The Virgin Islands Next Generation Network concluded its first round of the cyber learning program “Train the Trainer” Friday on St. Thomas at the Department of Labor. The first round on St. Croix was successfully completed last week.
The program is designed to train site administrators who will operate public computer centers throughout the territory. Now that the first batch of site administrators has been trained, the PCCs they represent will be open to the public beginning Monday. A complete list of all centers along with individual hours of operation will be announced at a later date.
“The ‘Train the Trainer’ program is a key opportunity for education, training, and development for the site administrators at each public computer center, who will then go on to train our residents,” said Kevin Hughes, vice president of sales and marketing at viNGN.
“In addition to the ‘Digital Literacy’ program available at each Public Computer Center, the PCCs will also provide general computer usage such as accessing the Internet, completing resumes, et cetera. We will be providing free Internet access to our community, and helping to close the digital divide,” Hughes added.
The cyber learning training program is a project of the National Education Foundation. Cyber learning is the digital literacy training component of the PCC grant that viNGN received, which is one of four American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus awards under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.
Under the PCC grant, each PCC will receive a complete turnkey operational package of computers, software, server, printer and accessories. The aim of the grant is to facilitate greater digital literacy and sustainability, and to help narrow the digital divide by providing access to broadband for all, with specific emphasis on those who are underserved with the community.
Once the PCCs are open, visitors will be able to participate in cyber learning’s “Digital Literacy” program, an eight-week training that teaches the basics of computers all the way up to prep courses for Cisco certification and Project Management testing. At the end of the eight weeks, participants receive a certificate backed by the State University of New York at Potsdam.
“The completion of the first round of the ‘Train the Trainer’ program on both islands is exciting news for the territory,” said Lawrence Kupfer, viNGN Chief Executive Officer.
“The start of this program under this grant sends a clear signal to the public that viNGN is on track and moving forward in a positive direction. The ‘Train the Trainer’ program is just the beginning of many more tangible benefits that our community will receive as a direct result of the BTOP awards,” he noted.
The beginning of these initiatives under the PCC grant represents a major milestone for the administration of Gov. John deJongh Jr. as it has actively worked to secure the territory’s acquisition of the BTOP grants, and assisted in the creation of viNGN.
The administration believes these federal funds and programs in conjunction with its other initiatives are essential to stimulating the Virgin Islands economy.
For more information regarding cyber learning, visit cyberlearning.org and nefuniversity.org. For more information regarding viNGN or the Public Computer Centers call 715-8581 or visit www.vingn.com .
