COMHAIRLE CHONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 11, 2006

QUESTION NO. 23

QUESTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

To compliment the Manager and all Council staff involved in the Connect Project and to ask if he can provide a brief report on the progress made to date?

REPLY

Connect's mission is to deliver a free, easy to use service that enables local communities to use technology in innovative ways to achieve their goals and to put local content on the World Wide Web. We are working towards a future where everyone in South Dublin County uses the internet as an everyday tool developing opportunities for personal, social and community development. 2006 has been the first year of the project, and as such the focus has been on project planning and development. Four main projects are in development - Connect Me, Connect Web, Connect School and Connect Centre. Progress under each project is set out below. Promotion and Website development are also two key strands in the success/impact of Connect. An initial priority has been to ensure all Council Staff become familiar and actively supportive of the project goals and over forty presentations have been made internally to staff at every level of the organisation to achieve this. These presentations and information updates for both Staff and Councillors will be an ongoing aspect to the work to maintain excellent communications.

In terms of promoing the project within local communities, Time to Connect was a fortnight of events demonstrating, using and discussing Technology in our lives. Over 300 people attended forty-eight different events that were organised in the mornings, afternoons and evenings of each weekday across Ballyroan, Brookfield (St Aidan's Community School), Clondalkin, Jobstown (An Cosan), Lucan, Tallaght,  and in a mobile 'Computer Gym'. The programme of activities for the fortnight included workshops on Searching the Internet, The Wonders of Google Earth, Techie Toys for Christmas, Bebo Awareness for Parents, Video Games of the 1980’s, Tours of South Dublin County Council’s Traffic Management Centre, Guides to Photoshop, Digital Photography and Web Design, Skype Demonstrations, Website Training for Community Groups, and a Mobile Computer Gym. Along with this busy programme of activities, local groups who have developed websites on Connect Web showcased their work over the fortnight in the County Hall, including Clondalkin Citizen's Information Centre, Tallaght West Childhood Development Initiative, Swan Family Support Project, the Integration of African Children in Ireland, An Cosan, St Aidan's Community School, Brookfield, St Basils Taveller Group, and the Institute of Technology, Tallaght. The programme was launched by Mayor Eamonn Moloney on 16th November, which also presented the newly developed Connect Website at www.southdublin.ie/connect.

Connect has been prioritised at the highest level within the organisation reflected in weekly meetings with the County Manager and some Senior Management and the Project Manager has joined the Organisational Change Cluster. Our priority is to ensure all departments integrate the project goals across all relevant work processes within the organisation so that Connect is a project that is well managed and sustainable beyond the lifetime of the project team through integration with core work practices

Connect Me

Connect Me presents an extensive range of business and community information using online interactive maps on the website so people can find accurate information easliy and quickly about their community. Initial development on Connect Me has been:

• 6,000 business and community organisations categorised under headings
• 3 monthly updates of the Geo-directory databases set in place (6,000 Businesses and 82,000 residential dwellings)
• Report A Fault Facility has been linked into the Customer Care System
• A Customer Focus review has been carried out on the design and usability of the website and follow-up on the recommendations is ongoing
• Additional data sets for uploading onto Connect Me are currently being identified across the organisation and ongoing uploading will be integrated with core work practices through collaboration with the Change Management Unit

Connect Web

Connect Web supports all community groups to create their own internet content and to develop new methods of collective engagement. The priority this year has been on training community groups in web design and supporting them on an individual basis to bring their site to a sufficient quality and standard to go live. The following is some information on this.

In 2006:

• 31 Training Sessions have been held
• 50 Community Groups have been trained
• 77 Websites are live
• 31 Websites are in development
• Significant development of the South Dublin County Tourism website, www.southdublintourism.ie

Connect School

Connect School is running in St Aidan's Community School, Brookfield to develop student centred technology in an innovative learning environment in order to improve educational outcomes for the students. This year the following work was prioritised:

• An Audit of the Teachers to assess levels of skills, experience and confidence in using technology was carried out in April. Out of this a core group of 8 teachers have been identified and supported to lead in ongoing peer learning amongst all teachers. This has proved a very effective learning approach for all teachers. 
• All teachers recieved their laptops in May and each were given either one or two training sessions on developing a Virtual Learning Environment before the summer breakup
• One their return in September, a full day of in-service teacher training was organised where teachers were trained in searching the internet for content, using digital photography for project work, and preparing and delivering powerpoint presentations. During this training each teacher developed an interactive lesson
• A second day of In-Service training was held on 23rd November were the teachers formed subject groupings and identified modules and lesson plans in interactive format. These subject groupings will continue in place to progress through curriculum content over the year. Targets for completion are currently being set.
• Technical and training support is available to the teachers on a full time basis through the ICT Co-ordinator in the school and the Core Group of 8 teachers meet weekly
• 3 meetings of the Project Steering group have been held. Membership of this group includes the Co Manager & Head of IT from SDCC, the Principal, Vice-principal and Chair of the Board of Management of the School, the Manager of the Regional office of the Department of Education, the Head of Computing of the IT, Tallaght, The National Teaching Skills Co-ordinator of the National Centre for Technology in Education, and the ICT Advisor of the Dublin West Education Centre.
• The tender for the purchase of laptops for the students is currently being finalised and expected delivery is after Christmas
• A Resource Room is being set up by the school to act as a base for the ICT Co-ordinator and a drop-in area for the teachers and students, with Internet access. The school has also purchased digital cameras and data projectors in support of the project goals
• The School's wireless network is currently being upgraded to ensure robustness to cope with the usage levels
• The Virutal Learning Environment is developing fast with significant interaction from the teachers in uploading content

Connect Centre

Connect Centre is working to create a network of Community Technology Centres (Connect Centres) where people can access and learn how to use technology in their own community. Progress in this has been in the following areas:

• The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have agreed to part fund the planned extension of Jobstown Community Centre to include the creation of a digital learning centre and youth drop-in centre 
• The IT and Community Services Departments are working together to identify priority Community Centres across the county for technology upgrades into Connect Centres
• The Project are working with the Volunteer Bureau to develop a pilot 'Adopt a Centre' project encouraging volunteering from IT Staff of Private Sector Companies
• We are working with the Volunteer Bureau, Tallaght Partnership and Partas to develop an online Digital Alliance Network of IT Experts and Users
• A policy proposal to create a network of WiFi in Public Buildings across the County will be presented to the relevant Strategic Policy Committee in 2007
• Close working arrangements are developing with Libraries to ensure full integration with the Libraries IT initiatives