Minutes for Learner Development SIG Annual General Meeting
Sunday, November 23rd, 2014. 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Japanese Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Conference 2014.
Tsukuba International Congress Center, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki-ken
29 members present: Mayumi Abe, Lee Arnold, Stephanie Corwin, Chris Fitzgerald,William Hassett, Ian Hurrell, Ken Ikeda, Brandon Kramer, Joel Laurier, Jenny Morgan,
Martin Mullen, Fumiko Murase, Hugh Nicoll, Steve Paton, Matthew Porter, MarthaRobertson, Jim Ronald, Caroline Ross, Colin Rundle, Yoko Sakurai, Alison Stewart, KrisSullivan, Mayumi Takizawa, James Underwood, Kazuko Unosawa, Adrianne Verla,
Satomi Yoshimuta, 2 new members from Saitama
Apologies: Andy Barfield, Kay Irie, Masuko Miyahara, Stacey Vye
1. Approval of new committee members and shadows for LD teams
This item was tabled so as to ensure more time for discussion of goals and issues, including
clarification of team positions and duties.
As we ran out of meeting time before members could be approved, it was decided thatmembers and shadows will be given provisional approval and approved on-line.
Full list of committee members in Appendix A.
2. Discussion and setting of goals for 2015a. General coordination (Alison Stewart)-- Clarification of team roles
Alison Stewart announced that LD SIG coordination has been moving toward a new teamstructure in which 3 or 4 people share coordinator roles. This is a relatively new structure
and coordination teams have evolved in such a way that teams have different titles anddifferent roles. There is a need to clarify titles and duties across the different teams toprevent overlap, aid record keeping, and improve communication within teams and with theLD SIG and the JALT organization. Membership, Treasury, Publications, Publicity, Grants,
Web Development and Maintenance and Outreach are currently operating as a teamstructure, so this issue is significant for LD SIG coordination and operations. Attendees
were asked to consider how coordinators and teams can clarify duties and titles and how
communication can be improved at all levels, from coordination teams outward to JALT asa whole.
-- Changed revenue structureWith regard to spending in the coming year, Alison reported that the SIG’s income willchange next year under the new membership fee distribution policy (see attacheddocument). The SIG will receive a base grant of 25,000 yen, but will receive only 1,000
yen from members instead of 1,500 as previously. In LD SIG planning, we need to takecare to be self-financing and to plan to raise sufficient funds from LD SIG activities so that
we do not depend on extra funding from JALT. However, as LD SIG activities usuallybring in at least enough money to cover expenses, this loss will probably not result inhaving to cut our usual activities.
b. Grants (Martin Mullen)
Grants will be available in 2015 to support research in learner development, conference
attendance (Pan SIG, JALTCALL and JALT National), new membership, outreacheducational projects, and LD SIG subscriptions. This past year, not many people haveapplied for these grants. This may be due to lack of publicity or to grant deadlines.
Grants are currently distributed on a “first come, first served” basis. Martin recommended
that the SIG institute a rolling deadline, at least for subscription, membership, and outreachgrant proposals, to encourage more people to apply for grants and to have grants available
throughout the year. Colin said we need better promotion for grants and deadlines;
members of the LD SIG get the information, but non-members do not always get
information about grant opportunities.
LD members suggested fliers for teachers' staff-rooms; publicizing with local Chapters;announcements at LD Get-togethers; contact with coordinators of masters' degree
programs; and publicizing on the LD blogs. Alison suggested that discussion of publicity
for grants be continued by Outreach and Publicity teams.
c. Publications (James Underwood)-- Annual JournalJames Underwood announced that the Publications team has been discussing the possibilityof an annual journal featuring longer articles and research papers on a single topic, andpublished in addition to Learning Learning. The journal would appear regularly at the sametime of year and genre and the length of the publication would be decided each year by thepublishing team. This journal would be a more narrowly focused publication than Learning
Learning, which not only publishes articles on a variety of topics of interest to LD SIG
members, but also serves as a newsletter to update members about LD SIG events andpromote communication across LD SIG membership.
Members had a brief discussion of the proposed journal. Collaborative vs Cooperative
Learning was suggested as a possible topic for the first annual journal. More discussion
on-line is needed to decide if the journal is feasible for this coming year.
Two new book publications are due for completion by the end of this year and it isenvisaged that the annual journal may take the place of book projects with the advantagethat they would appear more regularly. A team of editors would consist of a guest leadeditor (or editors) and regular editors, both experienced and those looking to gain
experience, who would ensure continuity and quality.

-- Funding for print publication of LD Working Papers and CLiLD.
Although the two book projects will be published digitally in the first instance (LDWP on a
dedicated website, CLiLD as an e-book), it is proposed that they also will be published aslimited paper editions next year.
-- Recycled paper policy
Alison Stewart announced an LD SIG commitment to a policy of using recycled paper forour publications, even though it might be more expensive.
a. d. Programs (Ian Hurrell)-- Event records.
Ian proposed starting a site for storing video recordings of poster presentations, participantreflections, etc. Ian also reported that centralizing the gmail account has worked well. The
team has been using Google Drive for event coordination and is thinking about setting up aYouTube account to save video records and testimonials from the Forum.
-- Conference Proceedings
There is a 5,000-word limit for articles in the JALT Conference Proceedings. Because we
had so many participants in the Forum this year, we asked to extend the limit. We can have
13,000 words, provided the LD SIG takes responsibility for reviewing and editing thecontributions. Each participant's segment would be about 800 – 1000 words. The deadline
for submissions would be early January. The format and content of submissions is yet to bedecided. Ian requested help with reviewing and editing individual content for Conference
Proceedings. Martha Robertson and Stephanie Corwin volunteered to help.
e. Publicity-- Promoting and publicizing LD SIG activities more pro-actively.
To be discussed by Publicity team headed by Rob Moreau.
f. Outreach (Colin Rundle)-- NGO Student Ambassadors
Colin said there is a need for a core group to get more students involved. The Team
contacted CAM TESOL and PAN SIG, but did not receive much response. He asked
members to promote programs in our own institutions and suggested that a message be sent
to Coordinators of JALT Chapters and other SIGs asking them to help get more students
involved in NGOs and LD events.
-- Tohoku outreachColin Rundle and Alison Stewart confirmed that interest and enthusiasm continue forcarrying on outreach efforts in Tohoku Region.
g. Translation
This item was omitted due to lack to time.

