International Association for Language Learning Technology

IALLT Annual Meeting 2006 Board and Council Meeting Saturday, June 24th 2006 Tufts University Present: Claire Bartlett (chair), Ron Balko, Barbara Sawhill, Ute Lahaie, Peter Liddell, Ed Dente, Harold Hendricks, Jeffrey Samuels,, Marlene Johnshoy, Sharon Scinicariello, Hajime Kumahata, Betty Rose Facer, Michael Heller, Scott Williams, Stacey Powell, Mike Ledgerwood, Erin Brazell, Judi Franz (via Skype) Joining late: Mary Morrisard-Larkin, Bruno Browning Call to order: 9 a.m.., Tufts University, Olin 11 Announcements Claire invited the Council members to join the Board members for the Board meeting on Sunday morning. Group Reports from the Friday Breakout Groups Budget Group (Ron) Ron Balko, Ruth Trometer, Marlene Johnshoy were in this group Membership for retirees: will receive ½ price Institutional member – not recommended – too much tracking for the benefit Individual membership –benefits need to be better defined—especially in light of the decision to move towards an online journal Commercial member – need a liaison to manage members including data entry into database, print labels, etc. Current commercial members need to be notified of the change. Outreach activity/New initiatives – Ruth suggested (and offered) to compile a list of post secondary schools with an enrollment of over 1,000 that can be put into a database which can be broken into regional groups. Ruth T. might be interested in compiling the list. Ron B. is concerned about who will do the flyer & cover letter. The workshop situation/person needs more discussion. Marlene & Judi will discuss this issue further. Peter inquired whether it might be possible to reduced phone conference costs by switching to Skype. Judi reported that the conference calls costs roughly $ 100. The Board will investigate this issue. Regional Groups (Barbara) Michael Heller, Debra Mandel, Mike Ledgerwood, Betty Rose Facer, Barbara Sawhill were in this group The group discussed how IALLT could strengthen and support regional groups Debra suggested honoraria for speakers: could IALLT earmark the funds from Commercial membership to pay for this? Recommendation: If IALLT were to go out for grants with its 501 c 3 status, or provide a pool of funds for which regional groups could apply for regional initiatives, that would be optimal. International Groups. The issue of whether or not and how to support international groups was discussed. Regional groups would like more guidelines in how to reach out to other regional organizations. The issues of marketing and branding were discussed. Recommendation: the IALLT president should write a letter of support to the leaders of the regional groups underlining the importance of their work (see “Statement of Professional responsibilities”). The “Statement” should probably be revised. Michael Heller added that we should include initiatives for recruiting members of community colleges. The issues of purchasing membership lists was raised. Claire stated that the Board will explore whether or not the mailing lists IALLT will purchase can be passed on to the regional groups. Electronic issues, Outreach; Olin 110 (Ute) Present: Sharon Scinicariello, Bruno Browning, Jeff Samuels, Hajime Kumahata, Ute Lahaie a. Digital Exchange: Jeff suggested researching getting grants/ joint grants with Ivy-league schools to develop standards for metadata. Bruno stated that there needs to be a standard with the metadata. Sharon suggested that IALLT (Digital Exchange) serve as a liaison between those who research metadata issues and the publishers; in the meantime, the publishers are tagging their proprietary material. Peter raised the issue that the new standard will be TEI (Text Encoding Initiative).Victoria will host a conference of the TEI Consortium (TEI-c.org) this fall to discuss and define these standards. Sharon affirmed that IALLT’s role is to be the mediator that ensures that publishers are aware of this and won’t start creating their own standards. Peter recommended that any IALLT member who has a leadership role in this area should attend this conference. Claire suggested to discuss this issue further during the afternoon session. b. CALL PUB Jeff explained that CALL PUB is a listserve that has been created with the purpose of promoting outreach to textbook publishers Only IALLT members can join this forum Recommendation: The forum needs to be linked to the IALLT website and also advertised it on LLTI as a benefit for IALLT members only. Bruno recommended that information about this membership benefit be mailed out by Marlene to members only. The subcommittee recommended that the Digital Exchange committee be the contact point with the publishers and that a member of the publisher’s committee be an ex-officio member. IALLT survey Sharon raised the issue that the survey serves as a service that helps define what the role of the language professional is, along with the IALLT statement of professional responsibility. Ute recommended that survey data be available in the members only area, with a teaser about this service on the general access area of the IALLT website Recommendations: The survey should be conducted every 4-5 years. Some survey sections (such as salary) need