International Association for Language Learning Technology

IALL Board Meeting Minutes

September 13, 1999

Called to Order: 12:01 PM EDT

Present: Lynne Crandall, Read Gilgen, Chris Higgins, David Pankratz, Lauren Rosen-Yeazel. Guests: Nina Garrett, Jan Marston

Routine Business

Agenda Check

Approval of Minutes: Report on the August 11 and August 20 meetings tabled to next meeting

Business Manager Report

• Discussion
• Report on financial health: Lauren informed the Board she has opened an account for the Journal with an initial $5000 deposit. Jan affirmed this is a good starting sum, but will confirm needs with Rachel. Rachel has been supplied with a checkbook.
• Query: re financial reports to Board: Lauren inquired what kinds of regular reporting the Board needs. It was decided that Lauren should include broad categories of income and expense, membership renewals and new members. There was some discussion of whether to add the report as an addendum to the minutes, but it was decided we should publish an annual report and target December as publication month.
• Action
• The Business Manager will publish an annual report in December every year.

Old Business

1. Membership Issues

• Discussion:
• Membership database (member/Board access)
• Board members indicated they were able to access the database, and expressed satisfaction on its appearance and content. Marlene and Lauren are considering having the database generate email notices of renewal. Lauren and Ed plan a membership drive.
• A question arose as to whether regional conference hosts can get address and email lists from the IALL database for conference postings. After discussion it was decided regional leaders can request address/email lists from the IALL database.
• ACTION
• Lauren will inform Marlene that regional leaders can request address lists.
• Discussion
• Number of paid-up members
• Lauren informed the Board there are 1000+ members in the database, which includes institutional members, library members and voting members. She is looking to purge or merge some of the old or multiple entries. She estimates there are really just over 500 members. There was some discussion of how far back to look for viable data. Since we have decided to allow three years of inactivity before moving a past member from the active to archive membership database, it was decided Lauren will send membership email to members who have been inactive for three years.
• Lauren further noted several people have ordered publications who are not members. Ed is now pursuing those people to determine their interest in IALL membership.
• What does one get for membership fees?
• There was some brainstorming on what value for dues is their in being an IALL member. Items included the Journal, reduced rates on conferences and other publications, a printed membership directory, and a strong supportive community.
• Memberships Term
• There was some discussion of term of membership: should we allow one, two, and three year memberships? Lauren thought this would be easy to implement. Lynne noted the one and two year renewal options were discussed and approved at the 1996 Summer Leadership meeting. Chris pointed out some difficulties when combined with conference registration. There was also discussion regarding giving a slightly discounted membership rate for 2-year renewals.
• ACTION
• Lauren and Ed will investigate one and two year renewal options (Jan will talk with Rachel for input on cost and effort).
• Read will solicit input from the Council on membership options.
• ACTION
• Read and Lynne will change wording in the By-Laws re: membership renewal.

2. Web Server

• Discussion: Discussion of the Web committee was tabled to the next meeting

3. Tax Exempt Status

• Discussion
• Current status: Nina has written to the law student (Lamar Baker) who was assisting us with this project but has not heard back from him yet.
• Nina to write up "report" on the process for aid to regional groups

