The Youth Technology Support Collaborative (YTSC) was established in 2003 through the leadership of Apple, CoSN and MOUSE with the goal of creating a national conversation related to the emerging trend of youth playing technology support and leadership roles in their school communities.

Participation in the YTSC is open to any individual or organization that is interested in supporting the organization’s mission. For more information, please contact Calvin Hastings at calvin@mouse.org.

Karen Cator, Apple
Calvin Hastings, MOUSE
Bob Moore, Blue Valley USD 229 and CoSN

The YTSC plans to conduct bi-annual meetings in conjunction with major ed-tech conferences and continue to develop and implement activities that promote informed and meaningful roles for youth as technology leaders in their school communities.

The YTSC supported the development of the Apple-sponsored white paper, Youth Technology Support Programs: Meeting the Challenge of Technology Support in Schools prepared by Douglas Levin of the American Research Institutes, and has undertaken the development of A School Decision-Maker’s Guide to Student Technology Support Programs: The Power of Learning & Leadership prepared by Karen R. Greenwood of Nimble Press.

As the 2003 National School Board Associations’ report “Are We There Yet” indicated, youth are playing an important role in assisting their school communities in maintaining and using educational technology. Students are operating industry-standard technical support help desks, mentoring students and teachers, maintaining school Web sites and more. The YTSC is a working group of over 20 individuals and organizations with representation from school districts, corporations, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education. The membership shares the desire to promote youth technology leadership activities that maximize engaged learning for students directly involved, and that integrate and sustain school-based educational technology.