to be carefully thought through that the information can be viewed within its appropriate context. A mechanism needs to be established to ADFL (and the ADE) to provide information about technology professionals to Deans. Web Designer: There are 2 current candidates. Action item: we need to see the websites of both candidates; both candidates need to be IALLT members and have institutional support to attend the SLM and the IALLT conferences. Conference Group (Harold) Harold, Ed, Irene were in this group) Outreach: Action Item: Harold will gather the contact information of international attendees/groups and pass them on to Ed. Tech Support issues were discussed. Harold explained the tech support system for the past two conference Classroom size issues and early scheduling for the classrooms were addressed. Recommendation: try to get as many sessions as possible within a close proximity Program Committee: a chair needs to be appointed immediately, and a selection system for incoming abstracts needs to be found or created as soon as possible Keynote speaker: Marlene suggested a name for a keynote speaker. Marc Prensky (www.marcprensky.com). The candidate will be contacted. Ed reported that the local committee will hold its first meeting soon. 5. Wrap-up Claire recommended that each group create action items for the Board. Recommendation: 1. Assess where we are now, 2. Decide which goals and plans should remain 3. Which directions should we move in the future? How much will it cost? 4. How do we keep the work on task? Claire redefined the groups that will meet in the afternoon. Conference, publication and outreach will remain Coffee Break at 10:20 a.m. Following the general session, the breakout-groups resumed their meetings at 11 a.m. until lunch. The meeting resumed at 1:20 p.m. I. Reports from the Saturday Break-Out Groups A. Publication (Barbara) Journal: Barbara reported that the subcommittee proposed to change the job-description of the journal editor and create a managing editor’s position. The managing editor would oversee the following: The journal IALLT Publications Best Practices, Presentations Wikis, blogs The journal subscription would allow the subscribers to post interactive content Transition-Time: Barbara mentioned that at least two more issues will need to appear in print (v. 38.2) Ron raised the issue that the journal subscription cycle needs to be kept in mind when making the transition to the electronic publication. This means to either move into the e-version after volume 38.2 or after volume 39.2 Barbara stated that during the time of the final print-run, the e-version would already be phased in. The target time for the e-version will be launched during IALLT 2007. The new e-version will initially tested by the IALLT Board. The new manager will oversee the editors of the different parts of the journal. Barbara suggested that there should be an interim editor for the print-version of the journal while the search goes on for the managing editor Action Item: The Board needs to decide when the new versions of the IALLT capstone publications need to be released. Ute suggested finding an author for a ManMan module on mobile technology. Michael Heller suggested adding an online component for the LCDK. B. Electronic Publication and Outreach (Sharon) Present: Sharon Scinicariello, Bruno Browning, Jeff Samuels, Hajime Kumahata, Ute Lahaie, Marlene Johnshoy, Michael Heller, Betty Rose Facer, Mike Ledgerwood, Judi (via skype) Targeted Marketing: Branding/ Marketing (Commercial Coordinator) Develop promotional kit (Sharon referenced the example of the North-East Conference) Outreach to Vendors, exhibitors and marketers K-12 Community Colleges, ADFL, Chairs, CCUMC, AECT, NECC, ISTE ESL/EFL people tend to be in English departments Can we get mailing lists, purchase or trade? Are any IALLT members going to state FL conferences? Discuss give-aways at the exhibits Use regional language associations to find out about state organizations Have an ongoing IALLT session about “new” technologies geared toward specific target groups Regional groups co-host with state or regional conferences Action Items: Judi will e-mail the suggestions made by Frank-Krueger-Robins and ask about other potential K-12 reps Time-line: end of July The Outreach subcommittee will compile a list of contact persons from other organizations for further outreach (wiki item!) Time-line: start during the summer, complete the list by November 1 Contact membership and ask them to promote IALLT while attending regional conferences. They will receive promotional IALLT material Come up with ideas for give-aways for exhibit tables (Hajime mentioned showcase CDs) Offer appropriate technology sessions in regional conferences (workshop, session on technology) Michael Heller asked the question how we benefit from the additional membership groups we targeted Share expertise both ways (ex. – with other IT experts) Judi suggested that we offer a conference session on technology. Suggestions for branding / marketing Another suggestion from Judi was the slogan “We help technology speak your language” Sharon asked: what is IALLT? - Her answer: a community of different people dealing with language learning and technology. Judi suggested an “I am IALLT” logo with the slogan “We are here to help.” Mike Ledgerwood suggested to have a Wiki on the discussion “Who is IALLT?” as a basis for the branding and the logos. Sharon suggested creating a wiki on “how-to” instructions as a member benefit; Gus Leonard has already started this with his regional group and Digital Stream and post this into the IALLT wiki. She asked how the wiki can be opened to regional groups. Sharon and Judi will plan a “faces of IALLT” membership campaign during the summer. Sharon will put the information on the wiki. Sharon proposed that IALLT promotional material will be made available in form of PDF files for IALLT reps to print out and take along to other conference. The IALLT reps will be reimbursed for their printing costs pending pre-approval. Recommendation: The Board needs to revisit the relationship between the regional groups and IALLT. Following some discussion on the Wiki-access for regional groups, Bruno suggested opening the Wiki-content outwardly as “read-only”, while only members receive a “write” access. This would resolve the issue of posting SWALLT contents within the IALLT Wiki and making it accessible to regional members. Mary M-L suggested sending out reminders to the IALLT membership to encourage them to post within the Wiki. Sharon recommended having the new membership material ready for ACTFL (mid-November) The Digital Exchange Committee will come up with a text for the webpage. Conference Committee (Harold) Attendees: Ed Dente, Harold H. Hendricks, Stacey Powell, Irene Starr Conference Planning: Harold reported that there has been a miscommunication between the head of the Tufts conference bureau and Ed in regard to what the conference bureau’s responsibilities are The conference bureau’s proposed conference fees of $ 250 include lunch, 2 breaks, conference packets, badges, parking, access to athletic facilities, student workers, coordination, signs At this point, Tufts is lagging behind on their conference planning. A lot of details still need to be worked out. According to Harold, the following needs to be done: Form a local area committee by 14th of July; current members already are Mary, Ruth, Cindy, Irene, Debra. Send out a letter of commitment for the university facilities, dining services, IT, classrooms and workshop spaces Get budget figures for extra charges (IT, online registration) Harold will show Ed a sample package of materials to recruit vendors for the conference Peter stated that Ed will identify a local contact who will be appointed as member of the Program Committee Claire pointed out that Harold has volunteered to assist Ed with the conference organization. The Board will need to create an official council position for the work Harold is doing to assist with all the conference planning. Part of Harold’s responsibilities will be to put detailed conference planning guidelines and a timeline in writing. Claire proposed an official Conference Coordinator Council Position. The Board will need to make a decision on this. D. Announcements Scott encouraged the Board and Council members to pursue a relationship of some kind with the American Translation and Interpretation Studies Association (ATISA )—a group of Academics dealing with translation. This is still a relatively small group that deals, among others, with machine-translation. Michael Heller concurred with the importance of supporting this, as he has already two specially designed lab rooms to support translating and interpreting studies. Peter suggested that Scott research IALLT’s potential involvement with translation groups, a potential reciprocal partnership. Claire asked Scott to report back on his findings during next year’s conference Ed inquired whether there is enough interest for an outing to Boston tonight, despite the bad weather. He thanked all SLM participants for coming. Claire thanked Ed for his work and support. She thanked the SLM attendees for their hard work. The Council Meeting was adjourned at 3 p.m. The Council Members were invited to attend the Board Meeting, which was rescheduled from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon. Board Meeting Present: ClaireBartlett (chair), Barbara Sawhill, Ron Balko, Judi Franz (via skype) By standing invitation : Peter Liddell Absent: Andrew Ross Council Members present: Erin Brazell Next Meeting: Tuesday August 22nd 1. Call to order at 3:35 p.m. 3. Approval of minutes: May 2 meeting – postponed until the August meeting. 