GenYES is the only student-centered research-based solution for school-wide technology integration. Students work with teachers to design technology-infused lessons and provide tech support. The resulting collaboration provides the students with project-based learning and the teachers with on-site, sustainable technology integration support.
I supervised the implementation of the GenYES program for three middle schools when I was working in the Schenectady CIty School District. The students really liked supporting teachers and some teachers really bought into the program. I believe it is a valuable collaborative program but sustainability, especially if it is grant funded, can be problematic because of the yearly licensing fees. It's been three years since I worked with Dennis Hooper and the program and the fee schedule be have changed. I know they were doing more online lessons, training, etc. I can provide more information to anyone who is interested.
"Forest Lake principal Kappy Cannon didn't leave it up to teachers to decide whether they would join the digital revolution. As long as you provide adequate support, she reasons, you can demand that it be done. This mandate from the boss gave the school's tech-integration team a major boost. Also helpful: instructional-technology specialist Paulette Williams's sweet but insistent approach. When the school got interactive whiteboards, she gave teachers six months to relinquish their old overhead projectors. Then she said, "You can give me the projectors peacefully, or I'm going to take them." "
This article and video explores how one elementary school in Columbia, South Carolina transformed itself into a 21st century teaching and learning community.