Tech Committee Meeting Minutes

 

3_6_2006

 

Attending: Diane Stacey, Steve Grindle, Scott Griggs, John Pandolfo, Ric Nudell

 

 

1. Scott reviewed previous meeting and committee priorities

      a. the charge of the committee: definition of purpose

            1) make technology functional/beneficial for all

            2) work with State technology standards

            3) have technology demo at each meeting

      b. reviewed priorities

 

2. Review of Committee Priorities

      a. recommendations for Freshman Academy

      b. recommendations for distribution of technology $$

      c. continuation of education of staff ($$ and time)

      d. review of policy issues

            1) student and faculty accounts

            2) student and faculty web pages

            3) removable media and email access

 

3. Steve brought up the question of embedded technology versus standalone technology courses. He used the example of the business foundations courses (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database; Desktop and Internet Publishing) and suggested that students need to be taught tech skills and  then use them in regular classes (not in isolated circumstances/courses) so regular class time isn’t used in teaching it, and so that the application is directly tied to content and context.

 

Diane had concerns about block scheduling and students not having and English or math course to apply the skills immediately. Scott gave an overview of the IC3 Certification (Key Applications, Living Online, Basic Hardware and Software) and said Karen Baron has suggested that the certification be a part of the Freshman Academy.

 

4. Recommendation to Freshman Academy

      First we reviewed the VT 9-12 Grade Level Expectations.

 

Draft Recommendation:

‘All Freshmen should be able to demonstrate verifiable technology skills as defined in the 9-12 Information Technology Grade Level Expectations for Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities.’

 

      i.e. implement Grade 9-12 expectations in grade 9)

5. Next Steps: we looked over the list of priorities left after Freshman Academy recommendation. The next meeting tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 23, 3:00, Room 124. We will deal with either item #1, or item #3 at that meeting.

 

            1) recommendations for distribution of technology $$

 

Diane and Scott gave overviews of the present system. It seems we need to have Tommy for a realistic discussion of this, how it works now on both the tech and regular technology budgets, and what is and isn’t possible.

 

 

            2) continuation of education of staff ($$ and time)

 

 

            3) review of policy issues

                  a) student and faculty accounts

                  b) student and faculty web pages

                  c) removable media and email access

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

R. Nudell