However, one session I attended was not lead by a school district  –  “How to Include Students as Co-Designers in your 1:1 Program” by John Nash (@jnash).  I really shouldn’t call it a “session” as it’s really structured as an interactive mini-workshop.  A group of 3 or 4 educators sat at a table with one student (graciously borrowed from BCLUW and CAM districts). We went through the process of interviewing the student to collect information on them as a person, their educational background, their feelings and ideas related to building a 1:1 program that meets student needs.  The interviews are very revealing and very powerful.

Oddly enough, I left this session thinking that it was just “good”  – but over the next few hours, my opinion changed.  As I attended more district-lead sessions, I heard districts make comments such as…

* I wish we would have involved students more in the planning

* I wish we could have included students on the site visits during the planning stages.

In the end, the theme that I walk away from the conference with… There’s a need to have more student involvement in 1:1 planning.   In fact, as I look back on the process now, it’s not only valuable for planning 1:1, it would also be valuable for districts that have already implemented.  It could easily be used as another data collection tool or as a way to dig into exactly how students are using their devices.  With empathy as the key building block of this process – you could easily modify the detailed or probing questions and use the process for any initiative that intends to impact student needs.

For more details on John Nash’s “How to Include Students as Co-Designers in Your 1:1 Program”….

Download a copy of  the Student Interview Workbook

Visit his blog: http://ReformByDesign.posterous.com

Website for related PD for schools: http://dLab.uky.edu

Contact him directly….

Email: john.nash@uky.edu

Twitter: @jnash