Mona Sloane / Media Studies 

Developing a Blueprint for a Student Technology Council – Mona Sloane

 Young people have always been early adopters of technology. The arrival of generative AI (such as ChatGPT) has shown that students often hold the knowledge and lived experience that educators and decision-makers lack but that is crucial for deploying technology to its maximum potential. Students are also experts in their own learning and are the primary stakeholders in the learning process.

 My dream idea is to empower students to participate in the decision-making processes about technologies that affect their education, their careers, their lives. I want to develop a blueprint for the nation’s first student technology council here at UVA, where we have a history and culture of strong student governance. This project is a new partnership between my research group, Sloane Lab, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy at UVA.

 I envision the student technology council to bring fresh perspectives and a direct understanding of the challenges and opportunities technology presents in education as experienced by students, serving as a bridge between the student body and university administrators and educators and helping identify and prioritize the technology needs and concerns of students. This is ever more important in the context of AI, where the pervasiveness of large-scale data collection and predictive analytics can affect students’ lives far in the future. The council can examine AI trends and advise key decision-makers about the student perspective on technology procurement and implementation. It can also act as a catalyst for transparency and accountability: it can help oversee the ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI and technology, helping UVA navigate data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the responsible use of student data.

 It is key to ground the development of the UVA student technology council in a research-, stakeholder-driven, and transparent process. With the funds of the Mead Endowment, I plan to ensure this will be the case by hosting a series of roundtable discussions with key student groups on Grounds (such as Honor or student athletes). The goal is to host ca. six roundtables in the early Spring 2025 semester to better understand students’ technology uses, needs, and understandings as well as solicit their ideas about the format, composition, and operation of a student technology council at UVA. To ensure students are truly in the driver’s seat, a student liaison will be hired in the Fall 2024 semester to help map out key student stakeholder groups (some of which may not be formally organized) and ensure diversity of background and perspective. The student liaison will also support the organization and running of the roundtables.

 The roundtables will feed into the bigger student technology project and will provide the first draft of a student technology council structure at UVA. They will provide the groundwork for a bigger student assembly (in the style of a professionally facilitate citizen assembly) that is tentatively planned to engage the wider student body. The ultimate goal of the student technology council project is the establishment of the nation’s first student technology council at UVA and the publication of a process template that other universities can use to develop their own student technology councils.

Budget:

Catering for six roundtables hosting 25-30 students each (ca. $350/event): $2,100

Student liaison ($20/h for 5h/week for two semesters plus 7% fringe): $3,424

Total: $5,524