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ANNUAL MEETING The Annual Meeting Committee met two times this quarter and has made great progress toward making the 2009 Convention a success. TSPS staff have provided ideas on a theme for this year and we have agreed on: "Austin 2.0—Building Tomorrow". We are on Texas Land Commissioner, Jerry Patterson's calendar to be Thursday's Keynote Speaker and are checking on Kirk Watson's availability for Friday's luncheon address. We have commitments from all of the presenters for the concurrent sessions and have also scheduled their speaking times and dates. The Golf tournament has been reserved and is set for Wednesday at Avery Ranch. There are plans in the works for a Skeet Shoot at Capital Area Gun Club and will have the details worked out at our next Annual Committee meeting. We have gotten commitments for entertainment and have secured a location for the event. We are now concentrating our efforts toward sponsorship of the Annual Meeting. Each committee member is diligent in obtaining sponsors so this Convention will be an amazing event. TSPSA chair, Jean Seipel is working with us to make the TSPSA portion of the program a big success as well.
Respectfully Submitted, David A.
McDow
COURSE AND SPEAKER
DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE Committee Charges
Measurable Goals:
A Course Completion Workshop was held on April 17, 2009 to review and revise five of the courses that were presented at Symposium.
Course developers worked to finalize their material for chapter offerings. Chapters who are interested in offering these courses will need to work with the education committee to coordinate schedule and logistics.
The Course Design Workshop will be held on June 5th and 6th. Teams are assembled to work on the following four courses:
EDUCATION
CHARGE:
Last
convened meeting: February 7, 2009 Seminars and Symposium Sub-Committee Report is in Board Packet: All goals for this sub-committee were achieved. a. Achieved Spring Symposium 2009 classes. b. Discussed Spring Symposium 2010 Abilene, Texas and beyond. b. Determine course selection/speakers for the December Seminars.
Technical Certification is NOT in the Board Packet: See Sub-Committee Chairman to make separate report.
CDW/SDW report is in the Board Packet: See Sub-Committee under separate report.
Skills USA report is in the Board Packet: See Sub-Committee under separate report.
Online Education Report is in the Board Packet: See Sub-Committee under separate report.
See Sub-Committee under separate report.
Respectfully Submitted by Bud
Thompson, Education Committee Chair ONLINE EDUCATION Committee Charge: On-line/Distance Learning Subcommittee- Bud Thompson, Chair Prepare, schedule and organize subcommittee meetings. Prepare and submit committee reports to the Education Committee chair in time to be included in the quarterly board books. Create and develop a comprehensive plan to provide web-based, correspondence, and video conferencing TSPS courses. Work with the Course Development & Speaker Development Subcommittee to help pinpoint which existing TSPS classes would be best for this type of media.
Goal created during 2007 Strategic Planning Session
Goal: Take one existing course and make it available in an on-line (web based) format.
Rationale:
-This will prove (beta test) that TSPS can do this with education offerings -TSPS currently has the capabilities, technological and logistical ability to do this -There is a need Strategic Measures: -Choose the course : Data Collection -Choose the medium: Online Course utilizing the Moodle Teaching Program
Progress achieved during the time since the February 2009, Board Meeting
-Established the computer hardware to house the Beta Test site Dell Poweredge 1600SC @ Thompson Surveying Co. -Obtain and Prepare the Moodle software for Beta Test
-Construct Moodle
Site (IP 75.148.181.83) (provided by Symantec Endpoint Protection and SonicWall Firewall) -Initiate Data Collection Course Structure -Launch <- We are here -Test: -Obtain feedback
COMMITTEE GOALS ACHIEVED ARE SHOWN BOLDED ABOVE
Respectfully submitted,
Bud Thompson
SEMINAR & SYMPOSIUM
SUBCOMMITTEE SubCommittee Mandate: Prepare, schedule and organize subcommittee meetings. Prepare and submit committee reports to the Education Committee chair in time to be included in the quarterly board books. Plan and organize the TSPS seminar offerings for both CEU’s and paraprofessionals in accordance with the TSPS professional development curriculum categories. Plan and organize the symposium for this year and for the near future. Provide suggestions for future seminar offerings in coordination with the Course Development & Speaker Development Subcommittee. Work with TSPS staff members to work out logistics for the seminars and symposiums. Help seek local volunteers for both the seminars and symposium. Work with TSPS staff members to insure that any scheduled seminars are listed on the TSPS website. Coordinate with the On-line/Distance Learning Subcommittee to offer on-line courses.
The following have taken place since the last Board Meeting:
Since the last report we have held Symposium 2009 which took place in Waco at the Hilton Waco Hotel and the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum. We had 232 paid attendees, and the Panel Discussion entitled “Oil and Gas Surveying Today” was particularly well attended.
As well, “Heart of Texas Boundary Retracement” was presented March 5-7 by Gerry Goodson, Ben Thompson, Greg Smythe, Bill O’Hara, and Paul Carey in Brady. Davey Edwards was also scheduled to present but became very ill and was unable to do so.
