School (and Community) Benefits

The best way to insure a positive return on a school's investment in DLC membership is to maximize the use of DLC resources and tools. The best way to maximize use is to provide the school community (students, educators, and parents) with local, "just-in-time" training and support.

Although the DLC prides itself on its policy of unlimited training and support to member schools, the obvious reality is that DLC staff simply cannot be on-site whenever a training or support need arises. That's where talented and eager students come in.

Net Generation

Members of the "net generation"—sometimes referred to as "digital natives"—fill today's classrooms and have grown up surrounded by technology. They are receptive and eager users of technology, unintimidated by the challenges of figuring out how technology tools and resources work. The DLC taps into that enthusiasm by training groups of students to provide that essential, localized support piece.

Agents for Change

Beyond the "point-and-click" mechanics of how the DLC resources work, however, Club Commons members become familiar with and skilled in using those resources from the context of Powerful Teaching, as described in the Washington School Research Center's (WSRC) publication, A Decade of Reform. As students become more informed about professional practice that leads to improved student achievement, they become effective and collaborative agents for change in their schools.

Peer Mentors

Aside from helping their teachers and other school staff become more accomplished users of DLC (and other) resources, Club Commons members can also serve as peer mentors, perhaps in the context of after-school open computer labs where other students can access DLC resources to complete assignments or work on projects.

Community Outreach

Programs might also be considered whereby parents or the wider community are invited in to use the school's computer resources on a scheduled basis. Club Commons students, under appropriate supervision, could staff weekend or evening open lab sessions, offering formal computer classes or simply guiding adults in becoming more effective users of online resources—the DLC's or others.

Extending their service beyond the walls of their school, Club Commons members can also serve as ambassadors to the wider community. There are likely nonprofit community groups in any town or city that would welcome the technology expertise that students might bring to such projects as developing an organization website, establishing a database of supporters or contributors, or creating a mailing list for fund-raising purposes.

The possibilities are as essentially limitless as the Web itself!