Minutes from our January 13, 2010 regional meeting

Our meeting began with a round table discussions about the local “goings on” of our region, followed a more formal session where we all went around the table and presented a brief note about what was on each person's mind or agenda at the moment. Some highlights included:

• The use of Jing for math tutorials
• Upcoming trainings in use of the LNV
• Best practices with the Smartboard – student use of Notebook for the demonstration of learning
• Russ grants that regional members are working on and attempts to research Distance Learning Tools
• Assistive technologies and a look at the Kurzweil system
• The perspective of administration as it related to technology in our schools; a discussion of the need for universal broadband in the state and on assistance with things such as archiving of email.

Next the meeting included a brief presentation of two elementary school teachers, Nichole Vielleux and April Thorburn from Dothan Brook School.  They shared an abbreviated version of their VermontFest session where they talked about their use of the LNV in the elementary school classroom. Some events have included virtual visits to museums in St. Louis and Michigan to see Penguins and learn about “slime.” The students at their school also held a chat with Senator Leahy over the LNV, and recently the fifth graders had a book talk with their counterparts in fifth grade from Kentucky. Nichole and April shared lots of vital information about the LNV and how to book programs on the CILC site.  (www.cilc.org)  Arlyn, our local LNV expert, was on hand to tell us even more.

Next Jeff Renard from the River Valley Technical Center presented on this recently successful grant application aimed at creating Vermont’s first Virtual Learning Community. Jeff’s entity is called the Vermont Distance Learning Cooperative and more information can be found by visiting www.vtvlc.com.  This is a very exciting technological opportunity for schools and students in our state and we encourage all visitors to vtcite to read about Jeff’s program.

Last but certainly not least, Peter Drescher shared various bits of information around the “state of the state.”  These include the success of the recent Content-based grants and Peter talked about a new round on the horizon.  He and Arlyn also shared that there will be additional funding available soon for more LNV cameras.  Peter talked about the progress of the revision of the state tech GE’s. He told us that Ed Barry recently had led a group who worked on round one of the revisions, and Peter showed us a draft of their work. Ed will be attending upcoming regional meetings to tell us more about his group’s progress and to share their work.

No definitive date was set for our next meeting, though you can look for it most probably in March 2010 and we will move the location further south in our region.

John