This was the title of a recent email I received from an edtech company looking to break into the education market.
TURNKEY DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: NO WORK REQUIRED
And the be honest, I’m sure it worked for some people. Their marketing materials were great, the website was pristine. It all appeals to a group I’ll call the ‘no work required crowd’ (NWRC).
Here are a few things I’ve learned in the last decade or so:
- If there’s no work required, there’s probably not much to be gained from the product or program.
- If there’s no work required, it will not be a successful implementation.
- If there’s no work required, it means that there isn’t buy-in for the outcome.
- If there’s no work required, it means someone is probably purchasing this without input from the stakeholders.
- If there’s no work required, it means that the people who are going to be delivering this to their staff and then to the students- they don’t need to learn the material and can’t support the work. They can’t speak with authority to the concepts and ideas contained therein.
There is always an appetite for this type of program, the ‘get rich quick’ scheme for transformation appeals deeply to the NWRC. And this, of course, isn’t only true of digital citizenship programs. This is true of any project worth implementing at any type of organization. At this point, I would prefer to see this as a headline:
EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: REALLY HARD WORK REQUIRED, BUT IT’S WORTH THE EFFORT
It’s won’t appeal to the NWRC, but it’s worth it for our kids.