Next Steps
"Citizenship in the Digital Age" will be a tremendous undertaking that will require
significant resources, ingenuity, commitment, passion, hours and effort from each
stakeholder. The participants in the focus groups were able to identify certain items that
must be addressed for the proposed initiative to be viable, including the following four
essential actions:
- Outline in detail the intents and goals of this initiative-teachers feel the "Citizens in
a Digital Age" initiative needs more definition before plans and priorities can be
established.
- Find county-level contacts to provide leadership and a dedicated staff-leadership
and support for any initiative was identified as crucial to its survival.
- Guarantee access to hardware and software for students and teachers-without the
tools, teachers feel this initiative will be difficult to pursue.
- Establish a coordinating mechanism to bring interested businesses to the table with
schools.
The champions of this initiative are encouraged to act quickly. The schools are ready and
eager to move forward. With the tools in their hands, teachers and students will come up
with creative ways to apply the technology. Delays will only stymie the efforts to
educate and train our future workforce.