Maine IC Users Group Meeting - December 14 at Noon

[William Backman]

The ACTEM Meeting is on Monday December 14, and the IC Users Group
traditionally meets after lunch.

When: Noon, Monday, December 14.
Where: Different location than usual. We will take half of room 103.

Here is the audio conference details for Adobe Connect.
Conference Number: +1 8774550244
Conference Code: 8332185782

http://stateofmaine.adobeconnect.com/icug/

--
Will Backman
Director of Technology
Kennebec Valley Consolidated Schools - AOS92.org
Vassalboro - Waterville - Winslow

"Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born." –Alan Kay

[William Backman]

See y'all after the ACTEM Meeting.

Agenda/Minutes here: https://titanpad.com/icusers-dec-2015

Please feel free to add proposed agenda items.

REMINDER: Different location than usual.  We will take half of room 103.

[William Backman]

The Adobe connect call in number was set up by the DOE, but apparently we don't have the leader code.

Would people like to try this instead? https://meet.jit.si/MaineICUsers

[William Backman]

Adobe connect call in number is now good!

[William Backman]

Here are the unedited minutes:
Maine IC Users Group

December 14, 2015
Meeting after the ACTEM Meeting (Around noon)
Room 103

Attending in person: Will - AOS92, rdutremble
Attending online:
Norma-Jean Audet - RSU4
Susie Simmons, Bonny Eagle 6-12 Technology Coach (Connect w/ listen only)
Tonya Muchemore, Bonny Eagle
Melissa Corbett, RSU 40

https://meet.jit.si/MaineICUsers - You would need a fairly recent version of a web browser.
Yay! The Adobe Connect call in number is now active!

Agenda Items:
 * New Learning module (Standards) - Pilots were supposed to be in October
   * Bonny Eagle was part of the curriculum piece of it.
   * For building a library, sharing resources between teachers.  Eventually curriculum mapping
   * What are other schools currently using for curriculum mapping?
     * AOS92, Bonnie Eagle - Atlas
     * RSU4 - nothing for CM but building standards based  in IC currently for HS
     * Bonny Eagle - Atlas but using IC for standards in all but HS, this year HS is just trying it out with some 9th grade teachers, over the next four years will go completely standards
   * For tracking standards by student (and not by course), Custom offered a possible solution:  Use the Assessmemt module.
     * When AOS92 started to play with the assessment module as apossible way to track standards, it seemed quite cumbersome.
     * I (Will) feel that the workflow has to be better than a shared google spreadsheet. We had better be able to deliver a really nice user experience to teachers if we expect this to fly, or at least not be run out of the building by an angry mob.
     * Agree - we had two schools (RSU4) go back to paper! :( Same here! we have gone back in time 10 years.
     * A specialized system for tracking standards might be much better, but it is yet one more system they have to log into, and one more that we have to export/import into.
 * Question:  What happens if the state does not renew the contract for IC at the state level?
   * If the state just goes forward with NEO, will it continue to fund IC at the district level?
   * What is the status of the state RFP?
 * Ad-Hoc reporting tools - built-in vs external - what are people using?
   * Some people have added their own external tools (requires SQL access)
   * RSU4 - Aqua Data studio
   * AOS92 - Microsoft Reporting services for custom transcript and few more reports.
   * Westbrook uses SQL Reporting Services for a lot of reports. We link them to IC so users can run them.
 * Civil rights reports
   * Has always been a complex report.
   * Have any districts found an easy way to collect the information for reporting?
   * Some districts run custom queries to get much of the data from IC
   * Reporting requirements change every year.  This year will require more financial data.
 * Neo and Staff Data - did everyone have to do manual data entry for all their staff?
   * Currently no plans for imports
   * At the ACTEM meeting, they did say that the sought feedback, and plan to incorporate it into the staff system in the future.
   * Anyone else having certification issues with NEO this year?  NEO and MEDMS are supposed to talk, as MEDMS still holds the certification data.  Dropout certification and gradutation tracking seemed to be a bit better.
 * Online student registration
   * There was a (no subject) thread on the ICUsersGroup list today regarding this feature.
   * Not free.
   * Bonnie Eagle is using it, likes it a lot. They did a lot of customizations.  There are two products - basic and prime.  They suggest prime.
   * RSU4 - not yet
 * Now that IC has been in our state for many year, is the need for the quarterly meetings still there?
   * We used to have more people.
   * IC is trying to do more local interchanges.
   * I'll put it out the to list.  There are some schools that have recently jumped on to IC.
   *

[William Backman]

In the minutes, one of the questions is "What is the status of the state RFP?"

Here is a link to that RFP:
http://www.maine.gov/purchases/venbid/rfpads/201509172.htm
" Proposals must be submitted by 2:00 pm, local time, on 01/12/2016."