The State of WEMTA

Following the Tony Ever’s State of the State of Education, I was reminded of how important communication is. Not only communicating what educators stand for and how we are working to support education, but celebrating teaching and learning and the dedicated educators who are making that happen for our kids everyday.

So what is the state of WEMTA?

Our organization is strong due to a hardworking board and dedicated members.

Each summer the WEMTA board meets to map out the organizational work for the upcoming school year. This year’s board developed and agree upon norms of working. These norms help set board expectations, so we respect each other’s time and value our roles.

Building on the leadership of past president Joel VerDuin, we are working on specific action plans around 4 areas of focus:

1. Advocacy for Educational Technology (NEW)
2. Focus and Relevance
3. Communications
4. Leadership

Our board members have been leading the 13 WEMTA committees with these focus areas in mind, and are looking toward membership to help move the committee work forward. We can’t make WEMTA happen without you!

Some of the exciting WEMTA developments you can look forward to:

• Make IT, Shake IT, and Move IT @WEMTA2015 planning is well underway. The call for proposals is out. Submit your hour-long session proposals here: http://goo.gl/WmmD4t
• The Library Crawl, WEMTA’s bus tour visiting creative library and technology spaces, will take place next spring. Stay tuned for details.
• WEMTA will be sponsoring ISTE’s Make IT Happen Award 2015. Opportunities to nominate WEMTA innovators coming out soon.
• WEMTA’s new quarterly newsletter (yet unnamed) will begin this month. Help us name it by sending your suggested names to #nameWEMTAnewsletter.

So what is the State of WEMTA? It is an exciting time to be a WEMTA member. So take advantage of WEMTA opportunities. Let's improve teaching and learning for all our students!

It's time to start thinking about award nominations

If you know someone who has an exemplary library media program consider Nominating the program for the Forward Award. The Forward Award recognizes exemplary school library media programs in Wisconsin’s schools, in order to strengthen school library programs and support student achievement. This is an individual building program award.

Nominations for the Forward Award are due soon - by November 15! Please go to http://www.wemta.org/awards/forward_award.cfm for more information about nominating.

APPLY BY DECEMBER 15 FOR PET GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS!

Do you need funding for a project or activity to improve information and technology literacy for your students? Apply for a PET funded grant by December 15!

Are you or a colleague pursuing your 902 license? Apply for the $1500 Lowell Wilson scholarship by December 15!

For our profession to grow and develop we need new more faculty to prepare library media and instructional technology specialists. Please encourage future faculty to apply for the WEMTA PETdoctoral studies' scholarship. Applications are due December 15.

Application guidelines and forms are available at http://www.wemta.org/awards/scholarships_grants.cfm

Help fund future scholarships and grants by making your contributions to PET when renewing your WEMTA membership, registering for the WEMTA conference, or by contacting the WEMTA office at wemta@wiscow.com

Battle of the Books Season Begins

The Battle of the Books 2014-2015 season is underway.  To find out more about WEMTA's Battle, please read the information available here.  The booklists were released in June and online registration is now available on WEMTA's website with instructions available here. Register now until November 15th for only $15 which includes 5 ribbons. Additional ribbons and/or pins can be ordered when you register or at a later date. In order to participate on the Moodle website in December, please make sure that purchase order payments are made in a timely manner. After November 15th the registration fee goes up to $30 until December 15th. A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who have submitted or will be writing questions for books in this year's Battle. Please submit your questions by October 1st. General questions can be sent to the main email account, battle@wemta.org, however, each division has a separate email account as follows: battle.hs@wemta.org, battle.ms@wemta.org, and battle.es@wemta.org. Make plans now to participate in this great activity that encourages reading! WEMTA Battle of the Books Committee: Jeff Carpenter & Debby Walters - Co-Chairs Dawn Totzke - Moodle Coordinator Yolan Mistele - Registration Coordinator Cathy Retzer, Casey Ince, and Rocky Shutter - Elementary Kim Christiansen & Kate Ewing - Middle Sandra Wurdeman, Liz Bade, Joelyne Hoerth, Pat Eloranta, Melissa Matz, Sandra Hansen, Sharon Storke, and Maren Stahl - Senior

Doing back-to-school shopping online? Go to smile.amazon.com, select WEMTA and make a contribution to PET just for shopping!

Your Vote Matters!

Please take a few minutes on Tuesday, August 12th to vote. There are a number of issues that impact schools and libraries in the next legislative session.  Your vote matters.

