The EdTech Student Partners Program supports faculty in enhancing their teaching with technology. This program pairs participating faculty members with a dedicated EdTech Student Partner, who collaborates with them on an ongoing basis to explore and implement new educational technology tools in their teaching. Because each faculty member has their own distinct objectives and requirements, each partnership's duration and structure can be customized to suit their specific needs and goals.

Once a faculty member submits a brief online application and is accepted into the program, they will be matched with an EdTech Student Partner who will reach out to schedule an initial in-person or virtual meeting. During this meeting, the faculty member and student partner will collaborate to identify goals and develop a plan of action.

From there, the EdTech Student Partner will provide ongoing support to the faculty member in exploring, using, or implementing technology into their courses. The partnership will conclude once the faculty member's objectives have been achieved, which may range from a week or two to the end of the current semester, depending on their specific needs.

Partnerships are designed to be flexible and last as long as necessary to achieve the goals set by the faculty member and student partner. Once the faculty member's goals have been met, partners are encouraged to either set a new goal or conclude the partnership. If by the end of the current semester, the faculty member's goals have not been met, partners can extend the partnership into the next semester to ensure that objectives are accomplished.

 Faculty members are welcome to reapply for the program as often as desired!

Student partners can assist you at different stages of integrating educational technology into your teaching, from exploring the technology and becoming proficient in using it, to creating and testing assignments with the tool, introducing it in the classroom, and gathering feedback from students on their experience using the tool (which can be used to evaluate and improve the tool's use going forward). Some more specific ways that students can provide assistance include:

• Help maximize the use of tech tools already in use in your teaching, such as VoiceThread or Canvas
• Brainstorm ideas on how to use educational technologies to enhance existing activities and assignments
• Identify new edtech tools that address particular teaching challenges or learning goals
• Provide assistance in learning how to use new edtech tools (including ones not centrally supported by Temple)
• Develop documentation and tutorials for your students, including video tutorials where appropriate, on how to access and use an edtech tool.
• Test new technologies from a student perspective (without having to be officially enrolled in your course)
• Visit your classroom to help you introduce a technology tool to your students
• Lead support sessions (either during class time or outside of it) to support student use of the technology
• Help you pilot a technology tool for an assignment or activity in your class
• Assist with structuring your Canvas course to maximize student experience
• Help you create multimedia instructional content for your courses
• Provide feedback from a student perspective

EdTech Student Partners can help you explore and incorporate educational technologies into your teaching, including ones not centrally supported by Temple. Here are just some of the tools that faculty and student partners have explored in the past:

• Poll Everywhere or Slido for engaging in-class polling activities
• VoiceThread for interactive lecturing and multimedia asynchronous discussions 
• Social annotation tools like Perusall, Hypothes.is, and VideoANT for interactive readings and videos
• Collaborative online whiteboards like MURAL, Miro, Jamboard, and Padlet for shared virtual spaces during live classes or asynchronous group work
• Panopto or EdPuzzle for engaging, interactive video quizzes
• Google Sites for students learning journals or e-portfolios
• Mastery Paths in Canvas to provide differentiated learning path

For a more extensive list of tools that can be explored as part of the EdTech Student Partners Program, visit the CAT’s EdTech Tools Database.

EdTech Student Partners will not perform the following tasks:

• Hardware installations.
• Hardware repairs.
• Troubleshooting software and network problems.
• Serve in the role of peer teacher, grader, teaching assistant, instructor, or step in as a substitute teacher for your class.

Jonah Chambers, Senior Educational Technology Specialist, [click-for-email]

“[The EdTech Student Partner] is AWESOME and I feel so lucky to have her working with our class! Thanks for providing us with this opportunity!” - A faculty member, Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

“[The EdTech Student Partner]'s presence and enthusiasm enriched our class. She taught me more about Google Maps and that benefitted the entire class. She was reliable, eager, and a pleasure to work with!" A faculty member, Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

“[The EdTech Student Partner] has met with me every week. We set my goals. A priority has been for me to learn how to put exams on Canvas. She has helped and was present in the classroom to get me started on the first day of administration. Thank you". A faculty member, College of Public Health.

“The EdTech Partners program was 100% effective for me. [...] Mission accomplished! Credit goes to the EdTech Partners Program and my student partner, without question.” A faculty member, Fox school of business.