In the fall of 2011, when Boston Public Schools wanted input from teachers, students, and parents on reforming the district’s accountability framework, they quickly realized traditional engagement strategies — a series of poorly-attended town hall meetings — just weren’t working. So, they adopted Community PlanIt: a free online platform designed to reimagine community participation in local planning by introducing game-like elements. Over the course of 7 weeks, over 400 community members of all ages generated 2600 comments and sparked conversations on topics from social media policy to racial bias in teaching. Based on this success, there are plans to repurpose Community PlanIt in Detroit, Akron, San Jose, and Philadelphia.
Community PlanIt BPS from Eric Gordon on Vimeo.
References: Nieman Lab