2018 Learner Development SIG Annual General Meeting
Facilitated by Alison Stewart and Andy Barfield, with the minutes taken by Jenny Morgan
Present: ​Alison Stewart, Andy Barfield, Blair Barr, Elisa Vinagre, Gretchen Clark, Huw Davies,Jenny Morgan, Ken Ikeda, Kio Iwai, Martin Cater, Oana Cusen, Patrick Kiernan, and Tim Ashwell
Apologies:​​ Koki Tomita, Kris Sullivan, and Yoshi Nakai
I. Documents tabled for discussion
II. Committee member roles
III. Treasurer’s report for 2018-2019
IV. Ideas for SIG activities in 2019
Appendix A LD SIG Financial Summary, November 2018 AGM

The AGM opened at around 3.45 pm with a welcome, thank you for attending, and a quick
round of introductions. Alison and Andy asked for someone to take the minutes, which Jennykindly agreed to do, and then invited everyone to look through ​the 2018 LD SIG Committee
Review​ for a few minutes and talk in pairs about what they found interesting or important.

I. Documents tabled for discussion● A copy of the committee team reports for 2018 was shared. Thank you to all whocontributed.
● A list of possible discussion topics for the AGM:People
Discussion and approval of committee members
MoneyDiscussion and approval of draft 2019 budget
Reimbursements
Communication
New webmaster(s) for website and coordination of LD mailinglists?
Developing regular and smooth communication among SIG officers?
GrantsRestructuring of the terms of receiving LD grants - when should grants be paid
to awardees?
Publicity

SIG grants publicity?
Promoting the SIG to the bigger public including non-JALT members?
Activities
Reaching out to local SIG members - how to do this?
Attracting new members to SIG forums (PanSIG and JALTCALL) - how to do this?
New coordinators for Kansai get-togethers?
LDJ-themed event for 2019?
Publications
Theme and editors for The Learner Development Journal Issue 5?
Expanding the Journal Steering Group?
Other matters...

● A dedication to and recognition of the deep sense of loss over the passing of two
valuable LD members - Naoko Aoki, founding co-coordinator of the SIG, and Richard
Silver, past co-coordinator of LD. To read more about Naoko and Richard’s lives andcontributions to the LD SIG, and to our profession, please see the Dedications inLearning Learning​, 25(1) - ​Richard​ - and 25(2) - ​Naoko​.
● A draft budget for 2019 - see ​Appendix A at the end of this document​.
● LD committee members update:Continuing members are:Co-coordinators: ​Koki Tomita & Yoshio Nakai
Membership Team: ​Ann Flanagan & Barrie Matte
Grants Team: ​Kris Sullivan, Sami Yoshimuta, & Kio Iwai
Programmes Team: ​Blair Barr & Robert Morel
Publicity Team Illustrator: ​Rob Moreau
Publications Team: ​James Underwood
Learning Learning Editorial Team: ​Andy Barfield, Chika Hayashi, Tokiko Hori, DanielHougham, Ken Ikeda, Fumiko Murase, Yoshio Nakai, Hugh Nicoll, Sean Toland, Koki Tomita,& James Underwood
Learner Development Journal Steering Group: ​Tim Ashwell, Darren Elliott, Alison Stewart
Learner Development Journal Issue 3 editors - ​(Christina Gkonou), Yoshio Nakai, & JimRonald
Web Maintenance Team: ​Hugh Nicoll ​(main LD website), ​Darren Elliott​ (LD Journal website)
Tokyo Get-Togethers: ​Ken Ikeda
Committee Members at large: ​Lee Arnold, Mathew Coomber, Dexter Da Silva, Ian Hurrell,Bill Mboutsiadis, Mike Nix

