Since school districts pour large amounts of time and money into classroom technology, it's extremely important that the computers work! Keeping everything running smoothly can be a never-ending battle which district technology coordinators find hard to win. Their time is so often split between repairing computers, administrating the network, providing professional development to teachers and staff, overseeing technology purchases, and any number of other tasks that they simply don't have the ability to cover all the necessary ground.

Using students to help solve technology problems is a solution that has worked for many schools. Students are clever, quick to learn, and motivated. Besides, another great thing about using students to help with technology is that there are lots of them and they don't cost much! Schools have had success using students to help with troubleshooting, repair, professional development, and even classroom instruction.

Tech Teams often originate from computer clubs or simply through student interest in technology. They don't always focus on computer repair. Developing school web pages is often among the Tech Team's responsibilities.

There are several questions to consider when creating a Student Technology Team...
- Which students will participate?
- When will they meet as a group and when will they "do their job?"
- Who will coordinate and train Tech Team members?
- Will there be any enrichment activities to help motivate and inspire Team members?
- How much responsibility should they have?
- Which jobs should be left to an adult?

Student Leadership, from Intel® Corporation's Education web site, provides responses to some of these questions by outlining necessary steps in creating a Tech Team. The author addresses why schools would want a Tech Team, how the team will be structured, planning, and training team members. It's a good place to see what another school is doing.

For more extensive information, the C-R-E-A-T-E for Mississippi project has developed an outstanding resource for training "students to provide just-in-time support for technology use for teachers, administrators, and students in the classroom." This multi-page site contains a thorough FAQs section, examples of materials put together by the Tech Team, and other information that describes the work of Student Tech Teams in these Mississippi schools.

Students as Teachers

Generation YES has created an entire curriculum for developing students into information technology specialists. Technology coordinators obviously benefit from having a well-run student Tech Team. However, classroom teachers can benefit from the expertise of the Tech Team as well. Not only does classroom technology need to function (the Tech Team can help with that), but someone needs to know how to use it effectively for classroom projects or activities.

A similar organization is MOUSE(Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education). The MOUSE Squad is comprised of students who have received extensive training on repairing and maintaining technology. The simple premise is: the better the technology works, the more it will be used by teachers for curriculum-based activities.

Many Tech Teams are trained to become experts in using a specific application or piece of hardware. Need to know how to make a KidPix slide show? Ask the Tech Team. Don't know how to edit digital video? Ask the Tech Team. Want to print on both sides of the paper (and have aligned correctly)? Tech Team to the rescue!