Summary of 10-1-03 Meeting

On October 1, 2003, nineteen Technology Council members or their designees attended an all day meeting hosted by the staff of North Country Education Services in Gorham, NH. The text below summarizes meeting discussions and describes actions taken by the Office of Educational Technology as a result of the meeting. Complete meeting minutes are also available.

The Council serves an important function as an advisory group to NHDOE. Council members, in talking with their peers in the field about Council discussions, bring back ideas and concerns from the groups they represent. Coordinators from each of the Local Education Support Centers (LESCN) are included as critical members of the Council, since these Center sites play a significant role in implementing the State Educational Technology Plan. Discussions at this meeting were focused on achieving Goals 1 and 3 of the plan.

The Council looked at State ET Plan Goal 1 which addresses current access in each region, such as Technology Foundations (computers, tech tools, software, etc.) and Connectivity (bandwidth, LANs, videoconferencing, community access, etc.). Topics of further interest related to goal 1 included:

• identify resources to update computers and address student:computer ratios
• create strategies to increase bandwidth capacity to T1 equivalant throughout state
• create access to video conferencing for distance learning in all regions of the state
• address need for tech coordinators positions in all districts who can: work with surveys, reports, oversee their local plan, arrange for activities to support full technology implementation, tech audits to ensure efficiency and adherence to policy, ethics, etc.
• application of universal design principles
• resources and incentives for various technology tools (DV cameras, PDAs, GPS, etc.) including adaptive and assistive technologies to meet student needs (UD/AT)
• annual revision of school tech survey questions and "how to answer"
• analysis of school tech survey and other data and actions recommended
• online data collection mechanisms and compatibility issues
• ongoing assessment activities to measure effectiveness

  ACTION: OET will convene an Infrastructure Task Force to address goal 1 needs. A brief presentation at the Council meeting in January 2004 will report progress made by the task force.

The Council considered current and future avenues for developing students' information and communication technology (ICT) literacy skills, relative to State ET Plan Goal 3. Three statewide efforts currently underway provided points of reference for this discussion: (1) the Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) Survey, (2) the GIS-GPS Pathway within the School to Work Program, and (3) the updating of New Hampshire Rules for School Minimum Standards. Topics of further interest related to Goal 3 included:

• create further opportunities for schools to understand and increase LoTi levels
• identify curriculum materials for schools to meet standards in revised Public School Rules
• identify schools using or interested in GIS/GPS activities
• submit state application for ESRI software grant and pursue options for mapping statewide tech survey data

  ACTION: OET will convene an ICT Literacy Task Force to address goal 3 needs. A brief presentation at the Council meeting in January 2004 will report progress made by the task force.

  ACTION: Council meeting minutes will be distributed via email and on the Council web pages and will update members via email regarding actions taken.