President's Report	by James McConville
Island Report	by Mike Ireland
Live and In Colour...From the Internet	by Wayne Ulian
Catalyst Conference May 12-13, 2006, Whistler, BC	by Kevin Ambroe
Classroom Jeopardy	by Jolene Mergens and Chris Rozitis
USB Flash Drives	by Dennis Wong
Web 2.0: An Educator's Guide	by James McConville
Demystifying Graduate Portfolios	by Shelley Wilcox
Online Discussions in Biology 12	by Tracy Kimoto
One to One Wireless Writing	by James McConville
CUE-Van Meeting April 27, 2006	by CUE-Van Executive
Fall Conference 2006: Teaching to the Multiple Literacies	by CUE Executive
Call for Presenters	by CUE Executive
Get Published: become a CUE newsletter contributor	by CUE Executive
Renewing your CUEBC membership	by James McConville

Island Report

By Mike Ireland

Having just recently been elected to the Vancouver Island Regional Representative position, this report will be restricted to what has been happening in Nanaimo, specifically, with our local LSA, CUE Nanaimo. I hope that by the time this newsletter is published, other CUEBC members from Vancouver Island will have contacted me and have let me know what is happening in their communities.

CUE Nanaimo is in its second year of existence. CUE Nanaimo was formed, in part, to counter the effects of the years of cutbacks to the education system. In Nanaimo, one of the most significant cuts (from the point of view of IT) was the deletion of the District IT Support Teacher. Without this position, teachers in the Nanaimo/Ladysmith School District were affected in 2 ways:

The CUE Nanaimo role, when it was formed, was to help fill the void that was created by the lost of the IT support teacher. We have attempted to provide after school in-service for educators about 4 times per year, as well as being actively involved in provided a number of sessions around integrating IT in one’s pedagogy/classroom during our district-wide PD days.

In addition, CUE Nanaimo has just recently (February 21 st) hosted Technology Intensive in Nanaimo, a regional (which turned into the provincial) CUEBC PSA conference. While being attended by a relatively small number of participants, the conference, by all accounts, was a great success.

CUE Nanaimo has just recently been involved in working to counter a trend in our district where non-educators are making decisions and policies that will greatly affect the professional autonomy of teachers and how they use and deliver IT to their students. We have worked with our union in this area to make it (the NDTA) aware of the ramifications of these decisions and policies, if implemented.

In closing, CUE Nanaimo has been active in both the PD and political arenas this past school year. We are hoping to expand our influence in these areas in the future. Others on Vancouver Island who would like to share their experiences or would like to obtain more information around IT professional development please contact me (mpireland@shaw.ca).