What is a digital engagement leader?
The pandemic has changed everything about education, and that includes how educators can connect with one another.
To combat these new communication challenges, Education Minnesota will work to help your local identify its needs and recreate communication channels and digital meeting spaces in the socially distanced 21st century world.
We know these channels may look different for every local, which is why we are looking for 1-2 tech savvy volunteers, digital engagement leaders, from your local to help with this challenge. We have a framework, but you’ll be part of the first cohort of digital engagement leaders to shape this program.
What does being a digital engagement leader mean?
- Ensure members in your local have access to communication channels and information they need to participate.
- Receive training on communication tools such as Hustle and local website resources so you can make sure the information your members need is accessible and that they have the ability to receive timely updates.
- Provide Education Minnesota with feedback occasionally as we look to create and expand our digital engagement toolkit.
How could volunteering for this help your local and members in your district?
- Keep members updated on what’s happening with the local. At the end of a long bargaining session, your bargaining team may need to communicate successes (celebrate) and roadblocks (activate) that occurred during the day. Using the digital engagement hub, you will have tools to notify and engage members, encouraging action using tools in the digital engagement toolbox as necessary. We have templates to make this process easy.
- Help spread the statewide-initiated message. During the legislative session, we anticipate needing to activate members help in contacting representatives on short notice to support/oppose bills and committee votes. Our goal is that it will takes the digital engagement leader 10-15 minutes to send 350 text messages (using Hustle—more details below) to your colleagues asking them to take action and contact their representatives in St. Paul.
Spokes (resources) on the digital engagement wheel
- Hustle – Hustle is a peer-to-peer texting platform that allows you to create and send hundreds of personalized text messages from a template. Your members reply to the texts to start a 1:1 conversation.
- Website – Education Minnesota has free website services and support available to all locals. Included is the ability to restrict access to members (username and password protected). If you already have a website, you do not need to switch to the Education Minnesota provided platform, the hub can
- Social Media – Social media is a great tool to get your local’s message out and engage community members. While optional, we have tips and tricks to make your local’s social media community a success.
- Digital meeting space – Learn how to leverage digital meeting spaces to hold socially-distanced local meetings. A well-known example of digital meeting space is Zoom.
- Email platforms – Learn about tools to create local and community email lists. Email can increase local and community engagement, especially for organizing and when calls-to-action are needed to help your local.
- Do you have a digital communication tool that has not been mentioned here? This is not an exhaustive list of digital communication resources. Please share with us other tools you use to help communicate digitally.
During these unprecedented times, locals need a digital engagement leader more than ever. We hope to help locals leverage digital resources to enhance engagement options during this time of social distancing.
Will you join the team?
Contact Matt Blewett at matt.blewett@edmn.org and he can get you signed up.