12-3-07+Meeting+Agenda+and+Minutes

Westside AzTEA Leadership Team Meeting Agenda Monday, December 3, 2007 12:30-2:00pm Pendergast Learning Center


 * Agenda:** (scroll down to read the minutes from the meeting)
 * I. Welcome and Introductions**

Update from Shawn on the latest developments with the **AzTEA server** (GoDaddy and Drupal). http://www.aztea.org/moodle/ http://www.aztea.org/drupal/ http://aztea.org/presidentsblog/
 * II. Business (old/new)**

o Goal 1 -Continue goal 1 from 06-07: Host events and use the wikispaces and website to share, showcase and explore the integration of technology, curriculum and innovative instructional strategies. + **Explore ways to obtain data from AZTEA on membership within districts** to better figure out how to spread the word about AZTEA events + **Explore steps to take starting in January to beef up registration for WOW**
 * Discussion on action steps for Goal #1:**


 * Promotion -** Don't forget to encourage teachers to apply for the Qwest/AzTEA grant. Remember Qwest is looking to fund innovative uses of technology. Emphasis will be on moving beyond tools to how the tools are used in an innovative manner. Think of ways to tie it to the needs of the community. **First deadline for submitting applications is December 14, 2007.

III****. Share & Solve** (continuing this popular agenda item to allow members to ask questions, brainstorm/share solutions, and share new technology discoveries)

Letter of response from Representative Ed Pastor to ETAN advocacy email for last vote on technology funding--Peggy

Peggy's Skype experiment with our recent AzTEA Executive Committee Meeting-**Phone Bridge** (866-453-8891 – 631882#)
 * Cool tools for meetings:**

Great sites for scheduling meetings that are browser based and allow you to determine when people are available for meetings: http://www.doodle.ch/main.html Example from AzTEA NETS planning meeting: http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=7w867fagpthuruag
 * Doodle**

[|http://www.meetingwizard.com]
 * Meeting Wizard**

You can see an example of how it works here: http://www.meetingwizard.com/mwiz/home/tour1.cfm


 * Ed Tech Website of the Month:** Do we have a volunteer? Rosy Escandon (Cartwright), Steve Andrews (Glendale), Shawn Wheeler (Peoria)???


 * IV. Special Interest Topics**

Continue our discussion and sharing of experiences, questions, concerns about AUP development from the October meeting. Some excellent suggestions and resources for developing AUPs and working to implement change, dealing with blockage issues, and bringing administrators into Web 2.0 Moving Forward wikispace-Scott McLeod http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/Changing+Policy "This page and attachments are for after you have discovered all these WONDERFUL 2.0 tools, and want to use them in your classroom, and then you run into the wall of CIPA. That great site you want to use at your site is blocked. The computers in your room one year, disappear over the summer. The computer lab is set up only for testing drill. What do you do? Who do you call? How to you change minds?" Another great resource: wikispace by Vicki Davis on K12wiki-AUP and code of ethics Social Networking Acceptable Use http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use

Please continue to add links, resources and ideas to our wikispace for District/School Ed. Tech websites, AUPs, presentations, quotations, etc. There are many people, even beyond AZ that are beginning to look to our wikispaces for resources, and we want to make it relevant and valuable to all.

Update and discussion about workshop being planned for Thursday, January 17, 2007, 4:30-6:30 on social networking sites. The workshop will be held in the Cartwright computer lab so these social network sites hopefully won't be blocked (Possible topics include Second Life, wikispace, FaceBook, MySpace, Ning, blogs, Gagglenet, Google Docs, Sharepoint, VoiceThread) At our last meeting the following people volunteered to help coordinate and present information about various tools and social networking sites (Dave Beard, Steve Andrews, Laurie King (in absentia), Peggy George, Rosy Escandon, Irma Sandercock). Irma suggested that we provide pizza and drinks for workshop participants and offered to prepare the flyer for the workshop. Is there a way for us currently to send an email announcement about this workshop to all Westside AzTEA members and district technology leaders?
 * V. Westside Workshops for 2007-08**

Workshop suggestion from Irma: Julia Lott does a very nice workshop on using GPS’s in the classroom and geocaching. She or one of her team members would be happy to come out and do a presentation if they are available. I think teachers would love it.


