ITUG – DE Minutes

Wednesday, July 12, 2000
DCET Office, Smyrna, Delaware
5:00 – 7:00 pm

Meeting attended by:

1. The meeting was opened at 5:15 P.M. by Wendy Modzelewski with a review of the minutes from the June 12th meeting. Agenda items were covered as follows:

• Introductions of members attending
  
  
• John McClenny from AmeriCorps gave a brief status report on his group's move to DOE in the fall. At that time it will be called "Partners in Technology" and a major focus will be to target approximately 6 to 8 schools in the state each year. They hope to work with 4 or 5 teachers at each site who will have the opportunity to participate in training and receive hardware for classroom use.
  
  
• Snacks
  
  
  • We will continue to ask members to bring a snack to share at regular meetings. By the next meeting a soda machine will be available in the DCET building.
    
    
• Picnic
  
  
  • The next meeting will be on August 14th from Noon to 2:00 P.M. This will be an informal chance to meet and network with ITUG-DE members.
    
    
  • Vendors will be welcome for one-to-one discussions with those members who are interested in their products. No formal presentations will be made at this meeting and they will be asked to only make follow-up contacts by request. We will ask vendors to identify themselves. They may hand out literature. We will request that no marketing information be sent to the list.
    
    
  • Each attendee is asked to bring a covered dish. Wendy will send a reminder and try to get a count and a list of food items being brought.
    
    
• October meeting - Presenters are still needed. Wendy will post to the list. Meeting Specifics: Thursday, October 12 - How do I Use My One Computer? - Instructional and Management issues.
  
  
• Results of the online vote on vendor presentations to ITUG group
  
  
  • 69.57% of the 23 members responding indicated they would favor vendor presentations with restrictions.
    
    
  • Discussion on how to structure these presentations concluded that each vendor should partner with an ITUG member who we hope could receive a complimentary copy of the product to review. Vendors will be given a list of guidelines to follow which include:
    
    
    1. Work with partner/member to ensure they understand and follow guidelines.
    2. Design presentation to be of interest to a variety of users (grade levels, content areas).
    3. Focus on ways the product can help Delaware educators meet state and local content standards.
    4. Provide literature to the group
    5. Each presenter will provide a cover sheet that gives general information such as product name and description, company and contact information, pricing structure, and technical specifications as applicable. ITUG has designed the cover sheet for this purpose.
       
       
  • The January meeting will be the first vendor presentation. We will invite Classroom Connect.
    
    
• · Use of egroups lists
  
  
  • Wendy will send all members an informational message to help them understand the features of the listserv and suggest guidelines for sending messages to the group.
    
    
• Online inservice courses
  
  
  • DCET is preparing to pilot the process of offering one or more online courses to be approved for inservice credit. This will enable districts to evaluate how distance learning courses can be used to meet teacher professional development needs. Plans call for DCET to work with Classroom Connect through their Connected University to offer technology-integration courses requiring about 30 hours online and about 10 additional hours to develop the required product.
    
    
• Several members brought up technology issues or questions for general discussion by the group.
  
  
• The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.

Minutes taken by Denise Tuck; edited by Wendy Modzelewski