EDUCATION COUNCIL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
November 10, 2000, 9:00 a.m., CDT
Board Room, Central Community College
Grand Island, Nebraska
APPROVED MINUTES
MEMBERS PRESENT |
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| Keith Bartels, Boards of Education | Dr. Don King, Chadron State College |
| Dr. William Berndt, UNMC (by telephone) | Dennis Linster, Wayne State College |
| Larry Bock, Blair Public Schools | Dr. Sarah Cunningham, alt.-Central Community College |
| Con Dietz, Creighton University | Art Tanderup, Tekamah-Herman Public Schools |
| Dennis Baack, alt.-Community College System | Alan Wibbels, Educational Service Unit 10 |
| Linda Engel, alt.-Nebraska City Public Schools | |
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS PRESENT |
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| Sid McCartney, DAS Division of Communications | Mike Beach, Nebraska Educational Television |
MEMBERS and EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS ABSENT |
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| Dr. Roger Koehler, Nebraska Methodist College; Dr. Harvey Perlman, University of Nebraska; Joe LeDuc, K-12 Private & Parochial Schools; Al Schneider, ESU 5; Dr. Rob Ziegler, Madison Public Schools; Dr. David Powers, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education | |
OTHERS PRESENT |
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Yvette Holly, UNMC (by telephone); Pam Brown, NE Assistive Technology Center; Roger Bartlett, Q-West; Tom Carlstrom, Humphrey Public Schools; Tom Rolfes, Office of the CIO/NITC |
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CALL TO ORDER, ELECTRONIC POSTING, ROLL CALL, INTRODUCTIONS
Co-chair, Alan Wibbels, called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. Roll call was taken. There were 10 members present and an eleventh by telephone. A quorum existed to conduct official business. Mr. Wibbels stated that the meeting notice was first posted to the NITC Web site on October 16, 2000 and that the agenda was posted to the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar and the NITC web sites on November 7, 2000
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE NOVEMBER 10, 2000 MEETING
Mr. Bock moved to approve the agenda as presented. Mr. Baack seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Bartels-Yes, Berndt-Yes, Bock-Yes, Dietz-Yes, Baack-Yes, Engel-Yes, King-Yes, Cunningham-Yes, Linster-Yes, Tanderup-Yes, and Wibbels-Yes. Motion was carried.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER 13, 2000 MEETING
Mr. Tanderup moved to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Bartels seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Berndt-Yes, Bock-Yes, Dietz-Yes, Baack-Yes, Engel-Yes, King-Yes, Cunningham-Yes, Linster-Yes, Tanderup-Yes, Wibbels-Yes, and Bartels-Yes. Motion was carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Nebrask@ On-Line (NOL) Education Task Group, Tom Rolfes
The Nebraska@ On-Line Education task group met with NOL after the October EC meeting and suggested a variety of content elements to consider when designing the education interface on the state's Home page. The NOL Web designers were to construct a possible working model and then present it to the Education Council for review at a future meeting.
Operations Work Group, Tom Rolfes
A meeting was held on October 25 over the NVCN system. The Work Group reports two member vacancies, K-12 and State Colleges. The Education I.T. Manager is taking steps to find replacement members from the respective groups. Proposed members will be approved by the Education Council. The Operations Work Group reviewed the NEB*SAT Scheduling Priorities and forwarded them to the Education Council for their consideration. The Nebraska Department of Education and the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education have been collaborating on a single, web-based distance learning survey for K-16.
Policies, Procedures, Planning Subcommittee, Co-Chair
The P3 sub-committee has not met.
Training Advisory Work Group, Tom Rolfes
The Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission will be ready to release the Request for Proposals for technical training mini-grants for K-12 and Higher Education on February 1, 2001. The Training Advisory Work Group will present the final draft of the RFP at the December Education Council meeting. The grant deadline will be April 2, 2001 and the TAWG Web site under the NITC will offer the application materials as a downloadable file rather than mailing out 2000+ print copies of the application. Grant limits are $10,000 each with approximately $170,000 total to distribute in this cycle.
NET Distance Learning Report, Michael Beach
Mr. Beach reported that the NET3 upgrade is continuing with only minor technical challenges arising. Numbers for total usage are up due to the added capacity and increased utilization. Due to the software upgrade and addition of the Accord Switch, NVCN now enjoys multiple split screen options on the videoconferencing monitor as well as various video protocols. Future NET reports will include ITFS as well as distance learning
PRESENTATION: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NEBRASKA SCHOOLS; SERVICES TO SUPPORT ACCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS, Pam Brown, NE Assistive Technology (NEAT) Center.
Ms. Brown reported that a number of human service needs are being addressed through technology. For example, an educator in Scottsbluff who has a student with autism recently consulted with an expert in Omaha. Interpreter services training takes place through distance learning courses. Deaf/hard of hearing captioning actually assists all students with visual reinforcement. The TTY and E-mail functions have been big benefits for those persons who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. The Computer Recycling Program with corporate sponsors of FirstData, Wells Fargo, ConAgra have helped persons with disabilities.
