Finding Potential Digital Leaders

chris runoff flickr

chris runoff flickr

One of the most frequently asked questions in respect of starting out with Digital Leaders in a school is how do you find them. Now, I don’t mean find as in, “where are they hiding?”.  That would be a little weird wouldn’t it? I mean the suggestion that there is a group of students hidden away in a nook of the school with their technology… Anyway I digress. I am of course referring to the issue of how do you recruit those who are interested in and passionate about technology, those who have raw skills and the potential mindset to become a Digital Leader?

Typically, the answer lies in a recruitment campaign. Advertising and promoting the ‘new’ role and seeing who comes forward. However, there are alternatives and a good example is through the ‘club’ approach:

 

 

Set up a club or a few clubs at lunchtime and/or after school where the focus is related to something you want to achieve with Digital Leaders. Good examples are a Web Design club, a Gaming club, a Photography club, a Raspberry Pi club, but of course there are many more. If the focus is something you want to achieve then this is more likely to lead into enabling setting up Digital Leader programs. So, relating to the

colemama flickr

colemama flickr

examples given, if one of your early ideas for Digital Leaders is to have them become Digital Journalists for the school then set a Photography club. Teach them the basics of digital photography and put cameras in their hands then lead them into the area(s) you had in mind for the Digital Journalism role. Let them produce the material say in the form of a website then start to hand over control to them where they become the leaders, the controllers of the product, in this case. In time, this leads into Digital Leaders and the journey has well and truly begun without them really knowing it.

Lovely.