Learning can’t be confined to the boundaries of formal education. We learn constantly. In some instances, learners require extra support or guidance to overcome challenges they face. These challenges take various forms: financial or poverty-based, inability to access resources, lack of quality education opportunities, lack of awareness of informal learning opportunities and how to access them (i.e. libraries, museums, and learning centres), lack of personal social support providing encouragement and motivation to navigate life’s difficult moments, etc. I’ve been in contact with Dan Bassill over the last several years around a project he’s involved with: Tutor/Mentor Connection. The organization has the mandate of “improving the availability and quality of comprehensive, long-term, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in high-poverty areas of the Chicago region and other large US cities through an ongoing, dynamic exchange of ideas.”
I haven’t reviewed their program model at depth, but this page indicates the process of connecting mentors/tutors options…see this interactive map as well. A great concept.
We pay too little attention to the value of volunteering tutoring. In a visit to Brazil last week, I had the pleasure of visiting The Hub. The Hub is a social entrepreneur model where people and ideas connect in open, social spaces. A great concept. Social help/learning offer promise as a model for rethinking traditional education.
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Thanks for sharing this. I hope that we can connect with others in other cities who are using knowledge and maps to draw resources to under-served populations. In the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net site you can see other visualizations. Interns from the University of Michigan and IIT have been helping create these by converting my pdf essays or concept maps, into animations. If faculty from other universities would like to get their own students involved with this form of learning, we have plenty of opportunities.
There’s a great tutor/mentor setup with http://www.livemocha.com/ – this allows you to connect with native language speakers to improve your ability to communicate in a second (or more) language.