 * VI. Conference Updates** (Tucson, WOW) Time to register if you haven't done this already. Registration forms and payment procedures are all online this year: http://members.aztea.org/

Monday, January 14, 2008: 12:30-2:00pm, Pendergast Learning Center
 * VII. Next meeting: Date/Place/Location Confirmation**

Monday, December 3, 2007 12:30-2:00pm Pendergast Learning Center jirvin@pesd92.org
 * Westside AzTEA Leadership Team Meeting Minutes**
 * Minutes submitted by Jan Irvin**


 * I. Welcome and Introductions**

Steve Andrews, Peggy George, Penny Hudspeth, Amanda Hughens, Jan Irvin, Laura Kent, Ann Lumm, Laura Sheehy, Mike Shepard, Rodney Turner, Shawn Wheeler, Nan Williams
 * In attendance were:**


 * II. Business (old/new)**

Shawn Wheeler gave an update on the latest developments with the AzTEA server (GoDaddy and Drupal). http://www.aztea.org/moodle/ http://www.aztea.org/drupal/ http://aztea.org/presidentsblog/

AzTEA wants to consolidate online resources, since it currently uses a variety of sites and tools such as ASSET, Moodle, Drupal, AzTEA website, Wikispace, Go Daddy. Shawn discussed several changes planned for the AzTEA website: GoDaddy has many easy-to-use capabilities, but Shawn may need to add a send-me RSS for mass e-mailing

AzTEA will begin to use Drupal as an online registration tool. Shawn migrated resources to a new Linux server, with AzTEA.org housed on a Go Daddy web site for a fee of $15 per month. Most new resources will use Drupal, though a few will still use Moodle. We will now have access to blogs and wikis for each of our chapters through this single access point. Each person will be able to self-enroll on the Moodle site and set up their own account. Over the next few weeks existing content will be moved to the new location.

Peggy reviewed several action steps for Westside AzTEA goal #1 and many suggestions were offered for ways we can increase/improve our communication with a broader audience beyond the leadership team and to increase participation and involvement: o Reach more potential members, perhaps through direct contacts provided by districts o Find new ways to spread the word about AzTEA through wikispaces and the AzTEA website; need to update our mailing lists to reach targeted audiences. Shawn recommended that we explore using RSS feeds to keep people informed, provide discussion forums, etc. which will require some training and education. o Increase the use of technology through AzTEA resources by modeling Web 2.0 tools. o Identify contact people in districts who are directly involved with technology instruction, not necessarily IT coordinators or school/district administrators, who would be willing to forward information to appropriate people in the district. Jan recommended targeted, brief emails rather than blanket emails that provide information that will address their immediate needs/concerns related to using technology to help them meet academic content standards. Emails can contain information about how people can find specific resources to help them on the AzTEA site. Steve suggested a list of “go-to” people for instructional technology in the Phoenix area. He recommended that we begin to identify “experts” with various technology tools and compile them on our site so people could easily find support people to help them with their problems—a resource bank of people with expertise in specific areas. One possibility would be to create a list of people who would be willing to present professional development workshops to support in districts including fees for services. We would also like to identify teachers in the Westside area who are using technology with great results and invite them to share their success stories. o Steve suggested considering taking AzTEA out to faculty/administrator meetings to do brief presentations about AzTEA and the support resources available to teachers. There was discussion, pro- and con- about links to useful ed tech web sites o Amanda provided an excellent model for a way we can help teachers become more aware of AzTEA resources available to them by including the AzTEA site on her list of Teacher Ed Tech Resources and Related Links. o Increase the registration for WOW, beginning in January

Jan mentioned the MIDL Project, a new distance learning ITQ program for middle school math teachers through ASU West.
 * III. Share & Solve**

