NWP Technology Liaisons: New Leaders at Local Sites

By: Karen McComas, Christina Cantrill
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 6, No. 4
Date: September-October 2001

Summary: In response to the rising technology needs at local sites, NWP launched the new Technology Liaison Project. Liaisons will act as intermediaries between the network and local sites.

Writing project sites throughout the country are expanding their use of technology. The most recent set of annual site reports confirmed that many sites use technology to address a range of communication and data collection tasks, as well as to enhance professional development offerings through online conversations, courses, and Web-based programs. At the same time, the National Writing Project has expanded its connections with sites through technology by moving the annual survey to the Web, developing NWP Interactive (NWPi), and communicating with sites via email. As a result of these changes, many directors have expressed a need for technology support.

In response to this rising need, NWP launched the new Technology Liaison Project in March 2001. A whopping 106 sites applied to NWP seeking an additional $3,000 for their budgets to support the work of a technology liaison, or "tech liaison." Each tech liaison acts as a conduit through which technology-related information between the local site and the NWP can flow. In addition, tech liaisons will facilitate work with site leadership teams to design technology to support the individual site work. Tech liaisons include teacher-consultants, co-directors, local friends and colleagues, as well as office administrators and local Web-gurus. Some sites put together tech teams to work locally, with one person serving as the primary contact with NWP. Tech liaisons will work together for the first time at the NWP Annual Meeting this November in Baltimore.

As local initiatives, the tech-liaison proposals ranged in both need and vision for technology work at local sites. Where plans of work were outlined clearly, goals included providing support for local institutes and inservice; moderating local listservs; supporting online reporting; developing and maintaining a site database and Web site; and facilitating the local aspects of national online projects such as the NWP summer E-Anthology. At some sites, talk about the use of technology and assessment of local needs will serve as an important first step. For sites who already have someone functioning as a technology leader, this opportunity allows the site to compensate them and for the site to connect them to a national network of colleagues doing similar work

NWP tech liaisons will be able to take advantage of a range of professional development offerings focused on technology. This professional development will be provided in consultation with the NWP Design Team, a leadership group that explores the connections between literacy, technology, and learning. A representative advisory committee of 10 tech liaisons met in Berkeley in August 2001 to work with NWP Design Team Chairs Karen McComas (Marshall University Writing Project) and Claudine Keenan (Lehigh Valley Writing Project) to develop a vision and a plan for the first year of the Technology Liaison Project

To see local site technology initiatives in action, visit local Web sites via the NWP Web site—just go to the Map of Local Sites and click on the state you would like to visit.

Additional Resources

Join NWP "Netheads": A public discussion forum for NWP community members interested in the implications and uses of technology in teaching, writing, and learning.

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