HOPE COLLEGE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TECHNOLOGY TEAM
Meeting Minutes
January 2, 2013
Opening:
This meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. on January 2nd, 2013 at Hamilton Public
Schools’ Administrative Building by Hamilton Superintendent, Dave Tebo.
Individuals Present: Alex Klomparens, Ashley Blauwkamp, Kate Bauer, Krystal Hornecker,
Susan Cherup, and Wendy Colsen
A.
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Neither a formal agenda nor the previous meeting minutes were needed for this meeting.
B.
Meeting Business
• Request for Collaboration between the Tech Team and Hamilton Public Schools
This meeting was requested by Mr. John DeNeef (father of Kyle DeNeef, a Hamilton 8th
grader who often gives presentations on the iPad to current Hope education students) and
Hamilton Superintendent Dave Tebo. In attendance were some of the Tech Team
members as well as faculty advisor Susan Cherup and education professor Wendy Colsen.
Superintendent Tebo and Mr. DeNeef proposed the following two opportunities for
collaboration between Hope’s Tech Team and the Hamilton Public School District:
1) Data-Driven Analysis and Instruction
Superintendent Tebo offered the Tech Team the opportunity to collaborate with
Hamilton Public Schools in its efforts to analyze testing data and adjust instruction to
better benefit students’ academic growth and development. The process would take
place in two parts: (1) analysis of data (i.e., big-trend, yearly data like MEAP, Delta
Math, or SRI score); and (2) locating resources (especially those using technology)
that would supplement Hamilton teachers’ current instruction to better benefit
students. The Tech Team could potentially be involved in both parts of the process.
Professor Colsen discussed the possibility of incorporating both the data analysis and
instruction components into her Curriculum and Methods (ED 310) and/or Secondary
Principles (ED 360) courses, which feature segments on data analysis as it is. We
discussed the possibility of expanding this authentic learning experience to other Hope
education courses (e.g., Literacy I or II, Exceptional Child, etc.) in the future.
This opportunity would benefit all parties involved: Hamilton Public Schools would
benefit from more effective instruction on all levels, and Tech Team members would
benefit from the skills and experience they could acquire, knowledge that would be
highly advantageous to their development as pre-service teachers.
The overall proposed plan is to have the Tech Team oversee a pilot program this
semester. We envision a collaborative effort between the Tech Team and an individual
teacher at Hamilton. We would start with a small amount of data and see how the
process goes. If all goes well, the program would be expanded to include more of
Hamilton Public Schools and more of Hope’s teacher education program.
The next steps for this opportunity are:
1) Wendy will get in contact with Hamilton’s “data guru” and possibly obtain some
of Hamilton’s data to see what Hope students could do with it;
2) Superintendent Tebo will write up a formal proposal for this opportunity;
3) Superintendent Tebo will talk with teachers who might be interested in
collaborating with the Tech Team; and
4) Susan and/or Wendy will look into what grants (e.g., through Hope, MACUL, etc.)
might be available to fund this initiative.
2) Professional Development Sessions with Hamilton Public Schools
Superintendent Tebo also offered the Tech Team the opportunity to work with the
Hamilton Public Schools District to provide a series of professional development
sessions aimed at supplying K-12 teachers with the knowledge they need to fully
integrate technology into their classrooms. This would be a similar opportunity as that
available to the Tech Team from Saugatuck Public Schools. Two approaches to these
professional development sessions were discussed: (1) the traditional session; and (2)
the technology walk-through, similar to what the Tech Team has already done with
Hope’s faculty. Superintendent Tebo leaned more towards the second option, so that
the teachers would be able to choose the technologies about which they most wanted
and needed to know more. We discussed the idea of having one or two Tech Team
liaisons that would work directly with Hamilton Public Schools and report progress
back to the Tech Team so that we could then have one or two liaisons do the same
collaboration with Saugatuck Public Schools, thus dividing up the work.
The next steps for this opportunity are:
(1) Superintendent Tebo will write up a formal proposal for this opportunity;
(2) We will meet with Hamilton’s tech support/IT team; and
(3) We will recruit more Tech Team members so that upperclassmen can train
underclassmen in these new professional development ventures.
Superintendent Tebo said that for either of the above projects, Hamilton would be able to
provide some form of compensation for the Tech Team members’ work. Contact will be
maintained between the Tech Team and Hamilton Schools in the near future.
Adjournment:
Meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m. The details of this meeting will be covered at the first
general Tech Team meeting of the spring semester on Thursday, January 17th at 7:00 p.m.
This concludes our meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Ashley Blauwkamp, clerk