What is Omar’s Dream Program?

Omar’s Dream Foundation enables hospitalized and medically-supervised children to remotely attend school allowing them to stay connected to their teachers and classmates. Omar’s Dream Program is free to qualified students and their educators.

Equipment needed

A laptop, tablet (example: Apple iPad or Microsoft Surface) and webcam if laptop does not include a camera. Wireless connection is also needed for communication.Depending on students preference students may be more comfortable with doing work on regular paper, in which case they may choose to print assignments and complete them by hand.  If so, the student then will need to scan (or photograph or otherwise digitize) the finished assignment and return it to the teacher (by email or file sharing).  A parent or family member also could drop the work off with the teacher.

Video Conferencing

In order for the student and teacher(s) to communicate with each other, video conferencing is required.
Besides the equipment listed above no other component is needed. In this way, the student can see the teacher and classmates, and the teacher and classmates can see the participating student (to the extent the students and parents agree).  Suggested video conferencing programs include Facetime (on iPads) or Skype which are very common and easy to use.

File Sharing

The participating student and teacher will need a mechanism for sharing and submitting assignments. Assignments can be shared with the participating student via email or file sharing capability (example: Google Docs, WebEx or DropBox).  The participating student will need access to a complementary service (i.e., an email account to receive email or access to the file sharing program) in order to submit his or her work.

I’m all set up. Now what?

Teacher and student should remain in contact on a regular basis about connecting to the class. The participating student connects with their teacher using Facetime or Skype as soon as they are ready to
join. The student then remains logged in during the school session or as long as their health permits them to do so. This allows the student to fully participate in class and interact with their classmates and teacher.

What if the student needs medical treatment while the class is in session?

Participating students often are hospitalized and, thus, it is likely that they will have visits from nurses and doctors while the student is logged into class.  A participating student should coordinate medical treatment with his or her doctor and nurses ahead of time, so the student can inform his or her teacher.

When necessary or appropriate, the participating student can ‘pause’ the video conference or log out temporarily to receive treatment.  In some instances, it may be possible for medical treatment to be coordinated with downtime in class (such as recess or lunch) so as to avoid interrupting class time.

The participating student should work closely with his or her doctor to determine what will fit his or her
needs.

Participation Requirements

The minimum qualification is that the participating student is unable to attend his or her regular classroom for a minimum of two weeks as a result of his or her medical condition. All participating students must have doctor and parental approval to participate.

Free of Charge

Omar wanted every similarly situated student to have access to his or her home educators and classmates. Omar’s Dream Foundation will fund the program for qualified students and teachers. Omar’s Dream Foundation also will ensure the participating student and teacher(s) are fully equipped and will provide technical assistance to make sure all systems are working.