4. IALL Conferences

• Discussion
• IALL '99 wrap-up: In order to transfer the funds from U-Maryland to IALL, Chris needs an invoice for the 78 new members from the conference. NOTE: these members have not received the Journal and will need to receive it immediately.
• There was discussion of non-member status at conference registration. In conference materials, if membership is renewed a month before the conference one is considered a member, but if one renews at the conference the price break is not applicable. It was recommended we consider a web-based conference registration that touches the membership database. David wondered why it was more expensive to process a non- member. Chris explained advance registration allows for more efficient conference planning and helps control costs.
• Acceptance of credit card purchases would be desirable for future conferences and publications. Lynne noted her unit has been accepting credit card payments for materials. Read will talk to Monika Dressler about the University of Michigan's acceptance of credit cards for materials and the process Michigan went through to obtain credit card acceptance.
• ACTION
• Lauren will send Chris an invoice for the 78 new members from the conference.
• Lauren will ask Frank to ship the Journal to new members from the
  conference.
• Read will discuss credit card pros and cons with Monika Dressler.
• Discussion
• Summer Leadership Meeting
• Chris will develop a list of conference preparation issues to address at
  the SLM and present it to the Board - discussion was tabled to the next meeting.
• Lynne sent the Board the electronic version of the Policy Manual. Discussion of
  policy manual will occur at the next meeting.
• IALL 2001
• Dates: 5/22 (Tues) through 5/26 (Sat), 2001
• Committees:
• Program Committee. There was some discussion and review as to how the Program Committee was selected for IALL '99.
• Chris will come up with list of "must do" items as we plan meetings, Who should be appointed, when, how, etc.
• According to the Policy Manual, the Program Committee includes the past
  conference host, the Business Manager, President-Elect, vendor coordinator, and the hosts of the last and the next conference, but it was determined we should be adaptable
• Others as Claire sees fit
• FLEAT IV
• Read contacted LeeAnn about her willingness to head up FLEAT IV efforts but has not received an answer yet. Peter Liddell and Jan Stewart are also possible committee members. Chris received a second call for FLEAT IV. He will forward it to the Board and send the second Call on to the membership at large.

5. Publications

• Discussion
• Journal status: Jan reported the Journal is doing very well and Volume 31, No. 3 has been distributed. She informed the Board Samantha Earp has joined the Journal Board as Associate Editor.
• Lab Management Manual: Lauren informed the Board Frank copied and distributed Manuals to the backorders
  and we are now up-to-date on requests for this publication. Chris will retain the eight copies he has for conference dispersion. Kathleen Ford has agreed to edit the revision of the Lab Management Manual.
• Other Publication Issues: Lauren will contact Samantha Earp about copies of the video tours. Lauren notified the Board of a discussion she had with Bruce Parkhurst about the Design Kit. Apparently there are references to a glossary in several sections and a tab for a glossary section, but no glossary exists. Lauren will ask Cynthia Shearer if a glossary was planned. There was discussion of updating and printing Ursula William's Glossary. No action item was assigned for this topic.
• Action
• Lauren will contact Samantha Earp about copies of the video tours.
• Lauren will contact Cynthia Shearer regarding Design Kit glossary.

6. Council Positions & Issues

• Discussion
• Intellectual Properties Committee was notified of name change (formerly Copyright
  Committee). Read will suggest to Marc that the Committee prepare a brief column for the
  Journal to explain why the name has changed.
• TESOL representative: Chris will talk to Claire Bradin-Siskin for suggestions. Lauren will send Chris a list of
  members who indicated TESOL affiliation
• Council seat for Workshop Coordinator: No activity to date on a proposal for a Workshop Coordinator Council seat.
• Action
• Read will discuss Journal IP column with Marc Boots-Ebenfield.
• Chris will discuss TESOL representative with Claire Bradin-Siskin.
• Lauren will send Chris a list of members who indicated TESOL affiliation.

New Business

1. Survey initiative

• Discussion
• Lynne sent the Board a summary of survey discussions from past Board and Council meetings. It was noted the survey topic keeps recurring, but has not gelled. Read will ask Ruth for her thoughts on past surveys, and on conducting a new survey. Lynne suggested the U-Michigan's Institute for Social Research or some similar campus unit from another university be used as a consultant on the design of the instrument. Read stated the 1988 survey was reported in Vol. 23 no.2 (Spring 1990) of the Journal. A review of this could be formative as well as give points of comparison. Results of the new survey should be posted on the IALL website. Possible committee members are Ruth, Monika Dressler, and others.
• Action
• Read will discuss survey issues with Ruth Trometer.

[Nina left the meeting at 1:16pm]

2. Task Force (Mission Statement)

• Discussion
• No activity to date on this initiative. Read will begin work off-line to identify participants.
• Action
• Read will identify possible Mission Statement Task Force participants.

3. Other

• Discussion
• Do we want a website place with "official" IALL logos/graphics? There was agreement this would be useful. The question arose as to does this interface with the web committee. No action item was assigned to this topic.
• Meeting Schedule for this semester: BCC's are scheduled for October 13, November 1, and December 6.

Meeting Adjourned 1:20pm

Respectfully Submitted by Lynne Crandall