Monday, January 29, 2001

Shannon Hardy was kind enough to meet with the T/TAC team in order to discuss our understanding of the interworkings associated with T/TAC and the impact of that relationship on T/TAC Online. Below are the main issues that were discussed as well as the answers given to us by Shannon.

What is T/TAC's main purpose in relation to the DOE, the service providers and the parents of children with special needs?
•T/TAC was developed primarily as a knowledge disseminator for the DOE
•T/TAC is request driven and does not impose their help or advice on teachers, service providers or parents
•They are primarily a Professional Development Resource and focus their efforts on modeling and supporting teachers in the field

What methods of communication and information dissemination does T/TAC utilize most often?
•The directors of all regional T/TAC's meet once a month in Richmond
•The primary tool used to disseminate general information is the T/TAC Newsletter (by region)
•Monthly conference calls are also used frequently, but are not viewed as effective
•In order of importance the tools range from: newsletters - meetings - website - e-mail (just beginning to be used)

What do you feel is the main purpose of T/TAC Online?
•The ultimate goal is to disseminate information and communicate with teachers and service providers
•Communication among T/TAC coordinators within the site is secondary
•The website should promote collaboration among T/TACs in all regions; she feels there will be low competition among the regions and that each region will adopt T/TAC online for their individual needs within their specific region
•Brenda made the suggestion of using T/TAC online to foster more efficient and effective follow-up procedures and the idea was met with great enthusiasm

What concerns do you have in relation to the current design of T/TAC Online?
•Initially there was a concern with the "hot topics" area: could be problematic and indirectly promote a prescriptive approach among users of the site
•Control of information placed on the site for accuracy. T/TAC only wishes to disseminate research-based information

After completing the interview, Shannon offered to assist us in gathering additional information from T/TAC directors in other regions as well as teachers and administrators that have had direct interaction with T/TAC.

The T/TAC team has broken into three subgroups each with the intention of targeting a specific audience (teachers, administrators, and directors) to interview within the next week. One of those groups will be traveling to JMU for the interview so that we will gain exposure to a T/TAC office in a different region.

Again, we thank Shannon for her time and her invaluable input.