Blacks in Technology – CSTREAMing

Blacks in Technology – CSTREAMing
by William Jackson
Edward Waters College – Educational Technology Instructor

Computers Science Technology Reading Engineering Arts Mathematics
“The development of content, creation of Apps, software development,
and the integration of technology for reading, science, engineering, math
and other areas of academia for African Americans is only part of the battle
to create an employable high tech workforce.”
William Jackson, Edward Waters College, Educational Technology Instructor

The African American participants of One SPARK (each year grows) in
One Spark and Ed Spark ranging from educational software, to reading
initiatives like Reader Theater (Tangela Floyd and Emanuel Washington),
the implementation of robotics in learning GEERS, a focus on the growing
academic initiatives of STEM/STEAM.
The encouraging trend is more participants are African American showing
that even in Crowd Funding African Americans have viable and competitive
projects.
Several of the highlights of One Spark and Ed Spark that is still being
celebrated on a national scale, the winner of the Education Division
“The Adventures of Moxie Girl,” whose comic book concept is an inspiration
to African American girls in the very sensitive subject of hair and self-esteem.

Literacy, comprehension, imagination and reading are vital for African Americans
to be competitive in a world that has embraced technological advances. Too
many African American children are struggling in a nation that is leading globally
in technological evolution. One Spark and Ed Spark have shown that African
Americans have to be able to build Apps, write with power, imagination, and
creativity, involved in project management, STREAM initiatives on a grass roots
basis in the community.