The Computer Clubhouse was founded in 1993 by The Computer Museum (now part of the Museum of Science in Boston) in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab. Using the "original" Clubhouse as a model, the Computer Clubhouse Network supports community-based Clubhouses around the world, providing thousands of youth with access to resources, skills, and experiences to help them succeed in their careers, contribute to their communities, and lead outstanding lives.

The goal of the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network is to proliferate the highly successful Clubhouse learning approach and establish it as a replicable model for technology learning. Intel Computer Clubhouse is a community-based education program that gives youth in under-served communities access to high-tech equipment, mentoring, and instruction. In this informal learning environment, students are able to express themselves with the technology and increase self-confidence while pursuing their own interests. There are currently 100 Intel Computer Clubhouses open in over 20 countries serving 25,000 youth annually. The clubhouse is typically located in an underdeveloped-setting and is operated in partnership with an NGO. It demonstrates how technology can be a powerful motivator to stimulate learning and all-round awareness and to inspire school drop-outs to rejoin mainstream education.

The Intel Computer Clubhouse is an after-school program, where youth ages 8 to 18 have access to high-tech equipment and mentoring in order to develop skills that open up opportunities, encourage self-confidence and foster creativity. Youth who visit the Computer Clubhouse learn by doing. They create digital artwork, produce their own music CDs, film, write and edit their own short movies, and design websites. This simple idea, evidently, touched a nerve. Local youth came in droves to the after school haven where exploratory learning shattered the experience of listening to lectures or reading textbooks. The Clubhouse became a digital playground where young people could polish their computer skills to a high sheen as they built websites, designed digital animation, and produced their own comic books and compact discs.

Intel India has also joined hands with a few educational and social institutions in India to support community needs and provide a supportive learning environment where youth build skills and self-confidence, as well as a future, working together with adult mentors who provide inspiration and serve as role models. One such effort is the Intel Computer Clubhouse launched in New Delhi in December 2001 at the Katha Khazana, an NGO-run school, which is open to children from Govindpuri slum area in Delhi.

This is the first Clubhouse in the Asia Pacific region under the Community Development Program. The Intel Computer Clubhouse at Katha is an "Invention Workshop" for children living in Bhumiheen, Navjivan and Jawahar Camps in Govindpuri, New Delhi. Govindpuri has a total population of 1.5 million with approximately 600 families living on every hectare of land. The Intel Computer Clubhouse at Katha is equipped with personal computers and a variety of high-end software. Clubhouse members have access to high-tech equipment that helps them develop skills that create opportunities, encourage self-confidence and foster creativity.

Clubhouse members have used technology to spearhead community work among the people to:

• Create awareness on the quality of drinking water by way of conducting a survey, collecting water samples and researching using technology.
• Putting together a map of their slum and highlighting areas that need improvement, viz: infrastructure, sanitation etc.
• Using an internal television network to create awareness about the hazards of pollution caused by crackers during Diwali.

This is the second Intel Computer Clubhouse in India, inaugurated on 27th December 2002. This clubhouse is an invention workshop for these village children, giving them access to high-tech equipment to help develop skills that encourage self-confidence and foster creativity. Bhagya Rangachar, executive director and founder trustee of CLT says "Nearly 100-150 children pass through the clubhouse each day which is open from 10am-6:30pm six days a week. We work mostly through the mentor mode and currently there are 14 mentors and 5 CLT members overseeing the activities."
www.cltindia.org
www.katha.org

Supportive role
The Intel Computer Clubhouse plays a supportive role with its host organization that compliments the vision and helps scale the programs of both the clubhouses.

Seamless Integration
With its seamless integration with the already existing community projects and educational programs, technology is used as a leverage that adds a new dimension to the learning enhancement programs with skill-building tools for sustainable learning.

Digital inclusion
In today’s context, youth face social exclusion without ‘Digital Inclusion.’ The Clubhouse bridges this gap by extending learning beyond school and by providing ‘Techno-Space’ where relationships and creative projects come together.

Connecting a global concept to the local context
The youth explore on an inspiring idea by using technology in an innovative way and expand it by taking it back to the community. Thus connecting a global concept to the local context.

Impact

• Clubhouse programs enhanced and strengthened technology-aided programs and added a new dimension to the open-ended learning.
• Greater access/better infrastructure.
• New (constructivist and self-directed) methodologies and concepts.
• The Clubhouse has helped volunteers program evolve into a robust mentoring program and Partnerships.