Notes from our board rep, Susan Jones:

SUPER EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION

The Super Early Bird Registration ends March 30th, 2006 for the 2007 AECT International Convention, “Learning Within the Kaleidoscope: A Culture of Technology.” October 23rd - 27th, 2007; Hyatt Regency Orange County
Anaheim, California.

NEW INITIATIVE SPONSORED BY AECT:

FutureMinds: Transforming American School Systems

We are pleased to announce that the AECT Board has voted to sponsor an initiative that we are calling FutureMinds¦Transforming American School Systems to provide substantial national-level leadership to assist state education agencies (i.e., state departments of education) to help local education agencies (i.e., school districts) with the challenging task of creating and sustaining transformational change in their schools, which includes a central role for technology and the use of learner-centered instructional resources. AECT will enter into contracts with SEAs (state education agencies) to furnish professional guidance and follow-up support for the SEAs to develop the capacity to help LEAs (local education agencies) transform their school systems from Industrial-Age beliefs and practices (the factory model of schools) to a much needed paradigm of learner-centered instruction. For more information, please see the full proposal (attached) that was approved by the AECT Board.

To succeed, this FutureMinds initiative will need expertise from virtually ALL divisions in AECT. This is an AECT initiative, not an initiative of any single division. Therefore, the first step is to create a kind of board of directors for this initiative, with Charlie Reigeluth and Frank Duffy as co-chairs. We are calling this the Transformational Change Team (TCT). If you are interested in being a member of the TCT, please contact the president of each division of which you are a member. Each division will be asked to nominate three people, one of whom will be chosen using a set of criteria that will maximize balanced representation across a variety of characteristics. The TCT members will need to serve on a volunteer basis until the first contract with an SEA is initiated, at which point, TCT members will receive an honorarium for their involvement. We roughly estimate a time commitment of two hours per week up to the signing of the first contract, which we hope to happen before the end of the summer.

Eventually, when SEAs have gotten past the initial stages of working with LEAs, we anticipate many AECT members from all divisions will participate in this project, as paid consultants, part-time staff, or even as volunteer researchers taking advantage of this project for conducting research in their focus areas. The kinds of expertise needed will encompass virtually all divisions, especially design and development, media production, management, school media and technology, teacher development, distance learning, and systemic change. However, the early stages of each contract with an SEA will involve relatively few AECT members. Similarly, the early stages of each SEAs work with each LEA will primarily entail building broad ownership in the change process, helping participants to evolve their mindsets about education, and building internal capacity for systemic transformation. Hence, relatively few AECT members will be involved in that stage as well. Each division’s representative on the TCT will provide regular updates on the progress of the initiative and information about what opportunities for broader involvement arise as soon as they arise.

We are excited about both the national visibility this initiative will provide for AECT and the opportunities it will provide to our members for consulting or part-time work and research. If you are interested in joining the TCT and are willing to invest the time in this exciting endeavor, please contact your division presidents before April 8, so we can get the ball rolling!

Ward Cates, AECT President

Phillip Harris, AECT Executive Director

Distance Learning Division Election Results

Congratulations to the following individuals:

President-Elect: Christopher Miller
Communications Officer: Kui Xie
Division Board Member-at-Large: Kathryn Ley