The new K12TechPro Community is here. Here’s a Q&A with Chris about it:
Q: Missouri already has a good community of K12 tech depts. Why make the K12TechPro Community?
A: Like the MOTechTalk and then MidwestTechTalk conferences, we love you guys, we’re for you guys, we ARE you guys. We work in K12 tech depts ourselves! The K12TechPro Community is working to bring value to the K12 tech dept community at large. I really think the K12TechPro Community can be a great resource for tech depts in Missouri (and beyond). If Discord’s for you, cool. If email lists are for you, cool. If K12TechPro, or a mix of it and other resources, can be for you, very cool.
Q: Is the K12TechPro Community competing with the Missouri K12 tech dept Discord that several use?
A: Community has chat, but also has message boards, will have courses, and has several states in it. We’re not “competing with” or “going after” the Missouri K12 tech dept Discord, we’re providing a unique resource that can scale larger than just Missouri.
Q: Do you have to pay for Community? Also, how often is vetting?
A: If you don’t want to pay or don’t have PD money to pay, click Sponsorship when filling out the online form. We hustle sponsors to pick up the tab as needed! Vetting is once a year.
Q: Why is there a cost?
A: The platform itself costs money and we’re actively working to build value for you in the Community. We are providing sponsorship options to cover as many costs as possible. And no, we’re not making you beholden to sponsors. We have to have a metric for the sponsors to say what this is costing us. For those districts who want to pay to be a part, that’s great as well. You all are a great community. We’re just trying to provide another resource that people around the world can use. We do believe the K12TechPro Community is a great PD resource for K12 techs.
Q: I signed up for the K12TechPro Community, I’m in, and now I’m getting emails from K12TechPro. Are you spamming me now?
A: You can get notifications on what you want from the K12TechPro Community. You can turn off email notifications. For me, the Weekly Digest is good route. It sums up the week of the posts and member activity. Click bottom left, Notifications.
Q: Is there a phone app?
A: Yes. On the Community website, look under Links.
Q: Who is behind the scenes at K12TechPro?
A: It’s mainly Eric, Jay, and me.
Q: What’s the ultimate goal of the platform? Information sharing, helping other folks, general chitchat?
A: Yes, all of the above! All the email lists I’m on, Discord, the MidwestTechTalk conferences, all the PD I partake in, community is where it’s at; talking to people and getting to know people and sharing information. We want to provide as many resources to you all to become the best K12TechPros as possible. Whether that be through courses, information sharing, shared document repositories, and stored best practices. We want to help.
Q: What’s the purpose of vetting? To keep out kids? What’s the vetting process?
A: Yes to keep out students, sponsors, companies, superintendents, teachers, anyone who isn’t a K12 tech. Instructional tech teachers can have a place, but no to folks that don’t need access. The vetting process requires you to fill out an online form that then gives us the next steps in our process to confirm you work in a K12 tech dept.
Q: Is K12TechPro Community membership included with the MidwestTechTalk Attendee+ membership?
A: Yes, it is. We love Missouri and the Midwest.
Q: Tell me again why you made the K12TechPro Community?
A: Partly because of the SH1MMER stuff. We want to attempt to flip tables and be part of a solution to information getting out there in plain view that shouldn’t be. And for K12 tech depts to have an online place to banter well amongst other K12 techs. Community! Like Discord, yes, as far as the chat, but bigger picture too, with other states. My love for Discord and email lists that I’m involved with in Missouri is part of the evidence that other people need what we got going on. So, fill out that form, and try it out as an additional resource!
Q: What’s on the roadmap for the K12TechPro Community?
A: We want to build out courses specific to K12 techs. These currently don’t exist in the space. Monthly live streams with the Community. Swag and giveaways (kind of like the MidwestTechTalk conferences). A global community of people we’ve literally dug into and vetted.
Q: I’ve poked around on Community and I have complaints.
A: Tell us about it! We welcome all good, bad, and ugly feedback. We will press to make stuff better. Jay is good at fixing junk. Every product that has ever launched in social spaces looks way different than they do now. That’s all part of improvement, feedback, and additions.
We’re proud to announce the new K12TechPro Community – A place for K12 techs to chat, network, share resources, and maybe have some fun! Click here to learn even more.