Stepping down:
Treasury Team: ​Huw DaviesGrants Team: ​Jenny MorganILA2018 Team: ​Steve Brown, Ann Mayeda & Hisako Yamashita
Publicity Team: ​Nicole Gallagher
Publications Team: ​Andy Barfield
Learner Development Journal Issue 2 (due to be published in December 2018): ​ChikaHayashi, Masuko Miyahara, & Patrick Kiernan
Hiroshima Get-Togethers: ​Jim Ronald
Kansai Get-Togethers: ​Agnes Patko
Tokyo Get-Togethers: ​Andy Barfield, Jenny Morgan
Stepping up:
Kansai Get-together​​: ​Gretchen Clark
Tokyo Get-togethers​​: ​Martin Cater (NB had to withdraw for personal reasons 28/11/2018)
Treasurer​​: ​Patrick Kiernan
Publicity Team​​: ​Gretchen Clark ​Note from Gretchen: I propose I send out details about events
early March and again in May. Early October and again mid-November. Deadlines for adding
news items to the google doc would be the final day of the preceding month. I'd format the items forcontinuity and send them out in a bulk email newsletter to the ld-news list. I​ f you would like me
adjust the deadlines (see below), please advise WHEN you'd like the information to go out and I will
adjust the deadline for everyone. I think it's important not to bombard members with too many
emails so please think about an appropriate time to announce and/or remind members of the grantdeadlines.
**Individual committee members who are organizing LD events are invited to handle updating theFB page with their event information, liaise with Rob to design posters and .jpgs for logos for FB andother social media. I prefer only handling the newsletter for now but will of course share any posts on
the LD facebook page in my own feed and I ask other officers to do the same.
Member at large​​: ​Oana Cusen
Notes: Instead of regular get-togethers, Gretchen Clark said Kansai LD members will becollaborating with Kyoto JALT Chapter to co-organise their third student conference,“Kansai to the World” (K2W).

II. Committee member roles
Treasurer: ​Thank you to Patrick Kiernan for stepping up as the new treasurer for the LD SIG.
Huw will mentor Patrick from JALT2018 onwards then handover and provide Patrick withtemplates for treasurer’s summary submissions to various JALT meetings. Huw briefly outlined
the treasurer’s duties:- monthly summary and submitting paperwork records to JALT Central Office- March-April, ​JALT audits each SIG​, so the treasurer needs to submit annual records forthat.
- Generally, Huw spends around a few hours each month. He found being treasurer was agood way to get to know how the SIG and JALT work, and get to know about SIG
members’ activities.
Publicity:​​ Gretchen will take up the ‘publicity team’ role. This is a loosely defined role, and thepublicity team is welcome to create this role and develop it according to the SIG’s needs thisyear (e.g., website, events, coordinating between committee members to collate-disseminate
their information, liaise with other members ...)- Gretchen could contact Nicole Gallagher to share-learn what Nicole did through 2018.
- Gretchen said she’d be happy to create a Google form to publicise any upcoming LDevents.
- Committee members/team would need to add relevant information to the Google formby an agreed deadline, e.g., Calls for Proposals, LD grants, conferences, local get-together
events, etc.
- Gretchen would then send out a publicity message to SIG members, say, twice asemester (liaising with Ann Flanagan re membership list).
- This kind of approach works well for Kyoto JALT, where Gretchen is Program Chair

III. Treasurer’s report for 2018-2019
1) LD website costs
Huw outlined the year’s expenses for the LD SIG, explaining that one additional expense for2018 would be a second reimbursement for Hugh Nicoll for webmastering costs.
- Hugh Nicoll has generously maintained and covered the expenses for the LD SIG
website/domain for around 15 years (averaging 1000 yen monthly for hosting costs plus
5000 yen annually for domain registration and renewal costs - effectively 17000 peryear).

--Huw proposed that the ¥75,000 reimbursement agreed at last year’s AGM be increasedto ¥150,000 as a reimbursement for the financial costs that Hugh has carried for the SIG
over this period.
After some discussion, the AGM agreed on this increase.
Soon the LD website will move over to the main JALT server at which point future costs(something like 5,000 JPY each year) will be paid annually by the LD SIG to JALT for thisservice, rather than to a specific individual.

