Minutes of the Roswell SeniorNet volunteer Meeting 27 March 2008

Agenda Item

Detail Minutes

1. Greeting & Call to Order

Don Hogan

Welcome – announcement that Bylaws state a quorum of 15 people  needed for volunteer  meetings—As of today we have 93 registered volunteers. As note of interest – last year 58 of those 93 gave some kind of active service.

In Attendance today

 Julie Fogel, Jessica Barker, Don Hogan,  Bob Nelson,  Jerry Moore, Lois Dean, David Printz, George Fuller, Oscar Groff, Kathy Hale, Frank Padua, Brian Perry, Emory Reese, John Rittenburg, Norma Taulet-Bell, Jack Thompson, Sally White, Marcia Williams. (19)

2. Approval of minutes of Jan. meeting

D. Hogan

 No Correction to the minutes as they stand, Moved and Seconded

  **Announce-ments

D Hogan for John Szedon

 A statement given by John Szedon at the Executive committee meeting states he must resign the office due to other commitments. Letter attached

John Szedon --a statement, resigning office of Pres of RS immediately, (click + ctrl to link to the document)

He will continue  to be involved as instructor and help with Labs:

Don was asked by the executive committee to stay on as acting president until such time as Jerry Moore can take over.

 J. Moore

D Hogan

Jerry Moore – states he hopes to be able to take over from Don in about 3 months.

In view of medical issues, he is not resigning but not stepping up to new office

(Per exec. Committee notes:

Therefore, the exec comm. can approve a special election, and at volunteer meeting we can organize same.

Don states continuing as president is not his first choice, however,  he is willing to help another person with a 4 month transition period. He will carry out the duties of president for now.)

3. Treasurer’s    

 Report---

Spring registration----

Quarter end summary

B Perry)

Treasurer report, Brian Perry present-

72 persons signed up for classes Spring 2008.There was a good report per Jan meeting. Brian reports the bank balance for roswell SeniorNet is $11, 618.51. National And Roswell seniornet check amounts already taken out of that.  4 persons signed up for summer session already.

R. SeniorNet has a CD invested – the value is $10629.82. The interest rate changed in December ’07 from 5% to 2.5%.  He expresses thanks for being allowed to learn so much doing this job- and thanks to Don Hogan for his help.  There was a short discussion that Wachovia had a problem with the SeniorNet account, denying our status as an organization – Brian states he received the IRS form 1099 that states we are who we are and entitled to tax exempt status. Copies of these were submitted to the city of Roswell also.

4. President’s report

 Spring course schedules

Course cancellation

Course coordinator

opportunities/

needs

Hogan

Per Don, Spring course schedules are on –track, we know we will have a last- minute registration influx of people

One course cancellation, digital photography, we have an Excel instructor – Larry Campbell. . Jack or Don  say they  might consider teaching Windows. Bert may teach EBay but that is not certain yet

Excel is a night class , 11 people have already signed up –

 Thanks to those who have said they would be instructors so classes would not have to be cancelled.

There are several discussions going on about course coordinators, exec committee has discussed having some oversight before someone is appointed, (they have to know how the courses are conducted, the problems some classes encounter, the continuity of the program, etc)

Don suggests we have an interview process before the executive committee before a person is an official coordinator. This is so the person fully understands what the responsibilities of being a course coordinator are. There is more to it than just a name: must teach the course at least once a year, keep the manual corrected and up-to-date. There should be an approval process before anyone is assigned as an instructor.

This will allow the Ex. Comm. To have a discussion whether the person is fully dedicated and qualified to take on the role.

Bert is the course coordinator for EBay.

Those coordinators also may know of a coach or student who could become a coach or instructor.  The CC could identify persons to fill in the event of an instructor’s absence.

Tech Webmaster report

Manual report

D Hogan

Don states the web is as up to date as he can keep it.

A new video card was installed on the instructor’s computer which improves the screen resolution of the projector dramatically. George Fuller will attempt to install Vista (again) on instructor computer.  Corrected some machines that had GOL problems – and seniornet WiFi is available. It is encrypted and you must obtain the key from Don (email) (password to SSID/ WEP key- don’t have to log in once you set it.)

 Photoshop 6 installed, instructor machine is new IBM machine.

