Does your district or site technology plan contain a vision statement like:
Our goal is to include all stakeholders in technology planning and implementation including administrators, faculty, staff, parents, business leaders, and community members.
Notice anything missing? The one stakeholder group that is not only the largest in size, but the one that is most affected by these decisions?
Students.
They are just too easy to leave out. It takes time and energy to engage them and include them. But ignoring your largest stakeholder group undermines all other efforts to gain consensus and build a collaborative community that can focus on shared goals and work to make your vision a reality.
School shouldn’t be something we “do” to students, it should be an exercise in community, citizenship, and practical action to achieve a shared vision.
How does this happen? Where do you start? How do you convince others to add their voices to yours? We have a new resource to help.
From Vision to Action: Adding Student Leadership to Your Technology Plan is an 8 page document that can help a district technology or site planning committee add students to the process. It offers research, models of student involvement, planning worksheets, and practical suggestions to get started. Download this PDF for free, share it, and let us know how you use it!
Sylvia