PPTA ICT Task Force

I have recently been appointed to represent my region on the PPTA ICT Task Force and met with this group for the first time today. We had a full days meeting at Head Office in Wellington, which was quite handy as I had to be in the city this week anyway.

It was interesting to meet a whole new group of people, the only other person I know in this group was Phil, ePrincipal, CoroNet. The representation across this group is mainly ICT/Computing teachers/ Heads of Departments (although there was a Head of Arts present, it would be good to see a broader representation but I guess this is indicative of the pigeonholing of elearning into ICT departments in Secondary Schools). PPTA staff (Deputy Secretary General & Field Officers) were also there as well as Murray Brown & Paul Seiler from the MOE who joined us for part of the day. Areas discussed were:

• Digital Technologies Guidelines
• Screenrights - all schools which copy TV or Radio media (which is probably all schools) should hold this does yours? Find out the process here. 
• Role of the ePrincipals & Future of the VLN
• Support for elearning lead teachers (this falls on staff in all our schools with little time or recognition to fulfil the role - suggested that the funding for Specialist Classroom Teacher could be used here)
• Internet Safety Conference
• Local Loops (Nelson & Christchurch), Government Shared Network, KAREN, National Education Network
• Regional Broadband initiatives - regions have funding through economic development groups for this - what is happening in Taranaki? Need to follow this up.
• SMS/LMS - Paul Seiler covered some aspects of the Road Show held earlier this year, of interest was the work that Kaymar is doing with Moodle interoperability.
• Student laptops in schools - protocols around this were discussed and examples of school procedure & student user agreements shared.
• TELA laptops - they are meant to be cleaned by TELA before being sold - some are slipping through the cracks - make sure your laptops are thoroughly cleaned before they leave  your school.
• Operations Grant, Software Licensing,Subsidised Internet Management Systems
  This links into the Review of School's Operational Funding: ICT Resourcing Framework
  This document clearly signposts changes are coming in the way ICT services have, in recent years anyway, been supported by the MOE ICT team, not only things like infrastructure, TELA laptops but also ICTPD.