Creating a student tech team can be a catalyst for empowering students to develop real-world transferable skills, engage in authentic leadership of their school community, and participate in self-directed and project-based learning. Building a team of student leaders is a sustainable way to transform your school’s culture around powerful learning with technology and to create lifelong digital citizens, innovators, and problem-solvers.
A student tech team is a group of students who act as key enablers for establishing a consistent and sustained culture of powerful learning propelled by technology within their school community. It’s more than just a group of tech-savvy students; the student tech team empowers students to lead their educational technology experience, fostering self-starters and critical thinkers.
Facilitated by a faculty member sponsor, a student tech team provides students with the opportunity to cultivate transferable digital skills such as:
Some schools choose to incorporate their student tech team as a class within their master schedule; others choose to create a club that meets before school, after school, or during lunch. While the structure can look different across contexts, it’s important to create a model that works best for your unique community needs and supports all students having access to the opportunity, regardless of their background or academic standing.
Cultivating a student tech team is a key component of the Powerful Learning Propelled by Technology and Consistent Access to Devices and Connectivity domains of Digital Promise’s K-12 Digital Equity Framework.
Check out how Mater Academy’s student tech team teaches their teachers how to use digital tools to enhance learning at Mater Academy in South Florida:
They transform the classroom into a workshop for authentic and project-based learning where students can develop transferable skills that build their digital literacy and competency, preparing them to be active participants in our digitally driven society. Ultimately, establishing a student tech team in your school can be a powerful step in advancing digital equity and setting your students on a path to future success.
The Student Tech Team Toolkit builds off more than a decade of experience with Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, where student tech teams have played an essential role in maintaining a sustainable 1:1 student device program. This toolkit provides the tools and resources needed to help leaders and facilitators establish and grow a student tech team at their school.
Ready to learn more? This toolkit is designed for you to explore in any order to best suit your needs and interests. Together, let’s empower students as digital learners and leaders of powerful learning with technology in our schools.
Interested in getting started now? Download this 1-pager for editable links to helpful resources found in the Student Tech Team Toolkit.
DQ Global Standards Microcredentials (GSM): A global interoperable codification of digital skills for AI and sustainability digital intelligence. (2023). https://www.dqinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DQ-GSMWhitepaper.pdf
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