world-wide training programs based on international standards as well as educational programs, seminars and competitions for children. The Center is thus playing a primary and cardinal role in discovering for Ukraine's children the world of space disclosures, achievements, inventions, mysteries and secrets that have yet to be uncovered. The space science opens their imagination to a whole new world of amazing things waiting to be discovered.
Formation of the young Ukrainian nation in many respects depends on the effective employment of its scientific and intellectual potential. Since its inception, National Aerospace Educational Center of Ukrainian Youth has been engaged in the search, preparation and training of talented youth, who are interested in aviation, cosmonautics and space exploration.
The Center closely cooperates with the Ukrainian Youth Association and is the first higher educational establishment in Ukraine created to provide youth education for space science with qualified employees both through initial training programs based on international standards as well as through ongoing professional development programs. Consequently, the Center is playing a pivotal and pioneering role in the difficult process of reforming educational practices from those used during 70+ years of rule by the former Soviet Union to those modeled on western standards and procedures. It’s work, in addition to formal classroom training includes sscientific competitions - the testing and launching of space vehicles; numerous ongoing international internships; seminars; conferences; guest lecturers; and ongoing research projects and in-house publication of study results.
Description of Need/Problem
The Center's limited computer equipment and non-existent Internet access greatly hampers its ability to teach; communicate with other schools and institutions; conduct research; disseminate its findings and publications; fundraise; and recruit new students.
Furthermore, it has also inhibited the Center from realizing one of its higher priorities: establishing formal contacts with schools that specialize in space science and aeronautical associations in the United States and other countries thereby limiting options for faculty and student exchanges, collaborative research work, and library contributions. In addition, the Center is unable to design its programs of instruction, conduct research, create development projects, or seek to communicate with other schools worldwide and other opportunities for cooperation. In particular, it has the frustrated realization of the Center's goal of creating "distance learning" programs through which the Center can educate youths around the country who are otherwise unable to attend classes as students. Consequently, it looms as a major barrier to realizing the Center's mission to help foster the education of Ukraine's youths.
More specifically, the lack of equipment and the non-Internet access greatly limits students' ability to conduct research on space science and other issues as part of their course work. This includes restricting, and sometimes precluding, access to the English-language materials which dominate the Internet and compels students to rely primarily on the relatively-small pool of printed Ukrainian and English language resources on modern science practices available in Ukraine. Similarly, it also restricts the ability of faculty to maintain ongoing research work in their areas of interest, to communicate with colleagues at other institutions, and to electronically distribute the materials.
Inasmuch as the Center is a school that is largely dependent for its funding on very limited government and private sources, the Center has had very few resources to date to invest in computer equipment and Internet access for its students, faculty, and staff. Furthermore, the Center must rely for its Internet communications on old and overloaded telephone equipment that is highly unreliable.
B. Goals and Objectives
In order to achieve its goals of establishing a distance-learning program and expanding its teaching, research, development, and other activities, the Center needs computer equipment and dependable and unlimited Internet access. This could be accomplished primarily through the acquisition of a separate, leased line. With this upgrade, the Center will be able to design new programs of instruction such as distance learning, conduct research, expand its library resources, communicate via e-mail and a web page with other schools worldwide as well as prepare Ukrainian youths in the field of space science which it was founded to serve and educate. Moreover, access to the Internet will enable the center to evolve new sources of income to help offset its ongoing Internet expenses after the initial grant.
When implemented, this will enable the Center to:
1. Implement a program of distance learning targeted at local, oblast, and national students as well as other prospective students to facilitate educational programs for those unable to study in person at the Center;
2. Expand student as well as faculty and staff training in the use of computer technologies, specifically use of the Internet, as a means of both research and communication;
3. Create an electronic network of students who are studying aeronautics throughout Ukraine, and to distribute the Center's (and others') latest research findings as well as to facilitate two-way communication on current issues of space science in Ukraine;
4. Regularly post current research completed by faculty as well as correspond with, and solicit comments from, colleagues at other institutions as they undertake new research projects;
5. Develop ongoing communications with Center alumni to facilitate fund-raising, student recruitment, and sharing of new research findings pertinent to their work;
6. Establish ongoing and formal ties with academic and government institutions in the United States and other countries to facilitate student and faculty exchanges as well as collaborative work among colleagues.
C. Project Design and Action Plan
To accomplish its goals and objectives, the Center needs to install a new separate telephone line, purchase computer equipment, and to install Internet connection. Finally, it will be necessary to adjust all the equipment and software and then test it to ensure optimum operation.
The four primary stages for implementing this project are:
Stage 1. (one month) -- contacting equipment suppliers to compare prices, terms (e.g., warranties), and equipment quality
Stage 2. (one month) -- purchasing and arranging for delivery of equipment.
Stage 3. (two months) -- installing, testing, and otherwise working out any "bugs" in equipment and system set-up.
Stage 4. (continuously) -- training staff, faculty, and students in use of new system and implementing new programs.
D. Cost Breakdown/Budget
The following budget is based on current costs for the Internet installation presently considered to be the most cost-effective solution for meeting the Center's needs. However, recognizing he rapidly changing nature of both Internet technologies and options available locally in the AnyGorad region of Ukraine, the final mix of purchases and costs may necessarily be modified slightly; however, it would remain within the budget total outlined below.
Computer $550
Printer $225
Modem $ 65
Setting the Separate Telephone Line $600
Connection to Unlimited Internet Access (12 months) $ 360
(1 month unlimited access $30)
TOTAL $1800
The Center's contribution to this effort will include:
· Telephone Expenses (long-distance/local service)
· Supplies & Printing (paper, toner, etc)
· Software
· Utilities & Facilities (inc. heat, electricity)
· Overhead – Maintenance
Approximate Center Contribution to the Project: $ 650
Total Project Cost: $2450
Total amount requested from SPA $1800
E. Monitoring and Evaluation
With computer equipment and Internet access, the Center will be able to establish formal contacts with schools and institutions, conduct research, create development projects and institute it’s distance learning program.
With a staff of approximately twenty, monitoring and evaluating the improvements and progress of the Center will be conducted by quarterly meetings facilitated by the General Director, John Doe.
It is assumed that once implemented, the access to the Internet will enable the Center to evolve new sources of income to help offset its ongoing Internet expenses after the one-year grant period. For example, with computer equipment and Internet access, the Center will be able to explore soliciting financial support from its alumni, individual donors, and other sources; generating income through the on-line sale of selected published research; and creating other new sources of revenue such as - potentially - on-line courses of instruction.