5-7-09

May 7, 2009 The EASTCONN Tech Council's last meeting of the 2008-09 school year was held at the Willi Brew Pub for a Technology Playground & Social. We shared food, stories and tech tools. Below is a synthesis of our discussions though there were lots of "side conversations" about relevant technology issues that we didn't capture. In planning for next year, we decided to make this an annual event. The group discussed their experience with different types of interactive white boards and they decided that having any interactive white board is better than not having an interactive white board. Below are some Pros and Cons for several different types (please add your experiences to this page): ·   Video player ·   Smart Lesson plans ·   Gallery  ||  ·    Expensive ·   Younger students have trouble with the pens  || ·   Portable ·   Affordable (half the price of the SmartBoard    ·    Improving their software – added power tools pack    ·    Capture tool lets you draw on the floor & capture it  ||  ·    Portable can be a problem  || NOTE: Pam Skelly and Lynn Reedy are our "resident experts". If you have any questions about interactive white boards, contact them.
 * EASTCONN Tech Council Meeting **
 * Interactive White Boards **
 * ** Type of White Board ** || ** Pros  ** || ** Cons  ** ||
 *  SMART Board ([]) ||  ·    SmartNotebook software
 *  Mimio ([]) ||  ·   <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Kids can rest their hands on the board without making marks
 * <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Promethean ([]) ||  ·   <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">  ||  ·   <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Twice as expensive as Smart Boards  ||
 * <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> RM White Boards ([]) ||  ·   <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Works with RM software  ||  ·   <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Every one that Stafford bought has broken  ||

We talked about keeping the meetings on Thursday s from 3:30-5:30 PM at Windham Mills. Pam and Jane will check the availability of the lab and book dates around the same time as this year’s meetings. We brainstormed the following topics:
 * Tech Council Meetings for Next Year **

·  State & CEN updates ·  New funding sources ·  Burning issues/Troubleshooting/Problem-solving ·  Implementing RTI: (1st meeting – late September/early October) o  Tech tools for collecting data for progress monitoring o  Software for student interventions o  Confidentiality issues o  Homework: Assign Web 2.0 tools that people will be willing to explore and share at the next ·  Web 2.0 Tools (2nd meeting - November/December) o  Everyone brings their favorite and/or assigned tool to share ·  PD and Standards (3rd meeting - January/February) o  For teachers o  For administrators o  Virtual PD   ·   How to get more with less – Hardware and Software, Netbooks, Virtualization, etc. (4th meeting – March) §  Show and tell – bring different models of Netbooks to share §  Comparisons of laptops, desktops and other hardware o  Projection devices o  Scanners o  Cameras o  Group purchasing, reverse auction process (see Jan) and sharing of specs on hardware ·  Tech Playground and Social (5th meeting – May)
 * // Standing Items //**
 * // Topics by Meeting //**


 * Web Sites to Check Out **
 * **Wordle** ( [|http://www.wordle.net] ) – Word clouds, great for making posters, word poems, etc. Check out the Wordle that Donna Mingrone made for us at: media type="custom" key="3772067"Click on Tech Council Wordle to enlarge media type="custom" key="3772039"
 * **Consortium on School Networking (CoSN)** ( [] ) - " Providing you with timely resources, materials, publications and information on technology and learning issues that matter to you"
 * **SnapGrades Gradebook** ( []) - "Teachers love this gradebook! Post **grades** & homework online. Fast, easy, web- based, standards-based. Free version available."
 * The **ISTE Classroom Observation Tool** (ICOT® - []) "is a **FREE** online tool that provides a set of questions to guide classroom observations of a number of key components of technology integration.
 * TEACHERS can use ICOT to learn from colleagues.
 * ADMINISTRATORS can use the tool to document the effective use of technology in their schools.
 * RESEARCHERS and evaluators can collect observations to study school programs or curriculum interventions.
 * Registered USERS can:
 * store your ICOT data in a secure account on our servers
 * store multiple observations and combine them in various ways (program, site, observer, classroom, etc.) in order to generate reports.
 * request a variety of analytical reports based on your observations and your data can be downloaded into other programs for statistical analysis and for creating tables and graphs.
 * learn to use the observation tool and to request reports by viewing videos and a users manual that can be downloaded in pdf format."