h. Website Development (Hugh Nicoll)
Hugh Nicoll, Billy Hassett and James Underwood have developed a new WordPress site(ld-sig.org/blog) which was shown to the meeting. They are still working on obtaining asimple url for the site.
3. Discussion and Approval of 2015 Budget
A draft of LD SIG Budget for 2015 was handed out at the meeting.
Because of the new JALT funding distribution policy, it is important to make activities
self-funding and to conserve revenue and spending during the coming year.
There is no provision in the 2015 budget for a mini-conference. The December 2014 eventin Tokyo may be repeated next year, but, if so, it will need to be self-financing through anominal participation fee as it was this year.
There was not time to discuss and approve budget. The budget will be discussed andapproved by members on-line.
The final draft of the budget in Appendix B
Minutes taken by Martha Robertson

Appendix A
List of Committee Members 2014-15
Co-Coordinators: Fumiko Murase & Alison Stewart (currently looking for shadows toreplace them from JALT 2015)
Membership: Brandon Kramer, Ann Flanagan & Stephanie Corwin
Treasury: Mayumi Abe, Satomi Yoshimuta & Huw Davies
Programmes: Lee Arnold (chair), Ian Hurrell & Joel Laurier
Publications Coordinators: James Underwood &Tim Ashwell
Learning Learning: Mathew Porter (shadow: Yoko Sakurai), Monika Szirmai (Layout),Chika Hayashi (Translations coordinator), Chris Fitzgerald (Research grant awardees),
James Underwood (Members Voices), Kazuko Unosawa (Creative Writing), Caroline Kocel
Ross (Outreach)
Publicity: Robert Moreau, Kie Yamamoto & Tomoko Imamura
Grants: Martin Mullen (stepping down) Satomi Yoshimuta, Jennie Morgan& Kris Sullivan
Outreach: Colin Rundle & Caroline Kocel-Ross
Website Maintenance and Development: Hugh Nicoll, James Underwood, Rachelle Meilleur
Talking Points: Jim Ronald & Naomi Fujishima
Local get-togethers:
Tokyo: Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda, & Agnes PatkoKansai: Brandon Kramer (looking for new Kansai coordinator)
Hiroshima: Jim Ronald & Ariel Sorensen
Members-at-large: Gretchen Clark, Matt Coomber, Dexter Da Silva, Sayuri Hasegawa, KayIrie, Aiko Minematsu, Masuko Miyahara, Bill Mboutsiadis, Mike Nix, Martha Robertson,
Jackie Suginaga

Appendix B

DRAFT BUDGET 2015-2016 (Submitted by Mayumi Abe)
Draft SIG budget for 2015
(April 2015 – March 2016)

FY2014

Draft 2015

（April 2014March 2015）（April 2015March 2016）(17,000)(10,000)(17,000)(10,000)(20,000)(7,500)(20,000)(7,500)(25,000)(40,000)(20,000)(40,000)

Projected expenses
Table rental for JALT National Conference
Shipping LD materials to and from JALT
National Conference
Shipping fees for other events
LD web site cost (including domain nameregistration)
Donation for Best of JALT 2014
JALT Pan-SIG conference grant (40,000 yeneach)
JALT CALL conference grant (40,000 yen each)
LD SIG research grants (25,000 yen each)
Outreach grants (20,000 yen each)

0(25,000)(*40,000)

National conference grants (40,000 yen each)(*120,000)

JALT2014 Musashi participation
December informal conference
Community: Learning Together
Co-sponsor a JALT speaker
Get-together room hire
Other miscellaneous
SUB-TOTALCreating

Projected revenues
Membership x 1500 yen
December informal conference
Community: Learning Together
SUB-TOTALCreating

TOTAL (Projected revenues – expenses)

Notes(60,000)(30,000)(40,000)(25,000)(40,000) 2 x 20,000*usedforMusashi
participation
JALT2014(**80,000) *3 x 40,000**2 x 40,000000(25,000)(20,000)(439,500)(125,000)(25,000)(20,000)(469,500)*260,000

260,000

30,0000

290,000

260,000-149,500-209,500

Reserve liabilities
368,250
200,000
GRAND TOTAL
218,750-9,500
About
About
Expected balance in March (592,768 in Marc
450,000

240,000*259,750 received
as of November 4,2014

h 2014: 224,288 in bank account + 368,250 as reserve liabilities)

expected inMarch 2015
(About80,000inbankaccount +368,250 as
reserveliabilities)

expected in
March 2016
(About38,250inbank
account +200,000 as
reserveliabilities)