138 Future Forwards: Exploring Frontiers in Education
students (and educators) to the conference as participants and
presenters, we have struggled with engaging with public schools. We
believe that public school students are making significant contributions
to educational technology in their own schools. A more targeted
promotional strategy is needed to attract these students to the
conference.
Secondly, student coordinators agree that the planning of this
conference is a significant undertaking. This planning must be completed
while balancing conference work with each student’s individual course
workload and other school responsibilities. As such, there are times when
the faculty advisors and educational consultants must take the lead to
ensure deadlines are met and conference calls are scheduled. Because
we all view the conference work as a “community of learners” working
collaboratively to meet the same goal, this approach becomes one of
mutual support and mutual accomplishment.
Impact on Student Learning
Planning the conference provides a variety of learning opportunities for
students, including developing collaboration, communication, and
leadership skills; effective time management; managing the expectations
of students with disparate interests and priorities; evaluating student-submitted proposals and offering honest feedback on those proposals;
and being keen to not take on all planning responsibilities.
To quote 2015 Student Co-coordinator Isabelle Fitzgerald: “At the
University of Virginia, I have applied to join both the student
entrepreneur club (HackCville) and TEDxUVA, and both have been a lot
of fun. Planning for TEDx reminds me a lot of planning for the Student
Technology Conference, just with a more competitive selection because
spots are limited. I’ve realized how great our digital model was for the
conference because the barriers to entry didn’t exist on such a rigid
level.”
2015 Student Technology Leadership Team President Amanda Derman
(Marymount ‘ 15, Cornell ‘ 19) comments: “ I’ve been given many tools to
