Setting up a 'User Group'

[meastaugh1]

I'd appreciate some input from those that have set up a user group to involve students and staff in the school's ICT provision. I suspect many of the benefits are obvious (user engagement, improved communication etc), but I'd be interested to hear how beneficial this has been in practice and what particular areas a user group has contributed to. Thanks

[Sylv3r]

We don't have students involved in our e-Learning Working Party - but this is something I have considered.

The one tip I would give is as much as you can hand pick the staff you want in the group and don't just rely on the heads of department picking the person as you don't always get the right people involved and you don't move things on very quickly.

You will find if you listen to what they want and deliver something they have asked for the next time you meet, you will get a lot more ideas as they can see ideas they suggest have been acted upon.

[GrumbleDook]

1 - It has to have the backing and support of your SLT
2 - It has to have some defined goals, preferably some that tie into your schools' development plan, is part of student voice and you have SLT backing that decisions / recommendations made by the group will be seriously considered.
3 - It needs to be tied into staff CPD to ensure that it is not just an elite few who benefit from it.
4 - There needs to be a good cross-section taking part in these types of groups ... not just the ICT elite ... get more mid-range users involved too.
5 - Do not get disheartened if for ever 10 ideas the group has only 1 gets used ... it will grow over time. Eventually, you might be lucky enough to have a 50% development rate.
6 - Make sure that although only a few people will attend as representatives of the large school community, the conversations / discussions / presentations / videos / software is available to as many people as possible.

There are probably more things I could add ... but most would be for how SLT should deal with these sort of groups and that varies from school to school.

[GrumbleDook]

Finally got round to a blog post on this.
Grumbledook Blogs | How do you share the joy and share the pain?