NW Meeting Minutes 5-2-08

VITA-Learn NW
Milton
5-2-08
Minutes: Kathy Gallagher: kgallagh@bsdvt.org

Attendees: Ed Barry, Paul Irish, Tim Bourne, Ellen Matthews, Peter Drescher, Robert Garvais, Lisa Fernauld, Sandy Lathem, Ellen Thompson, Kathy Gallagher, Lucie L, Jeffery Jarrad, Joanne Finnegan, Kristen Courcelle, Steve Webster, Lauren Kelly-Parren, Dave Davidson, Carrie Fogg, Ed Bianci, Charlie Wilson

Agenda

8:00 – 8:30 – Refreshments & Conversation

8:30 – 9:15 – Sharing

Paul Irish- Attended Open Source conference and picked up a lot of good information.

Tim Bourne- using Pick-a-Time conference scheduling software.

Focusing on Web 2.0 tools with faculty.

Ellen Matthews- doing a lot with Wikis and Blogs

Robert Garvais- Using ePearl Portfolio software- by Concordia University-free. Leveled, need to be trained: http://grover.concordia.ca/epearl/en/epearl.html

Lisa Fernauld- doing a lot with Smart Software. Recommends the activity toolkit which will be embedded in v.10.

Ellen Thompson- Tech teaching demo day- went really well. Held while school was in session. Had roving subs.

Kathy Gallagher- Training admin and teacher leaders in VCAT. Piloting with small group of teachers. Intel Teaching Thinking with Technology class almost full.

Lucie- Combining Google Apps with Edubuntu

Joanne Finnegan-Recommend Kidpix 3 upgrade- great math pieces

Kristen Courcelle- 2 year pilot project with 7th grade teachers- expanding to 8th grade teachers, 21st Century Teams filling up- if you know anyone who’s interested, encourage them to apply.

Steve Webster- more room in summer camps

Lauren Kelly Parren- Collected 2 samples of tech tasks grade 2-10 for review. Superintend and Associate Superintendent were involved in review. Using new ISTE standards as district standards

Dave Davidson- Scratch has really taken off. No teaching materials available.

Carrie Fogg- all classrooms have projectors. Ordered United Streaming, Using Audacity in language classes, use Photo Story to voice over copyright pictures in Spanish. Moodle- some intersest in English classes at the high school

Ed Bianci- Atlas Rubicon- software makes you part of a teaching community 1st grade teachers created a blog at the end of the day with her students summarizing the day. 10 other teachers from around the country commented regularly.

Ed Barry- 21st Century Tech Skills to all admin, upcoming presentations scheduled for all teacher leaders and faculty.
Working hard on video conferencing.
Summer Institute for Milton teachers- effective teaching practices, Web 2.0 tools, curriculum development laptop for all. Teachers can use tuition reimbursement. Teachers who commit to further PD will receive a projector, Elmo and Smartboard.

Sandy Lathem- Jon Bellam is taking a job in Colorado. He’s been the primary Droople support person for VTCite.

Charlie Wilson- parents are becoming more tech savvy and this is really having an effect on the administration’s perspective.

9:15 – 9:30 – Web 2.0 presentation – Lisa Fernald

Google Docs- Forms

New>Spreadsheet>Share- to create form

Very quick and easy way to set up a form that can be e-mailed or published to a Web site. You don’t have to have a Google Acct to complete the form. All form results are dumped into a Google spreadsheet. Can make spreadsheet results viewable to all who complete the form.

9:30 – 9:45 – Updates

- VTcite – Summer Institute- Applications picked up at the last minute. A lot of different team configuration requests. 13 teams will be accepted.

- Dynamic Landscapes- Registration is closed. Conference is full. Registration and Keynote in IDX Student Life Center (same building as the cafeteria)

-VermontFest- Ed will be sending out RFP’s the Monday after Dynamic Landscapes. It’s a hard time of year to get people to submit proposals. Ed requests this group's help.

9:45 – 10:00 – State of the State – Peter Drescher

CILC.org- collaboration site for video conferencing

CVEDC is managing communication on Daniel Pink’s workshop. Be sure to talk to your curriculum directors for information.

E-rate study- How come VT is not able to make optimal use of E-rate funds?  Full report referenced in handout. Want to figure out a way to improve our use.

Peter has a forum called State of the State on VTCite. There’s a forum on E-rate. Feedback here is really helpful to Peter and gives him documentation.

