December 4, 2006

Members Present:  Ron Brown, Tim Lynch, Ray Birks, Fred Lenard, Dan Myers, Aaron Gahringer, Don Johnson, Linda Riesterer, Kari Mathison,

Agenda:

• MacBook Suggestions:
  • We are currently testing MacBooks with 512, 1Gb, and 1.5 GB to see where the line in the sand is.
  • We might possibly purchase RAM if the person is doing things (multitasking, video editing, podcasting, etc) that warrant it.
  • What will work right now is to teach the new owners of these beauties to QUIT programs when they are not using them, don't just close the window. They will bog down when you have more than one office app open at one time.
  • Cleaning and suggestions page
  • There have been a couple incidents of dropping a laptop. Please take care of them and transport in the bag that was provided with them.
  • Monthly they should wipe all surfaces with a slightly damp cloth to decrease the dirt buildup.
  • Once per month they should use it without the power adapter to let the battery drain until reserver power kicks in.
    
    
    
• We started discussion about our tech plan and the direction of instructional tech in the district. What things do we keep, how do we prepare for emerging technologies, how do we get our non-willing folks to learn, how do we prep our 8th graders, etc. The conversation was started and we bounced some ideas around. But more thought needs to be put into this before we get some things in writing. Your job as TRT is to review the following information and come to the January 8th Articulation meeting prepared to do some constructive brainstorming and an affinity process so we can start to prioritize and put together a 3-5 year instructional technology plan. Some questions to think about are noted under each section.
  
  • The Next 4 Years....
    • We have to write a district technology plan this year that will be with us for the next four years.
      • Here is our current tech plan.
      • Current Pilot Data.
    • Where do we go from here?
    • What focus do we need over the next 4 years?
    • How do we do training, status quo or change up?
    • How can we create tech savvy staff that use technology to help student learning?
    • How do we get to the teachers who:
      • Don't want to learn
      • Don't have time to learn
      • Are not proficient
        
        
  • Teacher Standards
    • Are ours adequate compared to state model?
      • WSD Teacher Standards
      • OSPI Teacher Standards
    • Where do we need to change ours?
    • How will we assess staff?
      • Host our own survey?
      • Use PILOT?
        
        
  • Student Standards
    • Are ours adequate compared to state model?
      • WSD Student Standards
      • OSPI Student Standards (Exiting 8th grade) Word file
    • Where do we need to change ours?
    • How will we assess students?
      • Host our own survey?
      • Use PILOT?
      • Use something else?
• Agenda builder for upcoming training day:
  
  • Remember each building gets to "bring a buddy" to the training.
  • Also remember to invite your TRA to the training day, even if they can only be at part of the day.
  • 2/13 - TRT Training Day K-5
  • 2/15 - TRT Training Day 6-12
  • So far the agenda has the following:
    • Podcasting with Garage Band 3
    • Moodle - What you need to know to support your staff.
      
      
• New pricing and models for hardware and software.
  • Refer to hardware page
  • Refer to software page
  • You should be helping people in your building with these type of purchases if they are using funding that is not coming from the technology committee. They need to make sure the software and hardware come from these lists and if not they should be able to articulate a curriculum reason for purchasing.
    
    
• Current Budget Data
  • Keep the WOD requests coming so far so good for budget.
    
    
• Upcoming meeting dates:
  • Remember each building gets to "bring a buddy" to the November and February dates.
• 12/15 - TRT Training 9-12
• 12/4 - TRT Articulation
• 1/8 - TRT Articulation
• 2/13 - TRT Training Day K-5
• 2/15 - TRT Training Day 6-12
• 3/12 - TRT Articulation Meeting
• 5/15 - TRT Training Day K-12
  
  
• TeachWeb - Make sure we are putting this in front of the staff again so they will take advantage of this opportunity.  All it takes is for them to fill out the online form: http://prodev.wsd.wednet.edu/teachweb/teachweb.html
  
  
• iTeach Awards - Make sure we are putting this in front of the staff again so they will take advantage of this opportunity.  Really talk this one up.  Some of your staff have done projects but they have not gone through the steps of applying.  The prizes are awesome and I think if you are at a staff meeting and show them the prizes and the application then we will have some people apply.