One in an occasional series of features on Charlotte area businesses, nonprofits, and events, and how they are adapting to the “new normal.”
Our Subject: The Dottie Rose Foundation; a nonprofit program offering hands-on technology learning, so kids can develop the skill set they need and explore the areas of tech and computer sciences. We talked with Dr. Sharon Jones, the program’s founder, about how they’ve changed to meet their students and customer needs.
What’s been impacted: “We are traditionally a face-to face experiential learning model,” said Jones. “Our model is to bring these kids in the spaces of these tech facilities… to connect the dots between real world application and computer science.”
With schools and most partner facilities closed, and students with idle time, the team at Dottie Rose Foundation moved quickly to shift to online instruction— months before they’d ordinarily offer their in-person workshops.“I’m pretty proud of that,” added Jones.
Innovative pivot: “We put together a series of courses that we knew would lend themselves to online learning, but would also be accessible to kids right now when kids would have the opportunity for additional learning.”
Jones said they know kids have a ton of interest in gaming, and the platforms they’re built on would lend themselves to online learning over Zoom teleconferences. They’re now working with partners to create supplemental materials and content like videos and animation the students can upload that support the lessons. They’ll serve as resources that’s available even after the workshops.
“It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, but never found the time,” said Jones.“Now that we are doing it, we’ll be able to expand our current catalog of content and its eventual reach.”
Reactions: “We’ve gotten really good feedback so far,” said Jones.“Parents are saying amazing things— but there’s always room for improvement.”
Jones said a surprising extra is that kids participating in the virtual program are getting exposed from all over the country.
“They had no idea that kids in Denver, Colorado didn’t have Bojangles!”
Forecast for future: Jones said that if students and families continue to find value in the virtual program, the Dottie Rose Foundation will keep it as part it’s offering.
“This will be an exciting opportunity to reach more kids,” she said, “and for kids to learn that their world is a whole lot bigger than Charlotte.”
Find out more about The Dottie Rose Foundation at https://dottierosefoundation.org/