October+2008+Meeting+Notes


 * NYCIST Oct. 30th Meeting Notes**


 * Increased Use of Technology Suggestions**
 * Peer Mentoring Programs
 * Have the faculty set up a "first line of defense"
 * Give stipends if possible. This costs less than hiring a new person
 * Required training for faculty
 * This needs the Heads support
 * Use Faculty to help train. They tend to listen more with peers teaching
 * Faculty often think that if a Tech Staff holds the training, it's too difficult for the average person.
 * Technology Department involved in the admin/staff hiring. This will hopefully limit the number of times we need to train a staff member on a mail merge.
 * Technology Competencies Rubric
 * See http://knowledge.riverdale.edu
 * Documentation
 * Set up a wiki and document solutions
 * email solutions
 * "Trojan Horse" Technology Training
 * Give smartboards and require training
 * Get a Ticketing system
 * unsuccessful if there is no head support
 * expectations are key! Does everyone expect immediate support for every problem?
 * Prioritizing is very important.
 * Site Visit Program**
 * Have 4 or more Technologists (both academic and IT) come in to help a Tech department.
 * Would be a voluntary program.
 * NYSAIS should be involved to give any evaluation real weight. This can help move a tech program forward.
 * Schools need to not feel threatened
 * Should be similar to the NYSAIS 10 and 5 year evaluations
 * How are the survey groups formed? If it's teachers volunteering information, it is often skewed data (only the unhappy will give feedback)
 * Schools should create a self study similar to the NYSAIS evaluation
 * Interview Faculty, Admin/staff, Students, Parents and Tech Dept.


 * NYCIST Website**
 * Overall, the concensous was a wiki best serves the overall group
 * The wiki should be structured before the official launch with the following categories
 * Best Practices
 * Solutions/Software Repository
 * Topics of Interest
 * Meeting Notes
 * Resources
 * People should wiki the solutions to issues after they post an email
 * We are not trying to make another schoolcomputing.wikia.com. It is a great resource (and we should link to it).
 * This wiki will be more specific to NYCIST