• Standards and who decides what is taught in our schools
• Budgets
• Broadband (especially for rural districts)
• Who manages and maintains the Common School Fund
• and so much more!

Make sure your voice is heard.

Donna Smith

WEMTA President and Voter

Start Thinking

You should start thinking now about your nominations for this year's WEMTA awards and grants. Check out our website for updates, deadlines, and forms.

Banned Books Week displays

Now's the time to plan eye-catching displays to entice students and staff alike to celebrate Banned Books Week, September 21 - 27, 2014!

Adobe License Options for WEMTA Members

Greetings from JourneyEd !!

I just wanted to provide you with an update in regards to the Adobe options you have as a WEMTA member. Since Adobe is transitioning to subscription based model, you have two ways you may license your school / district –

EEA – Education Enterprise Agreement

This program is releasing May 1st and is based off a site location (high school / middle school / elementary). You have district based option as well, but there is a minimum FTE you need to be at to enroll in a district-wide license. You purchase based off the FTE for the site (location) and would be able to deploy the CCE licenses on every computer owned by the school at that location. The pricing could range anywhere from $70/ FTE to 30/ FTE depending on the FTE for the school

ETLA – Enterprise Term Licensing Agreement

This is an agreement negotiated by WEMTA with Adobe and we act as a fulfilment partner and a point of contact for WEMTA members. You purchase based off your FTE for the district (no minimum) and would be able to deploy Adobe licenses at all locations (district-wide). You would be able to deploy CCE at the high schools and middle schools and Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements and Acrobat at the Elementary schools. The price negotiated with Adobe under WEMTA is $24.00 / FTE

FTE can be calculated by using this formula –
(Full Time Faculty) + (Part Time Faculty/3) + (Full Time Staff) + (Part Time Staff/2)

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Amrita Sethi | Regional Account Manager
asethi@journeyed.com | www.JourneyEd.com | www.AcademicSuperstore.com
Office: 800.876.3507 x7100 | Fax: 866.947.4604
JourneyEd.com | 5212 Tennyson Pkwy. Ste. 130, Plano, TX 75024 | USA

Please see more program details here.

By June 16th join G+ Community, DPI WEMTA ListServ being decommissioned

WEMTA Members,

We are pleased to offer you this opportunity to join the WEMTA PLC Google+ Community and the WI DPI School Libraries PLC Google+ Community.  Both of these communities use PLC to stand for Professional Learning Community whereas it’s members learn and share together in their profession.

Before June 16th, please make sure to join, because the DPI WEMTA ListServ will be decommissioned on that date.

During the WEMTA 2014 Conference we invited everyone on the WEMTA listserv and at the conference to join the new WEMTA PLC Google+ Community.  Joining this community will provide a place to discuss hot topics in education surrounding Library Media & Technology.  To date we have 600+ members that have joined and many are actively participating, sharing, and learning with each other.

The WI DPI School Libraries PLC Google+ Community is part of the WISE Learn platform, our state’s educator portal. Joining this community will provide an opportunity to share information, curate resources and develop a collective wisdom to provide a high quality 21st century school library programs.

If you currently have a Google+ account and can access it from school, work, or home, you can join the WEMTA PLC here, and the WI DPI School Libraries PLC here by clicking on the red “Join Community” button in the top right of the screen.  

If you would like notifications of posts delivered to your email, you will need to adjust your settings for both Communities.  Here is a video (2.5 minutes) to show you how to adjust your settings to receive emails of the posts to the communities.  Otherwise notifications will appear when you click on the bell icon in the top right corner of your screen when you are logged into your Google account.

If you do not have a Google+ account, we ask that you set up a professional Google+ account at home.  Adjust the settings for automatic email notification (you may include your school or work email account), and then you will continue to receive posts from the Community.  However you are not able to post to the Community from your email, if the Google+ website is blocked in your workplace.

If you want to join in on the conversations on the Communities, you can start a new post, you can show your appreciation by adding a comment or a +1 to someone elses post, or you can reshare the post with your circles.  Watch this video (1 minute) to learn more.

Contact the communities if you have questions.  We are our best resource.

Donna Smith Nancy Anderson

WEMTA President School Library Consultant, WI DPI

2014 Golden Archer Award

Primary: Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen

Intermediate: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

Middle/Jr. High School: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Bookmark of winners can be found here: http://goo.gl/eUwlVn

More information about the the award and the process for voting and nomination can be found here: http://goo.gl/5JbdDm