Mara Rose

Behind a nondescript storefront in the heart of Harlem, Mara Rose weaves her way through a room full of computers to an 11-year-old girl named Miracle who wants to show off her new Website. Rose admires the page, the original creation of a girl who thought she would never have the chance to learn HTML.

Rose, a student at Teachers College, is the director of this community technology center, called Playing2Win. She designs and implements classes for 300 Harlem residents--most of whom do not own computers--on how to be comfortable and proficient with computers.

"I came to this job because I'm interested in the educational aspect of it, because I'm really not a techie," Rose said. "People are just so excited about computers, and I saw that teaching technology to people who were hungry for it was what I wanted to do."

Rose also saw that teaching computer technology was an opportunity to be experimental in her curriculum.

"School was always a struggle for me because I didn't learn well in a traditional classroom," she said. "So, now I emphasize the importance of creating the right environments for learning, and the importance of allowing people to explore and play as part of the learning process."

Finding the right learning environment for herself was important when she decided to return to school for her master's degree after two years of teaching computer skills to elementary students in California, her home state. She settled on Teachers College, attracted by the Institute for Learning Technologies' strong academic reputation and the lure of the city.

"Until I came to Teachers College, everything I knew about technology and education I had taught myself," she said. "The program has a great reputation, and I was ready for the energy of New York City -- there's a hectic energy here that I think encourages creativity."

Rose herself has been the one to encourage creativity at Playing2Win. One of the most popular classes at the center is "Writing and Illustrating a Virtual Storybook," a course that Rose developed to foster literacy rates and adult-child mentoring as well as basic Web design skills. She also invites everyone in the center to act as a teacher for other members.

"About half of the people who come here have never used a computer before, so I strive to find ways to make the technology less intimidating," Rose said. "A person who just learned to do word processing himself can teach someone who has never used a mouse before. Besides, the best way to learn something is to teach it."

Maria Olivar-Correa, who moved to Harlem from Venezuela in 1998, joined Playing2Win with her husband and is now the center's administrative assistant and spends several hours each week teaching others what she has learned.

"Everything I know about computers I learned here," she said. "And now I am confident using Microsoft Office and building databases. I'm even teaching kids how to create Websites and make their own video games."

Olivar-Correa also said that she couldn't talk about the center without talking about Rose.

"Working with Mara has changed my life," she said. "She's patient with people, but she sees that you can do more than you think you can. Less than a year ago I didn't know how to use a mouse, and now I am assisting with the Introduction to Computers class!"