C Tech crewsaders Package Part 1—The Program
1 Section 1 Introduction
ABOUT THIS BOOK FORWARD Welcome to “The Package”, care of the Tech Crewsaders. Within this document you will find all you need to kick start your very own student tech support and innovation team as well as plug directly into the Tech Crewsader global network of tech enthusiasts. This student tech support team started as a twenty percent project of it’s founder Brian Hamm, the Educational Technologist Integrationist at Seoul Foreign High School, and grew into a community of tech enthusiasts who have penetrated and impacted almost all areas of their community through their innovative projects, publications, and local support desk. The hope for “The Package”, the latest endeavor of the club, is to take the concept of giving students the opportunity to support their community and innovate solutions, while utilizing tech tools, and franchise it out and expand our combined impact. Imagine a global team of Tech Crewsaders, innovating wildly and collaboratively on projects of their design which impact their communities around the world simultaneously. Hopefully this package inspires your school to join them for the ride, it’s been a great one thus far.
ABOUT US Our Story The development of the Seoul Foreign High School student tech support and innovation team was proposed by Brian Hamm after consulting with developers of similar programs in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and with the help of Jeff Utecht and the Google Ninja program. In the fall of 2012, Brian and the Tech Crewsaders kicked off their first semester of what was to be an amazing, transformational experience for the student group. More than doubling in size by the second semester, the dedicated team has also filtered into the other divisions at SFS, and is now pushing their own publication, the Tech Crewsaders Magazine, to thousands of viewers around the world. This student led and driven group has drastically impacted the SFS community through their various innovations and has prepared a template and package for you to get your own “Tech Crewsaders� club up and going in your schools. So why were the Tech Crewsaders created in the first place? For the students, the Tech Crewsaders was an opportunity to explore individual freedom, a chance not often given at school. The Tech Crewsaders have almost full autonomy in pursuing their tech interests and projects, while integrating technology into Seoul Foreign School at the same time. The students were essentially given free rein with what their goals were with this group: be it creating an app or developing a magazine. And the fruits of that labor are shown through what they have done in the last year.
Besides providing both SFS students and faculty alike with tech assistance at the service desk, the Tech Crewsaders undertake a variety of projects. One of the key services that the Tech Crewsaders provide is the publication of the Tech Crewsaders Magazine which was created as a way to inform the student body of tech tips and news. This came about through an idea by a Tech Crewsader who felt there was an active interest in the student body about what was going on in the tech world. Other notable accomplishments include the development of web presence for school groups such as the SEOMUN (Seoul Model United Nations). SEOMUN contracted the Tech Crewsaders to work on two things: design and technology. The Tech Crewsaders has always had a heavy emphasis on sleek design, and as such, we designed everything from the logo to the pamphlet that every SEOMUN participant receives on his or her first day and also collaboratively developed the SEOMUN website itself, thus creating a communication hub that will be sure to transform the event entirely. The list of collaborative projects that have changed how school groups integrate technology is continually growing and had produced ripple effect on publications school-wide that has dramatically increased their fluency with publication programs and has help them to reach a broader audience more effectivly.
MISSION & VISION “To become the leading student led technology support team and revolutionize the field in schools everywhere”—VISION “By Crusading Technology into schools, one innovation at a time with collaboration and value both locally and internationally”—MISSION
WHY OUR PROGRAM Admin/Teachers The Tech Crewsader program gives students the opportunity to work on relevant, self directed projects that develop solutions to what is meaningful to them and their communities. Tech Crewsaders service three groups in the school community; students, staff, and parents. There are not many groups in schools that support all three, by doing so they are able to relieve some of the pressure off of tech support staff, which in turn allows them to support educators more on integration, than troubleshooting.
Students As our network connections increase, do we really connect and create meaningful networks? The Tech Crewsader program started as a group of students interested in exploring tech freely and wildly and turned into a cornerstone for all tech integration school-wide. This program is one like no other where “Moonshot Thinking� and failing fast are encouraged, concepts which are our pillars.