The following seminars are currently scheduled to be held over the next several months.
“Locating Original Corners” to be held Sept 10-12 in Concan, presented by Gerry Goodson, Ben Thompson, Greg Smythe, Bill O’Hara, Davey Edwards and Paul Carey.
“GNSS, Geodesy & Map Projections for Texas Land Surveyors” to be held in Houston December 5, 2009, presented by Jim Gillis.
In addition, we will be holding a seminar on the same date in Dallas, with the presenter and topic as yet unconfirmed.
It appears that the following Course/Seminar will be ready to be taken on the road by August of 2009.
RTK Basic Operation and Troubleshooting which will tentatively be sponsored by Chapter 2 this fall.
And for the future,
Symposium 2010 will be held in Abilene, March 12-13, at the Abilene Civic Center. Hotel arrangements have been made with MCM Elegante Suites.
This subcommittee continues to be active and has met as part of the Education Committee at each quarterly Board Meeting.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Jim
Gillis, Chair
SkillsUSA
The SkillsUSA committee had a meeting
on March 21, 2009 during the symposium at Waco. At this meeting we discussed
the upcoming state contest and I got input about a couple of rule
interpretations that I was considering. After the meeting I contacted the
participating schools and clarified the scope of the state contest and told them
that the technical committee would still provide instruments to any school that
needed one, but we would allow schools to use their own as long as they did not
measure distances electronically. This was allowed in order to be able to test
the students on their actual skills and not just on their familiarity with a new
instrument. This was met with some skepticism by members of the committee and
by some of the member schools, with the chief concern being the grading of the
work. With each school using different equipment, where did we draw the line
between the equipment and the skill of the students using it? I reassured the
schools that each team would be graded based upon the quality of their work, not
the quality of their equipment. Bill Coleman and I met in Corpus Christi on the
day before the contest and laid out the course which was measured by Randy
Marshall, a student volunteer from the college. The contest went off
successfully the following day and we had three students score over 70% on the
written exam. TSPS has agreed to pay for each of those students to take the CST
exam, and two of them have already have with one passing successfully. I
believe that all of the schools left this year planning on coming back next year
and winning the contest this time. Our committee now needs to respond to the
rest of our charge. In the next month we need to come up with a base curriculum
and a suggested textbook. I would also like to have a volunteer create a
“perfect” set of notes. (An example field book that would have gotten a perfect
score by the judges at state) This curriculum, fieldbook example and textbook
suggestion will give every school a chance to have the same base to work off
of. It will also give us something to hand out to schools who are interested in
starting a program. I would like to thank all of those who worked so hard to
make the state contest a success, especially Chris Freeman, Bill Coleman, Randy
Marshall, Lindsey, and Richard Ortiz who helped me at the state contest. There
has only been one payout of matching funds and that was matching 750 dollars to
Duncanville ISD. I have received a receipt for 1037.22 from them and he informs
me that they are still trying to get the purchase order worked out with their
other vendor and he will forward me the receipt for that purchase when it
becomes available. We need to discuss the procedure for getting funds matched
since the funds were released without my permission this time. I would also
like to see us partner with some schools or TSFI to possibly give scholarships
to the winning team members. Respectfully submitted,
James Redmon
TRIG*STAR Over the last
few months the Trig Star program has been completed. By the time of the board
meeting the state winner will have been determined and they will have been
advanced to nationals. I would like to thank all of the local chapter reps who
contacted the local schools and got the program out and stayed on top of things
to make sure that TSPS was represented well. There is no more work that needs
to be done until we get next year’s packet. Respectfully submitted, James Redmon
UNIVERSITY ADVISORY Following in the footsteps of Joey Stanger, the former chairman of this committee, is indeed a very difficult thing to do. The efforts of this committee to date have been focused in the area of preparing for the third annual High School Educators Retreat to be held at the Lone Star College-Montgomery, June 16th through 18th. There is a very fine team of volunteers in place here in Houston assisting me in preparing for this year’s retreat. The TSPS members of this team are: Mary Chruszczak, Gerald Wright, Stephen Matovich, George Griffith and David King. Tonya Britton (LSC-Montgomery) has been invaluable in keeping me on track and in making sure that all of the little things are done. Amy Cooper (LSC-Montgomery) has everything prepared so that the attendees receive their continuing education credits.
As of May 21, 2009, we have thirty-two (32) high school teachers registered to attend the retreat. We are still in need of sponsorship monies to offset the estimated $11,850.00 budget for this event (see attached spreadsheet). To date we have raised $7,750.00, which means we still need to raise an additional $4,100.00 to completely cover the cost and I still have high hopes that we will be able to raise the entire cost.
We need to begin working on planning for next year’s Educators Retreat, with the first order of business being to select a site for the event. I will begin sending out information to the other programs in Texas to see if there is a school wanting to put on the event. I do believe that the Educators Retreat is a very valuable tool in reaching potential land surveying students and future land surveyors through the high school teachers that have very close contact with them at a formative stage in their lives.
Respectfully Submitted:
Roger W. McDonald
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