EduTech Steering Committee
April 30, 2008
RIT Inn and Conference Center
Members Present:
Bruce Amey, Avon Tom Manko, York
Joe Backer, Letchworth Joe Marinelli, WFL BOCES
Joan Cole, Elba Jim McNeil, WFL BOCES
Maria Ehresman, Williamson Camille Sorenson, EduTech
Bob Leiby, Red Jacket
Members Absent:
Mike Crowley, GV BOCES Terry MacNabb, Waterloo
Mike Glover, GV BOCES
Guests:
Kelli Eckdahl
Camille began the meeting by thanking the committee for their time this past year. Very helpful in deciding the direction EduTech will take.
Goal was to provide the committee with a mixture of presentations from the direction EduTech is heading, budget analysis, performance against service delivery benchmarks, and provide topics on instructional and professional development.
New Service Items
New Service Items
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Continue to look at different cafeteria systems. Close to saying yes to Nutrikids. Will probably happen sometime during the 2008-09 school year.
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Many RICs across the state are considering supporting a transportation software application. A large number of our districts, as well as several districts across the state, are using Transfinder. Could possibly be a statewide contract.
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Internet 2 a new tool that has been out there for a little while. Built for the original purpose of education and instructional base. RICs across the state have been researching Internet 2 and will probably be offering for the next school year. It is a dedicated high-speed private network used by colleges and universities. Allow you to increase bandwidth for projects (video, email). EduTech and staff development would work together on this to show districts what is involved.
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We are in the process of designing a service where we would work with you in your district to look at a variety of items around security. Hope to roll out in September 2008. Joe Backer mentioned that districts are being hammered on this by the Controller’s Office, so the sooner we can roll this out the better. Camille mentioned that with EduTech having just gone through a security audit ourselves, we are well aware of what is expected.
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EduTech data team: A team of EduTech employees would go to districts and meet with your staff to work on your data and reports. If a district is having problems with reports, we will come out and sit down with the district and work through the data and report. It is very important that more than district data administrators attend this meeting. Requires a teamwork approach in the district. Anyone who touches the data in your district needs to be involved in this meeting. Only takes an hour or two at no charge to the district. Just rolled out to WFL and look to roll out to GV next week.
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MAPS: Measures Academic Progress – demo on May 28th – Williamson started using in the fall. It is a growth model. Test the student in the fall and can project where they will be in the spring. Recommend that you take a look at it. Product pulls down the information from student data system. Can see over 5 years where child has made growth.
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Testing: The state is looking at the possibility of outsourcing test scanning and scoring. Trying to shorten the timeframe from testing to results in district and to minimize the time teachers were out of classrooms scoring tests. Somehow they were going to find $40 million to fund and take off the districts. But what has happened is the directors have re-engineered the process and have been able to cut the number of days to process the sheets. Dave Abrams feels we have met one of the problems and is considering staying with the centers for the scanning piece since we can meet their standard.
Jim McNeil mentioned that the contractors are not concerned about discrepancies in the data. EduTech will still work with the schools to make sure the sheets are accurate.
Joe Marinelli also mentioned that the District Superintendents will be discussing outsourcing to using the RICs next week.
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NY Start: Rewriting a large segment of the reports and will be able to get at reports much quicker. Prioritize where they are rewriting. Should see an improved NYStart in the fall.
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School Report Cards: how can we compare to similar schools, when we don’t have the data. Some schools have used 2005-06 data and some have done a write up on their own data.
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Joe Backer discussed the frustration level the Data Administrators are experiencing. To have to verify data before being able to verify corrections because of the time-table is extremely frustrating. Camille mentioned that it has been extremely helpful when the EduTech data team goes out to districts. Camille also mentioned that they recently met with the Warehouse to review the process for ways the warehouse could be proactive and ways EduTech can be more efficient to try and gain time for the districts. Joe Marinelli said the District Superintendents have had these discussions and there is reason for hope. The state is interested in responding to the field and he is optimistic we will see some improvement.
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Digital Devices and Classroom Instruction, Kelli Eckdahl
Digital Devices and Classroom Instruction, Kelli Eckdahl
iPods and Cell Phones and how they can be used as instructional tools in the classroom
Devices are becoming smaller and can do a variety of tasks
- Wireless technology is expected
- Technology is becoming more affordable
- Teens have this technology with them at all times
- Technology is a stable factor in their lives
- Experiential learning
Variety of iPods:
- Shuffle
- Nano/Mini iPods
- Video (5th generation)
- 2 in 5 Americans over the age of 12 own portable music players
Cell Phones:
PBS special “Growing Up On-Line” documentary on how the youth today communicate. Very realistic, clear picture about the youth today. Recommend that staff review. Available through the library system.
Cell Phones and the Classroom
- Text Google at googl – to get the answer to anything
- Use cameras to document anything
- Text students – trivia questions
- Verizon – website
- Twitter – keeping in touch
- Twitter free webspace tool. Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick frequent answers to one simple question - text several people through one text message
- Jott – Voice to text
- TeleFlip – email to text
- MobileFlip – create flashcards for your cell phone
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