A question came up regarding on-line sources for technology curriculum maps. Interest was expressed in developing a comprehensive K-8 technology curriculum that moves beyond elective courses and lab classes and is integrated in regular classroom curriculum. Steve and Rodney suggested Glendale ESD’s on-line curriculum map for K-8 technology. You can see a video on GESD’s website for using My EDesk curriculum Mapping Documents- ([|http://www.gesd40.org/trainingresources/My%20EDesk%20Curriculum%20Mapping%20Documents.htm)]; Several people mentioned Washington ESD’s curriculum which has a scope and sequence for each grade level K-8 and performance assessments for the required skills/knowledge at each grade level ([|http://www.wesdschools.org/oldContent/files/curriculum/tech_toc.htm)] Litchfield ESD also has a curriculum available for instructional technology ([|http://www.lesd.k12.az.us/departments.cfm?subpage=95409).] Peoria is working on developing something similar between Jan. and June that starts with the standards for a subject/grade level and adds technology integration tools/resources to support the standards based on technology currently available in the district for teachers to use. They are starting with 40 science teachers in grades 5 & 7 and plan to focus on the skills and hardware skills teachers need to learn and implement in their classrooms. Many districts have this kind of information available on their intranets but it is not accessible to people outside the district. It was decided that this would be an important topic to focus on in our next meeting so we can learn more about what other districts are using for technology curriculum and assessment in K-8 schools.

The E-Learning task force is issuing an RFP for vendors for a new middle school math project. http://www.ade.state.az.us/E-Learning/

Peggy read a letter from Representative Ed Pastor supporting ed tech funding and encouraged people to use ETAN to send timely messages to legislators when key votes are coming up.

Peggy shared a number of useful technology tools for scheduling meetings: o Skype and Phone Bridge for conference calls o Doodle for scheduling meetings ([|http://www.doodle.ch/main.html)] ([|http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=7w867fagpthuruag)] o Meeting Wizard for scheduling meetings and linking to an Outlook calendar Meeting Wizard ([|http://www.meetingwizard.com)] You can see an example of how it works here: ([|http://www.meetingwizard.com/mwiz/home/tour1.cfm)]


 * IV. Special Interest Topics**

Peggy provided information about two web sites that are useful for sharing Ed Tech information: o Moving Forward has blogs addressing AUP issues (http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/Changing+Policy) and providing ways to get administrators involved in Net 2.0 tools. o Vicki Davis has excellent information about Acceptable Use Policies on her wickispace (http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use) o Jott.com ([|http://jott.com)] allows users to send reminders to themselves. Reminders can be sent from a phone call or on the web. An example was shared about how Jott could be used as a way for teachers and administrators to document activities throughout the day by leaving the message on Jott. Jott then sends the message to your email transcribing your voice into text. You can also create a Google Calendar event in a single step, from anywhere, simply using your voice. Just call Jott, say “Google Calendar”, and then the time of the event and what it’s about….and you’re done. Jott takes your voice, converts it to text, and inserts it into your calendar for you. Great example of using Jott for educators is on this slideshare presentation by Alice Mercer: ([|http://www.slideshare.net/mizmercer/jott)] This was a great blog by Miguel Guhlin on the topic of Blog Banning in schools that was shared. ([|http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/archives/2007/09/entry_3685.htm)] This was also a great link from the Moving Forward wikispace that provided suggestions for “Creating digitally-interested administrators” by Scott McLeod that was also published on the TechLearning blog. ([|http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/10/creating-digita.html)] o Much additional information is available at the AzTEA Westside leadership wiki: http://westsideleadershipteam.wikispaces.com

We continued our discussion about AUPs and suggestions for managing the development of policies and working with the politics of change in districts. It requires a combination of educating students about appropriate use, giving consequences for inappropriate use, and blocking inappropriate sites/terms. Jan raised a question about the balance between protection and control for Internet access in schools. Shawn pointed out that the job of the IT department in Peoria USD is to protect students. Steve mentioned that the first step in the process for requesting access is to the Academic Services department to verify the educational validity of a site and determining whether it is relevant to the curriculum; Litchfield ESD uses Net-Trekker which provides safe sites for teachers and students to use for content and images. We discussed the challenges of finding safe images for students/teachers to use in projects that are not on blocked sites.

Planning for the January 17 workshop is underway and an email announcement will go out soon.
 * V. Westside Workshops for 2007-08**

It’s time to register for the Tucson conference. Registration forms are all online at http://members.aztea.org/
 * VI. Conference Updates:**

Shawn raised the question of whether we should try to change our meeting time or alternate our meeting times to enable more teachers to participate who can’t get away during the school day. It was decided that we would try this for our next meeting and move the meeting time to after school (4:30-6:00pm) to see if it increases attendance. It was suggested that each person could invite a teacher to attend the meeting with them.
 * VII. Next meeting:**

Monday, January 14, 2008, 4:30-6:00 p.m., at the Pendergast Learning Center