EDUCATION COUNCIL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Friday, March 19, 2004, 9:00 a.m.
Nebraska Wesleyan University
53rd & Huntington
MINUTESVOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:
Mr. Arnold Bateman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ms. Linda Engel, Nebraska City Public Schools
Mr. Terry Haack, Elkhorn High School
Dr. Jack Huck, Southeast Community College
Mr. Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools
Mr. Joe LeDuc, Catholic Diocese of Lincoln
Mr. Chuck Lenosky, Creighton University
Dr. Rob Manzer, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Dr. Jerry Moskus, Metropolitan Community College
Mr. Alan Wibbels, Educational Service Unit 10
LIAISON MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mr. Mike Beach, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
Mr. Wayne Fisher, Department of Education
MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:
Ms. Brenda Decker, Division of Communications; Ms. Yvette Holly, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Dr. Tom Krepel, Chadron State College; Mr. Dennis Linster, Wayne State College; Mr. Michael Pate, Millard Public Schools; Dr. David Powers, Coordinating Commission for Post Secondary Education; Dr. Ed Rastovski, Wahoo Public Schools; and Mr. Al Schneider, Educational Service Unit 5.
CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND MEETING NOTICE
Co-chair Dr. Jack Huck called the meeting to order at 9:20 a.m. (The meeting start was delayed as the technical difficulties related to the first agenda item were being solved) There were ten members present at the time of roll call. It was stated that the meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Public Meeting Calendar websites on February 25, 2004 and that the agenda was posted to the NITC website on March 16, 2004.
APPROVAL OF MARCH 19, 2004 AGENDA
Mr. LeDuc moved to approve the March 19th agenda as presented. Mr. Lenosky seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Bateman-Yes, Engel-Yes, Haack-Yes, Huck-Yes, Johnson-Yes, LeDuc-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Moskus-Yes, Manzer-Yes, and Wibbels-Yes. Results: 10-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.
APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY MINUTES
Mr. Bateman moved to approve the February 20th meeting minutes with the name correction of the K-20 SEGP Steering Committee representative for Nebraska as Pam Holley-Wilcox. Mr. Haack seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Wibbels-Yes, Manzer-Yes, Moskus-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, LeDuc-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Huck-Yes, Haack-Yes, Engel-Yes, and Bateman-Yes. Results: 10-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
NEBRASKA EDUCATION PORTAL DEMONSTRATION
Dan Brown and Doug Gibbs, Nebrask@Online
Mr. Brown demonstrated the universal application for admission for Nebraska institutions but emphasized that the common college application is still in development and will not be implemented until the Education Council has approved the protocol. Input and recommendations were welcomed. Mr. Rolfes was thanked for his assistance with the data collection from colleges. The first section of the common application was basic information: name, address, marital status, social security number, date of birth, gender, etc. The other portions dealt with the student’s academic and extra-curricular interests, using an intelligent branching technique during the application completion. Some members expressed concern regarding the individual institutional data needs, academic and career interests specific to that institution, uniqueness and differences in 2-year and 4-year degree and course criteria that may be difficult to accomplish on one common application. Other members stated they liked the idea of a common application that would be beneficial to students, parents, and guidance counselors. There was mention of a website called Find Your Spot.com that prospective students can search to find educational institutions that meet a particular criteria. Council members commented that it would be good to have a similar search engine for Nebraska colleges. After discussion, the Council made the following recommendations to NOL before implementation of the application: 1) conduct focus groups with guidance counselors, admissions personnel and registrars for their input on the one common application; and 2) begin development of the search engine database for Nebraska higher educational institutions.
UPDATE ON ACTION ITEMS (Word 32k) TASK GROUPS
EC 1.1 (Continuation) Statewide Synchronous Video Network Implementation: Mr. Beach reported that the work group is preparing to re-examine the video standards that are up for a 2-year review. New membership has been designated to assist with the review. The timeline is due to the e-rate deadlines for some ESU contracts. Other issues that the work group has been addressing is funding and scheduling coordination. The large work group has not met but has been moving forward with smaller task groups. A meeting with the larger work group will be planned for this summer.
EC 1.2 (Continuation) Sufficient Rural Bandwidth: Mr. Fisher reported that issues are being addressed through Network Nebraska and progress has been made with the development of a backbone. More discussion will occur at the March 31st CAP all day retreat.
EC 1.3 (New) Support the Nebraska Network project through the Interim Network Policy Work Group: Mr. Rolfes reported that the NITC requested that the interim group wait until Network Nebraska is fully implemented.
EC 2.1 (Revised) Recommend Change in Funding for Technology Training Grants: Dr. Moskus reported that the task group has been discussing the need to build a case for state funding for training. Survey instruments that other states may have used will be researched. Some members felt that this effort may not be realistic due to state’s economy and budget deficit. When the survey instrument has been selected, it will be distributed to K-12 and higher education institutions. Mr. Wibbels offered to host the survey at no cost. The task group is meeting today.
EC 5.1 (New) Nebraska eLearning Initiative for the coordination of synchronous and asynchronous distance learning experiences for K-20 students: The Task Group is meeting today to discuss next steps.
EC 5.2 (New) Value-added services for the Nebraska ‘Click into Education’ Portal: There was no report aside from the demonstration and discussion held earlier in the meeting.
EC 6.1(Continuation) Synchronous and Asynchronous Instructional Methods: Mr. Manzer is exploring the possibility of conducting a study and has spoken with Graham Ramsden at Creighton University.
ACTION ITEMS AND STRATEGIC INITIATIVES (PDF 604k)
There are three Education Council initiatives in the Strategic Plan that will be presented to the NITC at their March meeting: Network Nebraska, Statewide Synchronous Video Network and the eLearning Initiative. The CAP group will be having a retreat on March 31st and would like input regarding Network Nebraska section of the document.
OTHER
There was no other business
NEXT MEETING DATES, TIME, LOCATION AND ADJOURNMENT
The next meetings of the NITC Education Council will be held on Friday, May 21st,, 9:00 a.m., to be hosted by Arnold Bateman at a location on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Campus, to be announced at a later date. The July 16th, 9:00 a.m. meeting will be hosted by Dr. Jack Huck on the new Southeast Community College Campus site at 301 South 68th Street (old Gallup Building), in Lincoln, Nebraska.
After the meeting, the council broke up into small working groups to discuss action items and strategic initiatives.
With no further business, Dr. Huck adjourned the meeting at 11:11 a.m.
Meeting Minutes