Join us for Help Desk Live Episode 9  today from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. as we talk student-run tech teams. Our guests will be Cyndy Engvall who serves as the Tech Integration Specialist at Grafton High in Grafton, Massachusetts, along with her student Jessica who serves on the Grafton High Tech Force. This episode will give students the chance to share with each other, and with our viewers, what they are doing within their school communities to support the effective integration of educational technology.

Schools all over the country are realizing that one of the best ways to support teachers and students with technology integration is to employ the skill and knowledge of their tech-savvy students. In Burlington, we are in year three of our student run Help Desk program. We continue to troubleshoot and problem-solve technology issues for students and teachers who drop into the Help Desk. However students have started to assist with meaningful integration of technology by going out into the classrooms through offering classroom presentations. In the last few weeks, Help Desk students have offered training sessions to their classmates in Evernote, Explain Everything, and Touchcast. We have found the “students teaching students” strategy to be very effective and the feedback I have received from faculty has been positive. In addition to live demonstrations, Help Desk students are also offering comprehensive app reviews and are creating screencasts to walk people through the step by step process of using specific applications. Finally, Help Desk students have been given the opportunity to connect with industry professionals and other students through the creation of the Help Desk Live initiative. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a new podcast series designed to offer even more support to our faculty and students with tech integration.

We are excited to talk with Cyndy and Jessica about the work they are doing in their school to help students and teachers with technology integration. Collaborating with other tech teams and sharing best practices is one way to help our schools continue to progress with 21st century  we hope you will be able to watch us live or catch the archive on our YouTube Channel.