2 sECTION 2 Foundations
SECTION 2.1
ORGANIZATION OBJECTIVES
INTRODUCTION Organizational objectives serve as road maps to guide future Tech Crewsaders to its purpose. These are the key functions of how we use organizational objectives. •
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To Direct: Objectives provide a clear focus for all individuals and projects within the Tech Crewsader team. It can also help shape the team’s strategies and set To Motivate: Objectives can help inspire team members to reach a common goal and vision.
Target setting is vital to any team, because without having clear aims and objectives, there would be no sense of direction. However it should be noted that targets and objectives must not only be set at the center of the team but should also be in all levels. • (Inner Circle) Organization’s Objectives • (Median) Project and Team Objectives • (Outer Circle) Individual Objectives
MISSION & VISION “To become the leading student led technology support team and revolutionize the field in schools everywhere”—VISION “By Crusading Technology into schools, one innovation at a time with collaboration and value both locally and internationally”—MISSION
STRATEGY Every organization must have a long term strategy to achieve its aims. In our case, our long term objective is to integrate technology into people lives at school. As a result, we believe that all of our products and services must have value to the community. As a result, the Tech Crewsader team focuses heavily on quality control, design, and marketing. At the same time, it is necessary to identify what “the community” means to the Tech Crewsaders. Normally when referring to any devision or any “team” in a school, most of them serves on one or bodies of individuals. Teachers serves the students in teaching, the administrators serves the students and parents, and student council is for the students. The difference between the Tech Crewsaders and these other school organizations and devisions is that we seek to address all 3 bodies that makes up a school community—the students, the faculty/staff, and the parents.
Projects and Services When it comes to products and services in the Tech Crewsaders team there are two main areas we focus on. Firstly, there is the service, which is the foundation of everything we don in the team. In its largest and physical form, service in the team is represented by our service help desk that we run in the school. It is meant to be a place where anyone can feel comfortable to come to talk or ask us anything about using technology. From our physical location, service is then filtered into what are known as projects that the Tech Crewsaders aims to create and innovate in (e.g. the Tech Crewsaders magazine) to give back to our community by morphing knowledge of technology into multiple forms. Moreover, projects in the Tech Crewsaders team is divided into two main types: original Tech Crewsader projects and Partnered Projects. The main difference between the two are that Tech Crewsader made projects are created in-house, but Partnered Projects are contracted to us from other clubs and organizations within a school. Even though the origins of the two project types are completely different, what we try to achieve through these projects is entirely the same. When we approach any project, we ask ourselves these questions: • • • • • • • •
How does this project matter in the long run for our vision and mission? How does it change what is already present? How can this project make a difference? Can this project make a change in people lives? What will people feel ? Does it have value to them? Does it deserve to exist? Can it be achieved?
The Wheel of Development In terms of growth and development for the future of the Tech Crewsader program, we believe that, like other things, there is always a process. For us, it begins with our mission to provide a service, from there we then seek to innovate and create something new or remake something differently. Once it is ready and perfected we then release it to the public. Nevertheless, we are not yet done, we believe that everything that we do can always be further develop and improved. As a result we rely heavily on the feedback and the response that they give back to us. However, one must also understand that response does not always translate to verbal or written responses. Finally, once we have a better understanding of our school, we then begin to think and develop again,
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT For the Tech Crewsaders, growth can be measured by the following criterias: • The number of successful projects • The impact that the team has achieved in the community • The amount of talent that can be identified in a team By growing to become a larger organization within the school, these advantages will surface for the Tech Crewsaders
Benefits of Growth •
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Technical Benefits: With a larger Tech Crewsader team, there is an increased demand for the team’s products and services, which requires better tools to maintain and further develop to serve a larger audience. Financial Benefits: A larger group can gain more support from administrators, which makes it easier to attain financial support. In contrast, a small group may find it more difficult to attain financial support due to a lack of community interest. Diversified Roles: In a small group, individuals are often forced to take multiple roles which may overwhelm them. On the other hand, a larger group allows for a variety of individuals to undertake specific roles. This often leads to greater efficiency for the team as a whole. Increased Scope: A larger group can focus on more diversified areas. It allows for more projects to be undertaken, ranging from (for example) marketing and design to video production and magazine writing.
LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL GROWTH For the Tech Crewsaders there are three tiers that we try to complete in order. Firstly, there are the goals that we must accomplish at our school so that it can lay the foundation and groundwork model for other tech Crewsader programs outside of our community. Once we have a firm standing at home, we would then try to expand to other schools in our local network.
Goals at Seoul Foreign School (Our Home) • • • •
Establishing a functioning organization with a structure and management team. Identifying the community’s needs and servicing those needs fully. Developing a firm presence in the community. Publishing local work Online to attract interest from outside communities
Goals for Development the Local Community (SEOUL) •
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Establishing interest in the Tech Crewsaders program in other international schools in South Korea, starting in Seoul. Successfully establish or help to establish a Tech Crewsader program or a similar Tech Support program in a school within the country. Maintaining and incorporating Tech Crewsader affiliated teams into networked projects and collaborative endeavors as a centralized alliance Documenting the successes and the difficulties of local expansion, and publishing the findings for
both the local community and the international community to have further insight into our program.
Goals for the International Community •
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Establishing interest in the Tech Crewsaders program in other international schools outside the country. Sending a team of Tech Crewsaders to interested communities to establish a stronger relationships with these schools. Successfully establish or help to establish a Tech Crewsader program or a similar Tech Support program in another international school. Maintaining and incorporating Tech Crewsader affiliated teams into networked projects and collaborative endeavors as a centralized alliance. Documenting the successes and the difficulties of local expansion, and publishing the findings for both the local community and the international community to have further insight into our program.
CASE STUDY
TECH CREWSADER MAGAZINE At Seoul Foreign High School, there have always been two publications— the yearbook and newspaper. WE have identified that there has always been a gap for a different type of publication. One that is different in style, content, design, and plainly new. As the Tech Crewsaders, we knew that we could apply our knowledge and talents to change how publications were created at SFS. Thus the Tech Crewsaders Magazine was born with the following goals in mind: •
•
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Create a design philosophy that could be used to impress and interest readers, while setting a standard for design at SFS Change the way print publication is delivered to our audiences through a subscription-based delivery system Explore and use other mediums for publishing our content other than print. (This helped lead to the creation of our website.)
However, the most important reason for the magazine was to set a standard for the Tech Crewsaders as a whole. By creating the magazine, we helped create the impression that we were a professional group of young adults. By using the magazine as our cornerstone, we gained the trust of both students and faculty within our community.
SECTION 2.2
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
(The Center) Leadership Committee • • • •
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The Leadership Committee is the figurehead for the entire team. Oversees all projects and Tech Crewsaders Endeavors. Establishes the long-term aims that the Tech Crewsaders should accomplish Creates a sense of collaboration for different projects within the Tech Crewsaders, preventing a sense of disunity. The Committee will also serve as a liaison between faculty members who are interested in starting a partnered project with the Tech Crewsaders team
(The Ring) Project Leaders •
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The main role of project leaders is to ensure the progression of their respective projects as predetermined by both themselves with members of the Leadership Committee. They are also responsible for coordinating day-today operations for their projects and their team members, including staff. At the same time they must periodically update and maintain a line of information with members of the Leadership Committee, with overseers from the Leadership Committee.
(The Legs) Members •
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Responsible for key parts in a collaborative group in bringing the success of a project and is responsible for the tasks given to them by their project leaders. Members and staff are expected to be on task with their assigned work. However the use of members and staff should not be abused by project leaders. If a project fails or is not progressing, the members are not held accountable but instead their Project Leaders and Leadership Committee are fully responsible.
The Coordinator The role of the faculty coordinator within the Tech Crewsaders is an interesting one. While he or she provides a sense of leadership it is key to note that they should not specify the direction of the Tech Crewsaders directly. One of the most important roles of the coordinator is to ensure that the team allows for ideas amongst members to be free-flowing. It has been demonstrated that students have some of the best ideas when left to their own devices and we try to emulate this on every level of the team. Some of the biggest accomplishments from this laissez-faire environment are the Tech Crewsaders Magazine and the Tech Crewsaders website. Therefore, the role of the coordinator is one of a facilitator, who is there to offer to support to project teams or individuals as by securing what Daniel Pink calls the “truth behind what motivates people�; autonomy, mastery and purpose. Regardless of whether or not the facilitator believes Tech Crewsader’s goal or project is achievable, they must allow the process to evolve organically and value the it more than the product. The facilitator is a coach and mentor who leads by example and offers positive reinforcement to projects that achieve their stated goals, and direction to those that fall short, but most importantly strives to uphold the integrity of the Tech Crewsaders in all processes and projects.
