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Significant progress has been made in providing
Indian students with access to technology, mainly centering on two
initiatives. Access Native America, a Bureau of Indian Affairs initiative,
has provided the majority of all tribal schools with Internet access
to the Department of Interior's Internet backbone (DOInet). By the
end of 2000, it is planned that all schools will be connected. In
addition, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)
, which represents the 32 tribal colleges and universities in the
United States, operates its own satellite distance learning network,
and recently has completed a technology assessment of its colleges
and is in the planning stages of developing a broad band grid to
address the connectivity needs of its schools. Challenges for these
and other educational institutions that serve the Indian community
include: connectivity, curriculum development, teacher training,
adequate equipment and facilities, and access to funding.
During the last year, NCAI has worked to secure
funding for an initiative to encourage Native Americans to pursue
degrees in information technology and other science and technology
fields. We are pleased to report that the FY2001 VA-HUD Appropriations
Act, P.L. 106-377) provides $10 million to the National Science
Foundation for this purpose and to build the capacity of tribally
controlled community colleges -- and their K-12 feeder schools --
to offer high-quality science and technology classes.
2002
2001 Archives
2002
- Transforming
Rural Alaska Through Wireless Technology in the Schools and
Community,Community Technology Review, Winter 2002-2003
- Distance
Learning Targets Indian Country, Indianz.com, 11/18/02
- Workshop
Teaches Kids a Lesson in Cyber-Safety, Green Bay Press-Gazette,
10/29/02
- Indian
Editor Hopes to Inspire Future Scribes, Billings Gazette
(10/01/02)
- Tribal Leaders Seek Technology's Trail: A Conference at Pechanga
Resort and Casino Focuses on Needed Training and Skills, Press
Enterprise, 8/08/02
- Computer Network to Hook Up Navajo Head Start Classrooms,
Farmington Daily Times, 7/18/02
2001 Archives
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