A team of Digital Leaders at Ysgol Bryn Elian in Colwyn Bay are spearheading a drive to educate students, staff and parents about the possibilities that are available to them through the use of technology. The Year 7 Digital Leaders took part in an exciting application process during which they were asked to apply for one of a number of roles with one small catch: the application had to be in a digital format! Entries ranged from encoded binary messages to animations, and even included presentations encrypted with a password that could only be discovered through decoding a QR code!
The team of E-Safety advisors, Digital Journalists, VLE Champions and Teacher Trainers are offering assistance to pretty much anyone within the school that needs it.
The Digital Leaders already have their work cut out for them with many teachers lining up for assistance creating courses and uploading resources to the schools’ VLE and helping jazz up electronic teaching materials, making them more interesting and engaging for pupils to look at and learn from. Performing Arts events will be covered by Digital journalists who will be on hand to record and publish stories and interviews of performers. Similarly Sports Day will be covered live on Twitter with information on competitors’ progress in the individual events.
These young techies will also be working alongside members of the school council who have organised an upcoming event to raise awareness of e-safety aimed at pupils and parents. The event will allow parents to get hands-on experience of how to help their children tighten up their privacy settings on social networking sites.
The school embarked on their Digital Leaders journey after being inspired by pupils from Hamble Community Sports College at an event in Birmingham back in March. Since then, pupils have been working hard, training to gain all the expertise needed to help the ever growing list of teachers vying for their support.
Here’s what the team at Ysgol Bryn Elian had to say about the programme:
“I became a digital leader because I want to help teachers, parents, and students to use ICT to improve their skills.” – Lauryn Evans, VLE Champion.
“I have a passion for technology and often help my parents when they need help. I get a sense of satisfaction that I have helped someone when I have shown them something they didn’t know. This helps them get better at using technology and it also helps me find out things I didn’t know myself.” – Liam Herbert, Teacher Trainer.
“With this team of enthusiastic young people, I’m sure the Digital Literacy of staff and pupils in the school will be well placed for whatever technology has in store for us in the future.” – Allen Heard, ICT Teacher.
Ysgol Bryn Elian would like to thank Acer and Gaia Technologies who have teamed up to provide a netbook to assist the Welsh Digital Leaders in their quest for technological excellence.
My Digital Life 