The NEAT Center expresses its appreciation to the Education Council and NITC for furthering the technology that makes the above benefits possible. One suggestion Ms. Brown had for all education entities would be to remember accessibility when writing education grants or revising grant programs. Ms. Brown would like to encourage any educators or administrators that are interested that there is an Assistive Technology Conference at California State-LA North Ridge in March, 2001. There will be stipends available for training or attendance.
Recent developments in Nebraska concerning assistive technology included the appointment of Dr. Christy Horn to the NITC Technical Panel. Dr. Horn will be representing the needs of assistive technology. The State of Nebraska will be adopting an assistive technology clause on State purchasing contracts after a hearing on December 12 at the Technical Panel meeting. Also, Federal Section 508 provides a summary of accommodations that should be made in the workplace and educational environment concerning persons with disabilities.
Dr. Berndt and Ms. Holly left the telephone conference at 10:21 AM due to poor audio quality.
NITC REPORT - Tom Rolfes, Education I.T. Manager
Mr. Rolfes reported that the Joint Conference Committee forwarded 25 prioritized projects to the NITC after their October 30 meeting. The NITC met on November 6 and agreed with the Joint Conference Committee prioritization. This set of recommendations will be delivered to the Governor and Legislature on November 15th.
The NITC endorsed the e-Government Strategic Plan as developed by a work group of the State Government Council. Mr. Rolfes encouraged education to become more forward-thinking on this issue; from improved Web sites to increased commerce with students and parents surrounding education. Additionally, education should consider B2B applications.
NIDCAC TECHNICAL TRAINING/SUPPORT INVENTORY - Tom Rolfes
Mr. Rolfes reported that the NIDCAC action item summarizing local technical training and support is complete, with much help and input from the Education Council members and alternates contributing. The Education Council asked that the Education I.T. Manager forward the document to the NIDCAC and ask for feedback from Mr. Bowmaster.
NEB*SAT SCHEDULING PRIORITIES - Tom Rolfes
Mr. Rolfes reported that the task group of the Operations Work Group had finished their revisions of the NEB*SAT Scheduling Priorities and will be ready to discuss the document at the December 15 Education Council meeting. Education Council members should be ready to provide feedback and to recommend the priorities for adoption by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission and as an information item to the NITC.
TERRESTRIAL AGGREGATION SERVICES - Sid McCartney
Mr. McCartney reported that the TINA RFP development is progressing on schedule. The inventory of publicly funded infrastructure is complete and on the Web at http://www.doc/tina/inventory.htm. Education representatives are invited to visit the inventory and double-check that their data is listed and correct. Mr. McCartney also reported that at least three private colleges have responded as well as the Grand Island Technology Committee, representing private business interests. The total amount of bandwidth implicated so far is 10.5 billion bps. The Division of Communications plans a pre-bidding conference with potential prime contractors as the RFP release date nears. The RFP is tentatively scheduled for release on April 30, 2001 with a July, 2001 response. In December, 2001, the prime contract will be awarded, contract signed, and implementation begins.
DISCUSSION: STATEWIDE EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLAN
The Education Council invited Mr. Tom Carlstrom, superintendent of Humphrey Public Schools, to share concerns related to unfunded distance learning schools in Nebraska. Mr. Carlstrom reported that the Crossroads Consortium centered out of ESU 7 in Columbus has been unable to acquire funding for their distance learning consortium for several years. They had unsuccessfully applied to the Education Innovation Fund, USDA RUS fund, and other sources. The Crossroads Consortium plans to sponsor a Legislative initiative to secure funding for all remaining unfunded distance learning schools in Nebraska--about 37 districts. The Consortium is interested in adopting the most current technology to accomplish their objectives.
After discussion and questions, the Co-Chair entertained a motion to do additional planning related to educational telecommunications and meet the needs of distance learning projects in need of upgrade and unfunded.
Con Dietz moved and Dennis Baack seconded a motion with a friendly amendment by Dr. Cunningham to have the Education Council charge the Policies, Procedures, and Planning Subcommittee to work on development of a statewide standard for interactive video and work with entities to be selected to develop a demonstration project to move toward technology conversion. Bartels-Yes, Bock-Yes, Dietz-Yes, Baack-Yes, Engel-Yes, Krepel-Yes, Cunningham-Yes, Linster-Yes, Tanderup-Yes, Wibbels-Yes. The motion was approved.
OTHER
The Education Council appointed Dennis Linster of the Policies, Procedures, and Planning Subcommittee to begin to gather technical information from education entities to assist in the development of the statewide standard for interactive video.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Education Council will be held on Friday, December 15, 2000 on UNL East Campus. The exact location will be announced.
ADJOURNMENT
The co-chair, Mr. Wibbels adjourned the meeting at 12:23 p.m.
Minutes were taken by Tom Rolfes, Office of the CIO/NITC.
Meeting Minutes