Digital Leader Roadmap
Digital Leaders is all about developing young people as well as the technology…
Five years on, and I still run Digital Leaders but the pressures of Computing mean I no longer actively develop DL resources. I keep this page updated through #dlchat and contacts.
I have helped develop #dlopenbadges through Makewaves and #Openbadges specifically for Digital Leaders with @curricinnov which means that any school can join the Makewaves site and have their Digital Leader network together and earn up to 27 #dlopenbadges – all for free…
I have had the pleasure of being involved with @SheliBB and a host of wonderful like-minded colleagues on #dlchat (Twitter 9.00-9.30pm on Thursdays) and the DLN Blog for several years. There is lots of information about setting up primary and secondary Digital Leaders as well as a briefing sheet with suggested sites and the main DLN Blog has regular posts from Digital Leader Coordinators.
I am now in a position to lay out a roadmap for Digital Leader Co-ordinators to start developing #DigitalLeaders and progress to enabling them to earn #Openbadges to demonstrate their achievements.
These suggestions were first described in my talk to are laid out (from my 5 Stages of Digital Leader development) below:
1. Entry Level (You already have Digital Leaders…)
In case you don’t think this is the case, try my 20 questions here… and see other peoples’ reasons at #dlchat’s Why should we employ Digital Leaders? Every school has a slightly different interpretation of what Digital Leaders are – this is a good thing depending on you; your students; your school and the things that need doing. For my talk at Leicester on “Developing effective digital leaders in your school” I wrote a generic definition as “a team of enthusiastic students who work with teachers and students on regular or one-off projects to improve learning with digital technologies.” @josiefraser has a summary here.
2. Developing – simple ideas to try out in school:
Have a look at the DLN Blog, the briefing sheet and this ICT for Education Talk (March 2015) . My diary (now archived) has all our talks and updates from 3 years of what Lady Lumley’s Digital Leaders got up to. I recommend @ladylumleysDLs video from their talk at Microsoft Headquarters; their prezis from @largerama and @fulforddls’ Teach the Teacher’s Meet; and their talks at the North Yorkshire Digital Leaders’ Conference 2012 including their second video in 2013.
Mystery Skype – v enjoyable way of joining up with other #dchat Digital Leaders – LLSDL #makewaves post here
Digital Leaders supporting the new computing curriculum – ideas here
@L_S_Stone > Recreation Road Infant School Digital Leader Team (Infants)
@simcloughlin “my mini digital leaders often help others with their learning”
@EHarlingPrimary mini digital leaders helped their peers do some research
@Jade_thomas2011 > You have chosen your Digital Leaders…10 ideas to help (Primary)
@bekblayton > Using-primary-aged-digital-leaders (Primary)
@curricinnov > A Wealth of articles from Bradford Schools and the Curriculum Innovation Centre (Primary) including case studies for Long Lee Primary School and Parkside School.
@Claire_N_Jones > Layton Digital Leaders’ Blog (Primary)
@JEcomputing The benefits of developing school ‘Digital Leader’ systems
@daibarnes > Ideas for Developing Student Digital Leaders (Secondary) (Secondary)
@salmckeown > Creating a digital leaders initiative in your school (Press)
@SSAT > “All can benefit from Student Digital Leaders”
3. Formalising – Structure and Organisation:
Assembly Prezi for all Year 9s and an adaptation by @LizSaddler – please use and adapt under creative commons. I’ve posted about how we use Google Apps for Education to work together here. From a safety point of view you will probably want to get extra permissions from parents and the permission form that I use is available for download and editing for your own use permissionforDLstoParentsOct2014.
4. Extending – working beyond school / networking with Makewaves (free) DL network
Transition with your local Primaries and Secondaries. Networking between themselves and then other schools Makewaves DLN page here and example sites Lady Lumley’s School, Pickering Community Junior School and Arden School. Then Introduction to Makewaves; Setting up your Makewaves Digital Leaders’ Site and then get your DLs to read about earning their first badges here. Then you can think about Developing your Digital Leaders’ Makewaves Site. You may also like Story Criteria For Basic And Multimedia Stories and iRig microphone for iOS or android devices – ideal for interview stories (Thanks to Daniel M from Makewaves) and foldable microphone stand.
@clcsimon’s > writeup of Makewaves
BETT is developing a fine track record of showcasing Digital Leader achievements:
2012 – Fulford School Digital Leaders
2013 – LLS DLs on Stone Stand and the DLN talk
2014 – BETT14 “Making the most of your Digital Leaders” and “Developing young people as well as the Technology”
2015 – Arden DLs and LLS DLs in main arena “Digital Leaders – What is it we want from Edtech?”
5. Acknowledging – Digital Leaders Conferences and also accreditation with #dlopenbadges:
Any chance of getting digital Leaders together face- to-face is brilliant and there have been some great examples starting with @FulfordDLs and @LadyLumleysDLs at Teach the Teacher’s Meet and North Yorkshire Digital Leaders’ Conference 2012. More lately:
@rlj1981 >#DLNetwork2014 Digital Leaders Kidsmeet
Ladylumleys’ Digital Leaders’ A-maz-ing-day @BETT2015 Blog from @eyebeams
Conference Talks about Digital Leaders – links here
Badges (and now missions) are built into Makewaves, and I recommend DLs getting their Starter Badge as soon as they set up Setting up your Makewaves Digital Leaders’ Site. Makewaves have regular fortnightly badge missions which Digital Leaders enjoy doing – for example many of mine have enjoyed completing “My Monster Read”. Makewaves advise about making and sharing badges here An introduction to Badge Missions, here How teachers can share badges from the Makewaves Badge Library and here A guide for students to using the Makewaves Badge Library. If you want a bigger view of #openbadges read why we badge from @malesser.
Creating a shared Digital Leader Framework including Missions and Badges and #SSATACH14 Delivering the Computing Curriculum with Digital Leaders and Open Badges.
The Final framework through work with Paul Scott. This shows the strands, level 1 and Level 2 Descriptors (Sept 2014), Level 3 Descriptors (Dec 2015) for all 27 badges of Leader, Networker, Reporter, Creator, Educator, Presenter, Technician, Reviewer, and Safeguarder.
Level 1 badges can be awarded by witnessing by the DL Co-ordinator. Level 2 and Level 3 badges need evidence independently collected by the DL involved and then awarded by the DL Co-ordinator. This evidence is detailed in the OpenBadges on Makewaves, but also as separate Level 2 evidence sheets and separate Level 3 evidence sheets. Feel free to download/copy as required. Thanks to @clcsimon for help with Level 3. Each of my DLs has one of these uploaded to google docs to guide them with their evidence collecting. Here are the first examples of awarding of #DLOpenbadges. Here is a plan for how this might work through the year – Digital Leaders – this year’s plan – Fully Qualified Digital Leaders.
@bekblayton’s > writeup of Makewaves DL badges
As usual, ESafety should be throughout these activities – Digital Leaders and eSafety