SMART OBJECTIVES & TASKS When setting objectives or task for the entire Tech Crewsader Team or project members, one must take into account these factors: • SPECIFIC: Objectives / Task must be clearly defined • MEASURABLE: Results must be quantifiable in order to assess the extent to which team members have achieved the delegated task. • AGREED: Both leaders and team members must agree to the delegated task in order to avoid any potential conflict. They should also agree on the amount of influence and freedom that goes into a project or the assigned work. • REALISTIC: Delegated tasks must be reasonably achievable, otherwise members will not finish them. • TIME CONSTRAINT: A time frame must be set, so that tasks are completed in an orderly manner.
EXTRA: • •
ETHICAL: Tasks must be delegated fairly to prevent dissatisfaction and resentment. RECORDED: Tasks should be documented in order to provide guidance and to aid recognition of them being accomplished. In this way, members can be credited for their achievements.
SECTION 2.3
THE ROLE OF MARKETING
INTRODUCTION Everyone in a community has their needs and wants , marketing exists to address it. Marketing as a whole, for the Tech Crewsaders, is about getting more users and audience for all of our services and products like the Tech Crewsaders Magazine. Therefore, marketing must be used to look at the reason behind people’s decisions, such as their preferences to design or their method of content consumption so that we can adapt our offerings to their likings while still achieving our mission. Here are the questions that we always ask ourselves when planning to deliver something new to the community. 1. Is there going to be a demand for the service or product in mind? 2. How can we give our service or creation to the people so that it is easy for everyone in the community to access? 3. How do we convince the community that our service and products is of value?
Analyzing the Market—The School Before promoting or publishing any new Tech Crewsader products or services we must first analyze what the school wants in the first place. As such we must first identify the market for our products and services. Markets differ in size, however they can and must be measured to determine whether a product or service will thrive and be used by the masses Here are the determinants of a market size: •
Audience Size/Demand—measures the total potential number of audience for all services and products. If there is a large amount of audience who are or will be interested in the product or service, there is then value in making the product. • Barriers to Entry—Determines how difficult it would be for the service or product to do well in the market. More specifically, it examines the kick starting costs for the products or services, and the difficulty for something to do well when there might be something that is similar already out there. In addition to identifying the present nature of a market the Tech Crewsader team also focuses on the growth as well. We firmly believe that not only should a product be successful in the current market but it should stay, and have a long lasting impact for the years to come. As a result, we must also look at the potential growth for all services and product in order to plan for the long run and the necessary promotional tactics to maintain the relevance of the product and services for the days to come as well. Moreover we believe if we look closely at all times at the increase in usage or decline in the usage of our products and services we can also learn from our successes and failures to better change and evolve what we have to keep up with the community.
The Role of Marketing For the Team •
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Marketting is a management process and is a key part in the forming of strategic objectives and aims. Involves identifying the needs and wants of the community to better serve them Allows us to anticipate and predict what our community wants from us in the future. Marketing is needed to satisfy the community. Products and services have an aim to satisfy the needs and wants of the community. Products must also represent a value to the community and marketing is used to convey that message
. Marketing is fundamental to the success of the Tech Crewsader team. We feel that there is a strong correlation between the amount of marketing and the amount of positive response from the community in the use of our services. However, marketing alone does not ensure success since other aspects of the team must also be considered for marketing to work seamlessly as we continue to innovate one creation at a time. In reality, the Tech Crewsader will use marketing alongside other functional areas on team, such as:
Operational Management The project divisions must work closely with the members responsible for marketing in the to devise project strategies deadlines and project goals. For example, if another group in a school plan to publish something on a certain day, the team members responsible for marketing in the project team must take that date into consideration and adapt the project’s launch date to either before or after the other school team’s launch date. From time to time there may, however, be some conflict between project leaders and marketing members since project leaders would always prefer a longer time period to build and perfect
their before launch. Whereas the marketing aspect of the team would want to launch projects quickly in order to maximize the generated “buzz” for the project. Moreover, delays in launching a project not only means a loss of purpose for the team in the community, it can also be damaging to the team’s image.
