UC Links at UC Riverside

Site Description
Eastside Community Cybrary

Program Name:  Eastside Community Cybrary

Site Location:  Riverside Public Library, 4033 Chicago Avenue, Riverside CA 92507


Principal Investigator(s):  Professor Sharon Duffy, Department of Education

Contact:  Professor Sharon Duffy, Sharon.duffy@ucr.edu

Site Description:

The UC Links program at the Eastside Cybrary is part of a larger collaboration between the UC Riverside campus and the Eastside Public Library in Riverside.  Five afternoons per week, K-12 children from various local schools take part in the Cybrary computer room. Undergraduates provide these youth assistance in a variety of computer-based activities, offer homework assistance and other educational support, and encourage students to pursue a path to higher learning. Undergraduates participate in the Cybrary by enrolling in a course in the Graduate School of Education at UC Riverside.

Course:  Education 106: Practicum in Child Development

Participants (based on 2005-06 data):

  • Approximately 250 1st–12th grade youth per academic year
    • 70% Latino, 12% African American, 12% White, 6% Asian
    • 40% male, 60% female
    • 65% English language learners
  • Approximately 20 undergraduates per academic year

Collaborators:

  • Graduate School of Education and the Department of Psychology, UC Riverside
  • Riverside Public Library

Goals:

  • Provide safe and healthy places after school for children to learn and develop a sense of self as participants in a global world
  • Promote academic achievement and encourage low-income youth to pursue paths to higher learning
  • Increase technology literacy
  • Increase math and basic literacy skills for participating youth
  • Increase knowledge and improve attitudes and aspirations toward higher learning for participating youth
  • Develop appropriate social skills for participating youth
  • Improve the quality of graduate and undergraduate education by connecting academic coursework to practicum field experience
  • Encourage undergraduates to explore the possibility of a teaching career in urban, low-income communities

Activities:

  • Collaborative exploration of educational software; Board games and art projects
  • Literacy and research activities
  • Homework assistance, independent academic tutoring, and writing assistance

Evaluation:

  • University of California Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) Annual Performance Report
  • UC Links Reading Assessment
  • Survey of undergraduate interest in pursuing graduate or professional school studies

Research focus:

  • Attendance patterns
  • Parent perceptions of students’ motivations and value of participation