4. Officers reports. -Treasurer’s report. Ron gave his report yesterday, but he had to pay a few bills during the SLM. He will e-mail out his report to the Boar members. Based on the SLM suggestion, future Board meetings may happen on Skype. -Journal report – See Andrew’s report on 6-23 -Program Director: Judi will finish the TESOL agenda. Claire reported that Mary M-L had received an extension from ACTFL. On the 5th of July, Bruno will retrieve the membership list. Stacey Powell will be the (one-time) ACTFL rep for the upcoming ACTFL conference. Mary M-L had expressed the wish to step down as ACTFL rep. Claire will post an announcement for the search of an ACTFL rep. -President Elect No report. -President Claire finished the announcing for “opting out”. Fifty IALLT members have already accessed the IALLT website since that announcement. Claire reported that she has not been too successful to round up conference attendees for IALLT 2007 during her recent China trip. Peter offered to help Claire in getting in touch with the PacificCALL group to promote IALLT 2007. Claire inquired whether IALLT would be willing to provide some sort of conference discount Peter raised the issue that there have been recent scams during which false conference registration were made for the purpose of immigration into the US Ute suggested some type of grant similar to the graduate student conference grant. Peter recommended providing the grant only based on the strength of the proposal. Ron also pointed out that the Budget item needs to be identified. Peter proposed to write the grant and link to it a list of officially identified countries that qualify as recipients for such grants in order to avoid scams. Ute will send the text for the graduate Student grant to Claire, and the Board will determine the grant amount. Ute raised the issue that the Program Committee will need to be involved in selecting grant recipients based on their abstract. Peter pointed out that Sue Otto is the Council Member for EuroCALL. Sue will need to receive promotional materials prior to attending the conference. Ute pointed out that vacancies and address changes of positions need to be changed by Bruno (add TBA) Committee reports. Sharon Scinicariello joined Web committee, update. Barbara raised the issue that a decision needs to be made concerning the new Web Editors. Claire expressed concern that one of the two candidates is not a member of IALLT. Sharon explained that the committee had preferred the sample website of the candidate who is currently not an IALLT member. Sharon will present a recommendation of the Web committee by the end of July. Sharon left the meeting Journal Editor, update Barbara reported that we need an interim Journal editor for the upcoming three issues. She will contact some potential candidates 6. Special orders --- Important business previously designated for Consideration at this meeting. none 7. Unfinished business. Commercial membership, change to P&P? Ute will go through the revisions of the P&P and update it. – Priority will be to update the text for commercial membership (to be done immediately) Note, announcement to membership about opting out of mailing list and email for commercial members and professional organizations (see President’s report) Claire reported that IALLT 2008 Eastern Seaboard Conference at Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton campuses: changed to a joint regional meeting January 2008. Purchase of ACTFL mailing list. Ron reported that the total cost for the mailing list is roughly around $4,000. Claire will send the regional contact information to regional leaders. This was approved by the ACTFL rep. Ron will take care of this issue. 8. New business. Electronic Journal. The Board agreed on the Journal committee’s recommendation to move the journal into electronic format with POD capabilities. The last paper issue will be 39.2. (see report of the Breakout group from 6-23 and 6-24) Harold Hendricks and Mary Morrisard-Larkin joined Conference Group (Harold, Mary) Harold reported that Mary joined the conference group. Mary reported that the local conference group will help Ed with the conference preparation, to include pre-conference workshops. This includes potentially finding workshop space elsewhere. Peter pointed out that the local group will need to find a liaison to the Program Committee Mary had already volunteered to print the program. She also offered to be the Program Chair for the conference. Harold offered to be a reviewer on the Program Committee Judi pointed out that she will be an ex-officio member of the Program Committee. Ron brought up the fact that Paul, the head of the Conference Bureau, had requested an insurance certificate from IALLT. Ron will contact Paul to investigate this issue further. Claire offered to talk to the Dean at Tufts, if necessary. Conference Title – should be made by the local committee and ready by July 15th Harold and Mary left the meeting Program Chair will need to be selected by the Board at a later date Keynote Speaker – will need to be determined by the local committee. Commercial Membership (Sharon’s Proposal) Ron believes that it was $ 200, but it needs to be verified. The Board will need to decide the discount given to commercial members. The Board agreed to give a 25% discount The Board reviewed Sharon’s proposal on the Commercial Relations Coordinator. Ron moved that we create the position of Commercial Relations Coordinator as described in the draft handout of June 19th 2006, second[Barbara], approved [unan.] Barbara motioned to remove from Council the position of advertising manager. Second [Ron]. Approved [unan.] Conference Announcement (draft, date) Barbara motioned that the “Knowledge base” portion of IALLT Wiki be open to public on “read-only” basis; “member area” created for members’ discussion., Second [Ron] approved [unan.] Digital Exchange and Publisher’s taskforce – postponed until August meeting ManMan and LCDK– postponed until August meeting. Meeting adjourned – 5:10 p.m.