Student ‘tech sherpas’

Senior Jayson in a Freeport, Me., school district “says he wants teachers to see that technology isn’t as hard as they might think.” He’s a “tech sherpa” for his high school, a group of students that support the district IT department, help teachers with classroom tech, and earn credit in the process, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “This fall the group also launched a weekly live Web-stream show called ‘The Tech Curve,’ in which students field questions about various Internet teaching tools and the new Mac laptops that the state is issuing to high school teachers (see www.nokomiswarriorbroadcasting.com).” Each year an organization in Olympia, Wash., called Generation YES helps about 200 schools to set up the curricula behind the tech-sherpa program, the Monitor adds. This is the kind of tech-training program that empowers youth as well as educators. The program in Maine is clearly a confidence builder for the “sherpas,” who also learn patience and diplomacy in working with adults. “They’re relating to people, not just computers,” working collaboratively to solve real problems. The school’s tech coordinator told the Monitor that “the most valuable assignments he can give are ‘authentic’ tasks – of real use to the school or the community.”