Experimenting with Microsoft storage online. Office ONLINE WORKSPACE. All the files to all the manuals are now in a central place, like a library, if you have “permissions.” – Email Don if you have questions.

You can edit the manual, re- store it on the site.

Fundamentals manual was the only manual that changed – due to illustration that did not match the text --  (also antivirus revised)

There was a meeting about changing the internet and email manual due to IE7, but those corrections will not go in till the summer session—the older version had already been produced.

Family Tree maker has not been taught for 3 yrs, now OFFICE ONLINE will solve that problem and have a central digital copy of the manuals. 

Treasurer’s records also archived there.- Perhaps also on the website

 Coordinator reports:

 Works

Fundamentals

J. Fogel 

There is no new curriculum in Works.

Newest issue is elimination of the ninth class (email and discussion groups)— Omitting 9^th lesson because of extreme difficulty registering on discussion sessions with new SeniorNet website. ---  the Fundamentals class did well with GOL.

Don states Friday lab sessions had to be extended a week past the session for other classes because of works, no longer will have to staff the lab that last week.

 Per exec meeting discussion-- There are students requesting intermediate & advanced Works and Excel classes. (none available as we know of- The committee is asked to look for online courses and report to the course coordinator

Spring Staffing

Volunteer issues

J. Thompson

Jack reports not as in bad shape as he had thought—

Revised roster of instructors will be sent out. 

He will get with Bert about the classes Bert will teach. Windows (exploring) needs an instructor at this time. Instructors need to be informed of who is signing up for coaching – to be able to contact them or meet and be sure the volunteers know what is required to be a coach

Tony needs more people for Memoirs.

Don states if Spring had difficulty finding coach/instructor staff, it will probably be more difficult for Summer session, and we need to start lining people up now.

Room Readiness

Publicity

D. Hogan

No issues reported, except reminder of the new printers installed. No publicity issues except Don states without publicity, Fundamentals is FULL.  Terrified half+.  Apr 23^rd will be training instructors for the Woodstock satellite classroom.

Lab report/ Discs & Badges

Nelson

Any changes on class CD versions, please notify Bob. Kudos to Bob for all the great work!

18 students total came to lab, averaged 2 per session

Need to sign up for spring session – see or email Bob Nelson

.

Coordinator reports: Curriculum

D. Hogan

Per Don: lost graphics instructor.

Print Artist 12 is the most recent version –

New Dreamweaver software per National S’Net.

Frontpage replaced with Expressions web.

There may also be online courses for graphics & Photoshop.

 Exploring Windows

 D. Hogan

No course issues reported

Memoirs

 T. Coburn

 10 in first class – a good number—asking for anyone to join the class this session – not as many signed up- ALSO – a reporter did a large newspaper article about the memoir class—

posted in hallway. Wants to do a follow up. Wants to talk with people who have finished or have RECEIVED memoirs. She also talked to Tony’s kids—he sent them a small version a few yrs ago.

Excel

Printz

Basic (elementary course) would be nice to offer intermediate course

Internet & Email

Emma

No Issues reported—meeting with instructors planned

Bill will teach again, needs to communicate with Bert about material in the manual

EBay

Emma

No Issues reported

Quicken

(Goldmacher)

No issues known, no coordinator present. Still teaching ’06 – not able to upgrade?? (Don states an individual user can.)

Fundamentals

Fogel

No Issues except we are looking for another two instructors to rotate starting the Summer Session, to Provide instructor continuity from Fundamentals going into Works.

Computers for terrified

Fogel

Doubled class size last session, hope to continue

Evening timing made the difference

Word

(Szedon not present) No issues known

Antivirus

Tilly

No issues, re-vamped manual completed in December—evening classes only

Intro to graphics

( )

No issues known, no coordinator

6. other business

Hogan

Roswell residents/ RAC members asking for home help with computers—while it is a personal decision. There is no responsibility on the part of the Roswell SeniorNet if a repair goes wrong.—there can be a lot of time involved, if you commit, they will rely on you ALL the time, over and over.

Geek Squad is out there.

Help with someone who brings a laptop to the classroom, that is acceptable

And reinforce. If there is room in class and they have a manual, check for registration form and verify per procedure at the start of class. Anyone not on the list at the first class, have them register that day. If there is an opening.

Left over t-shirts.

7. Adjourn

11:00 am

Respectfully submitted, Anne Tilly, 31 March, 2008