Management of Team Members Analysis of the market can also help in the perfect allocation of team members in the team. For example, the introduction of a new website for the Tech Crewsader team may need more members that are talented in web development allocated to that project team. In addition, more marketing members might also be needed to be assigned to that team to help plan the optimal way of launching the product and generating a “buzz” in the community at the same time. However, it is the responsibility of the Leadership Committee to ensure the team has the right quantity and quality of members in every project team through effective planning and coordination.
Market Orientation of Products and Services For the Tech Crewsaders everything we deliver to the community has to be perfectly catered to the community, and never the other way around. We focus more of our energy into conceiving services and products that will actually make an impact to our We do not simply start on a new project or building a service only because we can, we must always consider the community’s first. As a result, we also spend a lot of our time knowing the people that we serve. This will involve tailoring our ideas and adapting our thoughts to our people. It puts the community first and our ideas second. If we choose to differ from this line of thought, if we choose to ignore the relationships we had built we will loose the community, and loose their support. For us, we do not worry about the adaptations and the changes we must make to our offerings; instead we consider the cost of not constantly adapting and improving.
Marketing of Products and Services When marketing either a product or service the Tech Crewsader relies on what is called the marketing mix to plan and develop all our offerings. 1. The Product— The important factor to consider when promoting either to is to find the differentiating characteristic that makes both of them different from what already exists out there whether it will be the brand image, the packaging quality, the design, or the functions of the offering. 2. Place—Refers to the way a service or a product is delivered to the community. It must always be ensured that the goods and services are available in convenient places for the community to easily access it. For example, in the Magazine team we pay close attention to the way people subscribe to us, and as a result we spent a large portion of our time designing the system in which a subscription can be submitted to us and the way to maintain a database of all our subscribers. 3. Promotion—Without promotion how will the community know what we have to offer? This is the question we always ask ourselves when we try to bring a new service or product into the community. To achieve the goal of getting the most attention for our program in the community we rely heavily on the use of all media channels such as video commercials that play throughout the school, advertisement in other school publications including our own, beautifully designed advertisement posters that are put up everywhere, and many more ways. 4. People—The attitudes and aptitudes of the members in the Tech Crewsader team will determine the experience and quality of service given to the community everywhere not only at our service but it can also be in every classroom
in the entire community. A highly motivated and competent Tech Crewsader team is more likely to deliver a higher quality of service than a demotivated and demoralized team member. A happy user will more likely form a long lasting relationship with the Tech Crewsader team and will continue to use our products and services in the future. Moreover, a happy user base can also be a good source of marketing through positive word-of-mouth promotion to their friends and peers. Community Relations management (CRM) involves setting standards for, and training members to deliver, good community service. 5. Physical Evidence—Refers to the image portrayed by the entire Tech Crewsader team regarding its tangible and observable features. In particular, we found that if a product for example a publication that is beautifully crafted and designed will receive the most attention and hype in the community and if such standards in quality can be maintained the entire community will have a solidified perception of the entire team as a “quality-first” entity in the community. 6. Packaging or the image of a product—Deals with the ways a product is presented to the community. From our experience, and confirmed by psychologists, people’s moods are affected by things such as color, texture, and appearance. Here are the functions of a beautifully designed product. • A beautifully designed product has a profound impact on the community’s perception of the entire Tech Crewsaders team. • The design used in a product acts as a form of differentiation for the team.
Marketing Objectives • • • •
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Maintaining or increasing the influence of the Tech Crewsader team in the community Leading the field of aggregating and integrating technology into the community Maintain and improve the image of all our products and services image in the community Ensuring that the community are content with the quality of the product and products that they receive from us To diversify all our products and services To help in the launch of any new and totally innovative product or service
C
CONTACT US
@techcrewsaders.com/contact