Capacity Academy

Introduction

Residents and community members the changes their neighborhoods and communities need to improve and thrive and yet, due to a lack of time and access to resources, they are not always equipped to see projects to completion.  Many projects and tasks undertaken by neighborhood leaders and residents are complex and lengthy, further complicated by the fact that no two projects are exactly the same. CapaCity Academy e-learning instruction is designed to help the learner through each step of a complicated process, and is flexible enough to adapt to unique elements in each project situation.  CAEL is also efficient such that learners, who are by and large people volunteering their time, feel their effort is highly focused and productive.

Project Description

The e-learning developed for the City of San Francisco budget process is the first module of what will be an “e-university” that will educate, support, and connect members of San Francisco’s communities and neighborhoods. Residents will be able to use the Budget module to navigate the budget process successfully, and see their neighborhoods, and their city, improve.  The module also establishes a venue for sharing knowledge and expertise among involved residents and community leaders.  A current example of the Budget Module can be viewed at:

http://pixel.csueastbay.edu/jgreen/nenuELEarning611/index.html

Background

The Neighborhood Empowerment Network University (NENu) CapaCity academy provides an educational forum and access point to a continuously growing collection of learning materials that have been created by community leaders of San Francisco’s neighborhoods. Our e-learning guides will educate, support and connect members of San Francisco’s neighborhoods and open up a venue for sharing knowledge and expertise. By sharing success stories and strategies, city residents learn what has empowered other neighborhoods and how to improve the quality of life in their own communities.

Goals

CapaCity Academy e-learning seeks to accomplish the following objectives:

1)      Provides information (content) to teach community members how to lead effectively and work within the sociopolitical systems, such as working with SF’s budget process.

2)      Provides access to online resources, forms, templates, contacts, resource contacts, potential collaborators, etc.; everything community members need to complete relevant projects.

3)      Helps community members’ complete projects as they learn, such as assisting them in developing a finished, ready-to-use project plan that includes goals, tasks, contacts, milestones, checklists, forms, etc.

4)      Gives the learner the opportunity to develop skills in project management, current and emerging technology, communication, and leadership, as required by the situation and content.

5)      Facilitates learners in sharing their experience and developing expertise through user-generated inputs to the e-learning system, such as discussion forums, video cases, and other activities.

University Department

Department of Instructional Technology

Agency Partner

General Services Agency (GSA), San Francisco Public Library, OTHER PARTNERS?

Focus Area(s)

Capacity Building, Education, Online Resources, Budget, Project Management

Geographic Focus

Citywide

Beneficiaries

These tools can be utilized by community-based organizations, non-profits, city agencies, researchers, and neighborhood residents.  Since they are designed to assist in the successful completion of neighborhood projects, the entire city will benefit from the success of these tools.

Funding Sources

Federal Work Study

Update/Blog

The goal of the Spring 2011 semester was to understand the process of creating learning modules by building a fully functional prototype in a targeted content areas.  Through this project students will also develop a plan for building additional learning modules and supporting a process for community-developed modules. Students conducted research on national and local models of providing content to community leaders in order to develop a content structure for Capacity Academy learning modules.  They implemented a design plan that utilized existing and emergent social media and multimedia learning resources.  In order to generate content for the module, students conducted interviews with key City departments, agencies, and offices to build a knowledge base that included up to date input from city experts.  Design and content of the Budget module are complete and undergoing usability testing.