To check your numbers: www.universalservice.org/sl

Leadership for Technology Integration Specialists course Peter is teaching at UVM. Please share with others and let Peter know if you’re interested.

Neir Tec- has a literacy grant that gives Synder software Thinking Reader for 5-8 free. If interested, contact Peter. Anticipated dates for competitive grants July 1st. Peter has not yet sent out any info but will be forthcoming.

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:15 –

Vermont Technology Grade Expectations: The Discussion Continues...

            The Questions:

- Revise or Overhaul?
- The Current State of IT Assessment in Vermont Schools
- The Changing Landscape of 21st Century Skills
- A Need for Change
- A Vision for Revised IT Assessment Standards
- Recommendations for Action- Conclusion
- How to coordinate with the Vermont Transformation?
- What would the Process for revision look like?

Review Sandy’s format – comments/suggestions

Request from other regions to move forum from NW region to general so they can access.

Some highlights of open discussion: Is there a need for a common approach?

Charlie- current GE’s made teachers aware and they set goals as a result. But the implementation of their goals was not what Charlie had hoped. Method of building- it’s about learning, not about assessment. Charlie’s finding that assessment of tech GE’s can inhibit progress.

Paul- 2nd wave of learning with computers is productivity. GE’s focus on these. Maybe we should be focusing on the thinking- learning concepts.

Lauren- We’re ready to move, ready to change. Yet some don’t want to let go of Tech Tasks. Hoping new tech tasks will be defined more loosely yet still assessable.

Ed Bianci- What are our goals? Are we here for every child? What is the minimum that they should be taking with them? Or are we looking to support just those teachers who have the creativity, innovation , enthusiasm, to improve teaching and learning with technology. Need to be flexible enough to be able to incorporate new tools. Need to look at them every summer- continually evolve.

Sandy-partnership for 21st Century skills shares examples of what evidence of student skills looks like. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Jeffery- dreams for the tech GE’s and NCLB to go away. Focus on learning that takes place as a result of the technology eg, collaboration and communication. The tool doesn’t matter.

Ed Barry- Get everyone to understand student centered learning and differentiated instruction. It all comes down to leadership.

Ed Bianci- Teachers are stressed and being held accountable to standardized tests. Real dilemma because it stifles creativity, problem solving and imaginative thinking. All comes down to leadership.

Ellen T.- because Superintendent’s push is around the technological edge, use of tech as a regular tool is starting to happen. No longer saying, this is what we’re going to do. We’re doing it.  

Ed Barry- some anxiety is a good thing. Need to have accountability. The system bred a lack of accountability and that needs to be corrected.

Ellen T- We’ve learned more about teaching that we knew 20 years ago. We need to bring creativity.

Jeffery J- do creativity and accountability need to be mutually exlcusive?

Charlie- We need to accept the fact that we’re moving in a different direction than we’ve ever been in before. We can’t learn the minutia we have to learn concepts.

Steve W- part of the issue is leadership but another part it is structural. Time is needed.

Peter- need to think about more of an overall structure. We have seen technology as an entity by itself and we need to think more of how to embed it. Make it transparent. State had the option to submit evidence that our 8th grade students are technologically literate and Peter and Bill Romond chose not to submit because there’s way too much variance.

Charlie W- VITALearn can be a vehicle for outside professional development.

Peter- Wouldn’t it be great to target professional development people and help them embed technology in their work. Example: Sandyand Ellen T.teaching Digital Storytelling course.

Sandy- This group had a lot of power and clout and it needs to make a coherent statement that we can convey to a broader group. White paper?

Steve W- There is a shift happening, the timing is good. Leadership is showing more support than they have in a long time.

Sandy- should a committee be formed? Should a proposal be submitted to VITA-Learn?

Committee- Sandy, Ed Barry, Ed Bianci, Lauren, Jeffery, Ellen Thompson

11:15 – 11:30 – Wrap Up- Next Year – Dates & Locations                     

3rd Friday- Sept Nov Jan March
2nd Friday in May

Announcement from Charlie- VITA-Learn 2nd Life Site- May 13th, 7:30pm- invitation for VITA-Learn “newbies” to show up on the ISTE Island in 2nd Life. You need to notify David Wells dwells@ccsuvt.org or Ray Ballou rballou@sroyalton.k12.vt.us .  Intended to be low key, no pressure. Worthwhile to set up your 2nd Life account in advance and go through the introduction.