The EdTechSA AGM was held on Thursday March 26th. We were fortunate to have Kevin Richardson from Immanuel College, Dr. Trudy Sweeney from Flinders University and Lynne Symons from Mark Oliphant College as our keynote speakers. They provoked a great deal of discussion and debate that will continue well in to the future.
Our award winners for 2014;
EdTechSA Leader of the Year: Dr. Trudy Sweeney
EdTechSA Educator of the Year: Jacqui Knipe
Leading Lights: Paul Huebl, Leon Marsden, Jarrod Johnson and Jeremy LeCornu
Making IT Happen: Sue Urban
were presented with their awards and nominations were called for new members of the EdTechSA management Committee.
We welcome to the EdTechSA Management Committee new members: Karen Butler, Jarrod Lamshed, Paul Clapton-Caputo, Jessica Ottewell, Paul Luke, Jarrod Johnson, Jackie Chambers and Jeremy LeCornu. They will join with ongoing Management Committee members Leon Marsden, Sotithya Gardner, Sue Urban, Tina Photakis Anne Ballard, Paul Huebl , Gary Pascoe, Gyllian Godfrey and Vicki Newton to ensure the ongoing role of EDTechSA as a leading organisation in South Australian education.
It takes a lot of people a lot of time over many years to keep an organisation such as ours at the cutting edge. It takes people willing to move out of their comfort zones, to take on roles that are not their preferred ones. It takes courage and conviction of beliefs.
We would like to express our enormous gratitude to our retiring Management Committee members.
Trudy Sweeney: a member of the Management Committee for twelve years including being President since 2007. Trudy has been involved in many State Conferences, initially with CEGSA through to its transition to EdTechSA, as well as National Conferences. It is fitting that Trudy’s final year at EdTechSA saw us hosting the successful national conference ACEC2014 and her winning the individual honour of EdTechSA Leader of the Year 2014.
Jacqui Knipe: a vital member of the CEGSA/ EdTechSA Management Committee for nine years. Jacqui started as part of the publications team, designing covers for the association journal RAMpage. She was responsible for the transition to our current digital publications and emailed “shoutouts”. Jacqui has been the “voice” of EdTechSA for the past few years, representing the association in a variety of social media forums such as Facebook and Twitter. She had the vital role of Marketing Co-ordinator for ACEC2014. Fittingly Jacqui was named EdTechSA Educator of the Year 2014 at our AGM this year.
Steve Knipe: an active participant in all aspects of CEGSA/EdTechSA for nine years. He has been involved in a State Conferences as a participant, presenter and organiser. Steve has been responsible for maintaining the EdTechSA website as well as having had a major role in ensuring that we remain financially viable. Steve had a major hand in the organising and success of ACEC2014. Steve is a past winner of CEGSA Leader of the Year.
Al Upton: a vital part of the Management Committee for twelve years. He has had a wide range of roles and responsibilities in that time and is widely known for being the driving force of TeachMeets in South Australia. Al has always been an active participant, presenter and organiser of our many conferences during his time on the Management Committee.
Although they are no longer on the Management Committee we shall still see them at our Conferences and Professional Learning events as participants and most likely as presenters.
How can you condense the years of work, fun, laughter, frustration and joy into a few paragraphs?
None of the above can truly convey the hours spent at meetings, at home, hunched over computers, making phone calls, talking to possible sponsors, finding presenters and keynote speakers, meeting with event coordinators, balancing budgets, sorting catering and in the case of Jacqui and Steve entertaining children throughout Management Committee meetings (I originally thought that there were four Knipes on the committee) as well as all the other things that I have undoubtedly left off the list.
Events such as State Conferences and National Conferences are wonderful places to go to enhance our knowledge and networks. Professional Learning events that cover leadership on the use of ICT and digital technologies with F-12 teachers from all sectors, preservice teachers and postgraduate students in South Australia and Internationally are a vital part of the continued development of South Australia as a strong, vibrant educational centre. None of this can happen without the strong presence of EdTechSA.
EdTechSA could not be the organisation it is without the strong leadership shown by our outgoing Management Committee members, all previous Management Committee members and all future Management Committee members or the continued involvement of all EdTechSA members as participants, presenters and advocates.