Meeting Notes - Oct 26, 2020

Legend:

  • Assignment: bold indicates a delegated task
  • Recommendations: italics

Attendance:

  • Sandra Dixon, Craig Loewen, Lance Grigg, Ken Heidebrecht, Marlo Steed
  • Regrets:  Lorraine Beaudin, Scott Powell, Josh Markle, Jeff Meadows (Teaching Centre)

Review of Terms of Reference

  • The committee reviewed the Terms of Reference - everyone in attendance was familiar with it already

Reports

  • NA

Chair (Marlo):

  • NA

Technology Support Report (Scott):

  • NA

Teaching Centre (Jeff):

  • NA

Items for Information

School District IT Listing

Marlo shared the District IT listing:  In the Spring, Marlo surveyed IT District Leaders for technologies that they have standardized on with a request to indicate if student teachers have access to those technologies.  Their response was input into a Google Sheet (not all Districts contributed).  The listing has been used in Ed 3508.  Craig suggested this would be useful to share with Faculty generally.  Marlo will send out an email to Faculty in this regard (done and done):

Items for Action

Adjudication of Technology Innovation Fund Proposal

  • NA

Supporting the Transition to Online Teaching

  • Marlo raised the issue of the stress and strain put on Faculty members required to teach online in the Spring semester.  Craig noted the challenge of taking method's courses and converting those to online experiences.  It was the consensus that these challenges are real and the need to provide supports to help in the planning of these courses is important now.  It was pointed that over time, Ken's role has shifted to do more instruction rather than instructional support.  It was thought this needed to be addressed immediately.  Marlo was tasked with composing a letter to Richelle indicating the need to reconsider Ken's upcoming teaching load and switching that to instructional support (done and done).  Craig indicated that he would be willing to put some money towards supporting the purchase of apps for instructional purposes.  It was also decided that a survey would be useful to assess the online needs of Faculty.  Marlo was tasked with composing a questionnaire and sharing that with the committee before administering that to Faculty (done and done).