October+20

Meeting Minutes for October 20, 2009 @ ESMS, 1:30pm Focus of the Committee/ Educational Technology Current members: Chris Minarik, Sharon Moolchan, Scott Kwasnitza, Steve Dudar, Richard Ingimundson

1. Study Group meetings: · brief history (initially – technology teachers; presently – classroom teachers) · structure (meet 4-6 times/year; am – PD, pm – meeting/planning) · mandate (to provide PD, liaison for school-based planning) · (Sharon: Do we want to continue the Study Group format? Is it an effective way to provide professional development? If so, could we have one meeting to work on a plan so that the content is beneficial?) 2. (4) Key Priorities – presently A. Tech EA, ICT Mentor, Lead Teacher - roles, training B. Balance of IT and ET C. Frustrations, i.e. school-based level - access, function, connectivity D. Leadership, i.e. decision-making, planning, communication, etc… - Curriculum & essential supporting skills 3. Technology - Action Items/Priorities from A.C. Planning (May 6, 2009) · It was generally agreed that these action items were priorities (see item 2 for Key Priorities and especially c) 4. LwICT Budget to date/ next year? · Divisional LSSD budget (28.9K MECY funding is ending) · 24K was spent last year (what happened to the balance?) · How much was spent on October PD? What is the balance? · Balance of ET budget & IT budgets · Core-curricular budget · Allocation of this year’s budget · 2010-2011 budgeting 5. Licensing: Status of Raz Kids (At Scott’s direction, Craig reinstated the existing licenses from last year. Sharon is in the process of checking how many more teachers would use it if we increased the license. Craig will then budget for the new number on next year's budget.)

Atomic Learning (we haven’t had a lot of usage but we ought to continue our present subscription and increase when required)

Stratalogica, Visual Thesaurus (Sharon: These are two new products that I saw in Washington. I put links for free trials onto First Class and many teachers have tried them out. So far the response is very positive. The rep for Stratalogica presented on October 9 and everyone who saw it was excited. Stratalogica is only PC but will soon be Mac version as well. We will keep you posted)

ePearl (We can purchase division-wide subscription for about $500 (should come from ACE funds); Chris is presently the one managing user accounts, though she needs this to be shifted to “someone with time”) - Scott will check with Craig

Brain Pop (this resource, like any other needs to be examined for curricular appropriateness or suitability, i.e. we must agree on a few effective software applications/tools for division-wide use) [|Prices]

6. 2009-2010 PD opportunities for teachers (Sharon):

Based on October 9 Feedback - February 5 Divisional PD planning ideas: - student gallery/ students present class projects - longer sessions/ hands on - use LwICT continuum to plan types of sessions etc…

Half days (check budget) of Webpage Creation to support LSSD directive re: extended uses, purposes of communication, etc…

Sending teachers to out-of-province conferences

Subscription to ISTE [|Webinars] $795.00 US (members price) for nearly 40 webinars. The ones that have already occurred are archived so that you can use them at any date. They could be advertised and shown at the Board office for all interested teachers. Check out the content and info. [|Webinar Questions] Check on technical/subscription issues.

5. 5-Year Action Plan (see see Wiki – further discussion/review tabled)