In many primary schools around the country there are Green School Committees and Active School Committees that are made up of elected members from each class as well as one or two teachers. Some schools nominate members; some schools have committee volunteers and some hold elections to fill the committee places. For both of these committees students make up the majority of the committee.
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In my own school the pupils on these committees give their time freely to attend meetings and also to do various tasks and jobs around the school to promote Green School and Active School activities. After seeing how successful these pupil led committees have performed I have decided to set up the school’s first Digital School of Distinction Committee.
The role of the Digital School of Distinction Committee will be to:
- Provide an opportunity for pupils to voice their opinions and offer suggestions in relation to I.C.T.
- Sharing I.C.T. knowledge and skills.
- Maintain and update school website.
- Take photos/videos of events in the school and upload to school website.
- Organise events to promote I.C.T. use within the school community.
- Promote and raise awareness of safety on the Internet in the school community.
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Perhaps there are other school ICT leaders who have already set up a Digtial Schools of Distinction Committee and could reply to this post with their thoughts.
Yes we have a Pupil’s IT Committee and we are also a DSOD. I find the pupils to be very eager, extremely hardworking and very knowledgeable. Our committee has been running for 5 years now and the members are from 4th, 5th & 6th class. Their role is to advise the Principal & BOM on the ICT needs of students & to support the ICT vision. They do this by evaluating students needs through surveys, reviewing the website content, sourcing suitable apps & sites for thematic curricular work & promoting internet safety. The committee have even attended staff meetings to advise staff on new software, resources & suggestions for fun lessons. I would highly recommend a Pupil’s IT committee to any school!
Our school has featured on 2 of the DSOD videos if they are of any help to you;
http://www.digitalschools.ie/resources/leadership-vision-resources/ http://www.digitalschools.ie/resources/ict-in-the-curriculum-resources/
For anyone who is interested we also have a Parent’s IT committee too.
When we originally began the process of evaluating our ICT needs, we accepted that as a staff we were lacking in confidence in our own digital literacy skills and we certainly did not have technical maintenance skills amongst us that is required in a school. So we turned to our parents and for the last 5 years we have had a Parents IT committee of skilled individuals who can offer technical support, advise on infrastructure, assist with our website & support us through professional development. These are volunteers who meet regularly throughout the year and liaise with the Principal & Deputy Principal on all infrastructure issues. This committee have also provided invaluable advice on reviewing policies from a parental perspective, focusing on the safety for children using devices & skills they would like to see flourish. The work the committee have done on maintenance & infrastructure has saved the schools thousands of euros.
We also have a number of parents who are ICT trained in their own professions and who have offered workshops to classes, teachers & parents on Internet Safety, Cyberbullying, Technological Gadgets of the Future & Resource development. Such support is invaluable and has been key to our growth.
I hope all this helps!!