ITUG – DE Minutes

Monday, November 13, 2000
DCET Office, Smyrna, Delaware
5:00 – 7:00 pm

Meeting attended by:

The meeting was called to order at 5:15 by Susan Cornett. There were no additions or corrections to the minutes of the previous meeting.

The following agenda items were discussed:

• Ideas for the December holiday meeting were discussed. It was decided to do the following:
  • Ask each member to bring a new member to the meeting. If possible, each guest and their host should be rewarded with a small door prize.
  • Attendees will bring a snack or dessert. Encourage these to be from recipes found on the Internet. Each person should bring a copy of the recipe to share. If these recipes are in electronic form, Joyce Nerlinger will compile them into a PowerPoint to be available as a "Recipe Book" for everyone.
  • Tacky Tech Contest: Interested participants will bring some piece of technology that can be considered "tacky" to be judged. Prize for the winner.
    
    
• Another part of the discussion centered around ways to get the information about ITUG in general and specifically about our meetings to more people in the state. Suggestions included:
  • Send a flyer/email to all District Tech Coordinators, asking them to disseminate to each building's technology rep.
  • Ask for ITUG info to be included in the Delaware Teacher Center catalogs
  • Once plans are firm for the meeting agendas through June, consider a mass mailing explaining the group's functions and detailing the meeting topics.
  • Ask current members to volunteer to provide information at their District's faculty meetings.
  • Have a booth at the March Tech Conference
    
    
• It was also suggested that we take a few minutes at the December meeting to firm up the topics for the meetings from January through June.
  
  
• Tom Brennan showed the group the IntelPlay QX3 Digital microscope. Various members of the group then demonstrated the digital cameras they brought and discussed their features. Some of the considerations when purchasing these devices are:
  • type of storage media (Smart Media, Compact Flash, 3.5 disk, flash with 3.5 carrier sleeve, mini-CD)
  • battery type and capacity
  • finders (viewfinder and/or LCD panel)
  • software provided
  • ability to edit pictures on the camera
  • price (ranged from $200 to $1000+)
  • positioning of the buttons for comfort and ease of use
  • power adapters (suggestion to look at generic brands for a price break)
  • features such as optical or digital zoom and picture resolution capability
  • extras such as external disk drives to allow for quick downloads from storage cards
    
    
• John Hintz also showed his digital movie camera that he uses for both video and stills. He discussed using the ATI cards and creating enhanced CD's with both audio and video tracks. Richard Carter brought samples of the quality of printed images that can be created using digital cameras and inkjet printers. Paper quality is an important consideration when printing these images.

• Joyce Nerlinger reviewed a PowerPoint presentation that summarized the group's discussions and indicated some of the ways these devices can support student learning. Some additional links to sample lesson plans for digital cameras can be found at: http://www.k12.de.us/capital/DigitalCam.html
  
  
• Several members indicated interest in having a workshop on iMovies. Richard Carter from CompUSA said he would investigate providing some sessions on this topic and Stephanie Schrader from Apple also sent word that she will be happy to arrange this for our group if requested.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Denise Tuck