Students helping Students use Tech

Session 3

Jeff McClurken, Martha Burtis, Jess Reingold — University of Mary Washington

Lab B

In 2014, the University of Mary Washington opened the Digital Knowledge Center (DKC) to provide peer-based tutoring on digital assignments. With a model that is based, in part, on the school’s Writing Center, students can seek assistance at the DKC for digital projects they’ve encountered in classes; students can also seek help on using technology, more generally, to achieve academic or personal goals.

On face-value, the DKC may seem like nothing more than a digitally-focussed tutoring center, but, on a more fundamental level, the mission of the Center is also to develop student voices within conversations about the role of digital technologies at our school. Within its first year, the DKC has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and we continue to explore ways to further employ tutors as ambassadors on digital issues within the larger university culture.

During this presentation, we will share three unique perspectives on the vision behind the DKC and its current programming. Special Assistant to the Provost, Jeff McClurken, will discuss the original plan for the Center and how it came to exist; Director of the DKC, Martha Burtis, will share lessons learned from the first year; and former DKC tutor and current Instructional Technology Specialist, Jess Reingold, will share her perspective as a student who helped launch the Center.

We believe organizations like the DKC can become transformative catalysts for cultural change around digital issues at our schools. We hope to be able to impart some lessons and inspire others to explores similar endeavors.

Conversational Practice

After the three presenters briefly introduce their three topics, we will invite attendees to group around these three different perspectives, aimed at helping participants imagine how they can approach developing similar organizations within their own schools or districts:

how to “sell” a center like this as a school
how to program and manage a center like this at a school
the student experience of a center like this (and how to make this as positive and fruitful as possible)

Each member of the UMW team will lead a brainstorming discussion on their topic. At the end of the session, we will regroup to share ideas and strategies that we all uncovered.