2) The SIG will cover room hire costs for Tokyo get-togethers (GTs) who are holding amini-conference for student and teacher presentations, ​Creating Community: LearningTogether 4 (CCLT4)​ on Sunday 16 December 2018.
- CCLT4 is expected to break even.
- Kansai GTs can similarly apply for money from the SIG to cover room hire costs when
they hold another student conference, Kansai to the World (K2W). Projected cost isunder 5,000 for room reservation at Campus Plaza Kyoto for an afternoon...not quite
sure what other expenses we’ve had in the past but Gretchen will ask Agi and liaise withTreasury about the details.
3) Koki Tomita recently started a discussion among the LD committee around reimbursement
for SIG officers who do not have access to institutional funding and who attend various
mandatory SIG meetings at the annual JALT conference on behalf of the LD SIG.
- Blair Barr is doing this at JALT2018, substituting for Koki and Yoshi.
- Oana clarified that JALT covers costs (travel and accommodation) for SIG coordinators(and other JALT officers) to attend the February and June Executive Board Meetings(EBMs), but SIGs need to cover the costs at the conference EBM for a SIG officer whodoes not have access to institutional funding.
- The meeting agreed on a ¥25,000 contribution to Blair Barr’s travel and one-night hotel
expenses at JALT 2018.
- Blair will submit relevant receipts to Huw.
- LD will also need to “supply” one officer to join the organising committee of the 2019PanSIG conference. As this conference works on a profit-sharing principle, any costs
incurred by LD will be covered so this does not need a specific budgeting proposal.
- The AGM also agreed that as far as possible the SIG committee should aim to reduceany such costs by sharing responsibilities on a geographical basis. If an EBM orconference is in Kansai, then a Kansai-based officer should attend it, and if in Kanto, aKanto-based officer.

IV. Ideas for SIG activities in 2019
Lastly, the meeting split off into small-group discussions for 8-10 minutes focussing on “whatactivities would we like to see in the LD SIG in 2019”. We wrapped up the AGM with a briefround of plenary feedback from each pair/trio:- Blair, Gretchen, and Jenny ​discussed formats for CCLT4 in Tokyo and Kansai to the World(K2W). Then, they moved onto what happens in Tokyo GTs , and Kansai GTs, with Tokyo
GTs bringing participant-driven discussions around LD puzzles, individual writing orpresentation projects, possible collaborative projects, etc.
- Kio and Patrick​ had a valuable getting-to-know conversation.
- Ken and Tim​ brought up the possibility of a ​Learner Development Journal​ (LDJ) event sosteering committee and issues editor(s) plus the writers can spend time together on theshared writing projects ? Then, Tim further expanded on this idea by suggesting a LD
retreat, a national workshop time where LD committee members could catch up, get toknow each other, plan ahead, and set goals around researching learner development.
- Elisa, Huw and Martin​ talked about the get-togethers having a “My Share” LD focus,
including a mentoring aspect; skills exchange.
The AGM closed at 4.30pm.

Appendix A LD SIG Financial Summary, prepared for the November 2018
AGM
November 2017 – October 2018 Revenues and Expenses
Balance (1 November, 2017)

386,785 (+200,000 reserve)

Revenues
Annual grant from JCO150,269

PanSIG profit shared

86,689Return of PanSIG grant

40,000

Total

276,958

Expenses
Grants90,000JALT Conference fee

14,550Co-ordinator attending meeting

28,300Sponsoring Chika Hayashi (ILA2018)

28,700Reimbursing Hugh Nicoll (LD website reimbursement)

75,0001

Get-together room costs

5,480

Postage, bank fees

2,093

Total

244,123

Balance (1 November, 2018)419,620 (+200,000 reserve)

Expenses, November 2018, expected
3 x grants for JALT Conference

120,000

Photocopying for JALT Conference

2,100

Postage for JALT Conference

3,500Tokyo Get-together room rental fee (October)

1,944

Room fees (December CCLT Conference)

47,826

Flowers for Richard Silver March 2018???

Funding for Blair Barr (JALT2018, for required
SIG attendance at JALT meetings)

???2

Total

173,370+Balance (1 December, 2018, estimated)

246,250 (+200,000 reserve)

2019 Draft Budget for Discussion

Revenues
12

Subsequently increased to 150,000 JPY following discussion and approval at the 2018 AGM
Subsequently set at about 25,000 JPY following discussion and approval at the 2018 AGM

Annual grant from JCO

150,000PanSIG profit shared

50,000Total

200,000

Expenses
Grants200,000

Website maintenance​20,000

Get-together room fees + CCLT5​40,000

Conference-related costs (table fee, postage)​25,000

Miscellaneous​20,000

Total

305,000

Balance (1 December, 2019, estimated)

141,250 (+200,000 reserve)