SWAT Team: A Student Leadership Club to Support Student School Connectedness and Teacher Technology Use
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v21i12.4705Keywords:
higher education, school technology programs, instructional technology, student leadership, student empowerment, technology integration, school belongingness, extracurricularsAbstract
Research suggests that many school technology programs have a new, unanticipated need for ongoing training and job-embedded support for teachers and students (Sheninger & Murray, 2017; Warschauer, 2012). Additionally, the seemingly unrelated problem of low student attachment to school is widespread (Klem & Connell, 2004). Student technology leadership clubs, when trained and led properly, are one possible solution to both problems (Ertmer & Hruskocy, 1999; Harper, 2008). This mixed-methods study took place at a middle grades school and blended student interviews with quantitative student achievement and attendance data, as well as teacher technology-use survey data. The study has determined that student technology leadership clubs that train students in relevant technology and empower students as leaders can enhance students’ attachment to school while also improving teacher technology use.
