First+Meeting+Held+on+Friday,+24th+October

Minutes of Meeting on 24th October 2008 - Minutes taken by Vicki - Thanks. Notes for VLN meeting 241008 ** Attending ** : Rachel, Carolyn, Eddie, Lynda, Anton, Conor [apologies Darren] ** Notes: ** Preamble Eddie – holiday snaps Conor – background on the low down ** Lynda ** - introduce idea for the Virtual Conference – get them going at the start of the year [had eHui end of last year – talk about some experiences – give people a chance to share ideas] Last week of Jan – [good time? Open to suggestions] Everything open to discussion – negotiation Who actually wants it? Yes can organise but can’t really guarantee attendance Who will it be for? [eTeachers and also other teachers] If we timetable it – then the teachers can attend as a when as they can? ** Lynda ** – take bookings and know which sites attend which session Sessions should be registered [but if site logged on any can join once added] Need to think about might want some keynotes – but workshops giving teachers a forum to discuss the issues [ask and answer within eTeacher network] Feedback from experienced eTeachers Will we need 3 or 4 bridge rooms going at same time? Some participant site will end up being host sites? Could use adobe connect also? One session to be on: Discussion with eteachers [not just ePrincipals – how do we ensure students succeed in this environment?] grassroots change, what do we see working well? ** Rachel ** - what do eTeachers want to see? Design around their needs first What workshops to start off [only eteachers at the moment? Only those that need it?] ** Carolyn ** – organise F2F at the same site have other teachers be a part of this [onsite is ok – but will be different needs to eteachers] ** Jan ** – has designed a day for CoroNet for that time – is this on top of that? For existing and new teachers together for the first time Like the elluminate on blogging – introduced to a tool someone else is using ** Rachel ** - Like the idea of forums PD type activities beyond that? ** Lynda ** - was envisaging that there would be a series of workshops on what they want to know [follow up later in the year with after school PD sessions] thought good opportunity to use the knowledge we have already ** Carolyn ** – each cluster deliver one workshop online – stagger through the day During the day still do face to face with the non-eteachers ** Eddie ** – [ Derek has popped in ] ICTPD have online conference as well * Thinks identify the needs and stagger throughout the year [offer once every 3 weeks] or once a term? – then people can log in asynchronously [add a forum underneath] What kind of applications? – could they be identified and spread out during the year ** Rachel ** – need for ongoing PD – yes but have a chance to connect people up ** Eddie ** – in a kick start then have the key note – and only a few taster sessions Yes to taster session – and follow up with PD, but how do these teachers find each other [through us yes] but is a chance for introductions ** Eddie ** - Get the expert to lead in whatever area – show examples of what were doing in asynchronous environments [some enthusiasts – then some experts then introduce a timetable of more in-depth at the level people are at] ** Anton ** - Seeing how well it goes – who’s in the zoo – not too ambitious first time Set time and parameters for further workshops in the conference ** Eddie ** – the teachers across clusters don’t know each other [awareness of the size of the networks] ** Lynda ** – with the meet and greet needs to be a purpose to it – rather than just a meet and greet [wanted it to be at practitioner level – all dealing with same issues etc] ** Conor ** – all connected at the start – have some format – then a meeting of eTeachers to discuss those various practitioner elements to plan things for the rest of the year etc Somewhere to put all those little questions? ** Carolyn ** - Could we put this up on the VLN? – subject specific? ** Eddie ** – good for ongoing sustainability – each subject and each What are our expectations? Define some expectations of the staff? VC is only a part – 80% is about the asynchronous work – how do we want this to develop Then can set guidelines for where we want to be in the future Why do PD in moodle? Where does it fit? WinTEC – keen to offer VC, Adobe but also completely moodle based – how do we do that? Have a day look at the structure [if its in there why is that?] or after Look at the structure in the wiki that Carolyn set up – [ http://vln.wikispaces.com/] ** thoughts on the Keynote ** – this is the x cluster – here is how they use the x application What are the priorities? Even in the different applications the ‘learning’ is the same – what are the outcomes? What are good case studies of these – can they be modelled to other teachers – what is a template of a good online course? The discussion of how and who is doing [are the ones we have teaching online – do they need to be the ones teaching? Who should be putting forward teachers – we need to have some credibility as a cluster Best to have less teachers who are more enthusiastic than more who aren’t Look at who is delivering from the clusters Need to provide some good models and model these ourselves – Performance appraisal up and running to support in more targeted ways or ask to leave? Have to have those difficult conversations based on those appraisals Strategic view of the Virtual Conference day – what are the outcomes? See best practice modelled – create exemplars – some critical success factors a list of the foci for the folk - move towards the importance of the developing the asynchronous elements of the course Looking at google docs [good to get exposed to all these tools – but if there is a reason to see and follow up – more tempting to also put it into practice] All add the strengths to the wiki space to define which will be used South or north? Or window as good practice Derek and his wonderful ideas – beneficial to get them motivated Keep talking about all theses tools but how to actually implement them is needed ** Derek ** – like the idea of sharing this online – would like to help out changing teacher practice – idea of time – - thoughts not to lose sight of modelling important – that is one dimension some thought to coordinated PD approach to give the teachers to engage over time model the process that would like to pick up with kids Appreciation through participation – [integration of the a/synchronous – to understand the significance in learning design - to achieve teacher change in this area will require a range of strategies As learners will experience all the things that the students go through – the ability to share learning help them to move to a more thought provoking student centred environment Add wintec to agenda also add meeting on 11th Nov [about VLN] - done possible to look at dates in the last week? Key thing is to gauge interest throughout the cluster? Add ideas and possible numbers to the wiki * Send Eddie the link to all the notes etc [vicki sent Eddie link to Notes, and to eTeacher subject Area]