EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Tuesday, May 10, 2011; 1:00PM CT

NET Board Room, 1800 N. 33rd St., Lincoln

Remote: NATS Conference Room, Wayne State College, Wayne

Remote: Alliance High School, 100 W. 14th, Alliance

Remote: Metro Community College, Bldg 30, 30th & Fort Streets, Omaha

Remote: ESU 10, 76 Plaza Blvd., Kearney

MINUTES

 

VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:

 

Mr. Ron Cone, ESU 10

Mr. John Dunning, alt. for Dennis Linster, Wayne State College

Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools

Mr. Stephen Hamersky, Omaha Gross High School

Mr. Leonard Hartman, Alliance Public Schools

Mr. Ed Hoffman, Nebraska State College System

Mr. Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools

Mr. Chuck Lenosky, Creighton University

Mr. Randy Schmailzl, Metropolitan Community College 

Dr. Bob Uhing, ESU 1

 

LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. John Stritt, ESU 10; Mr. Ken Clipperton, Midland University; Mr. Gary Targoff, NET; Mr. Mike Kozak and Ms. SuAnn Witt, NDE; and Steven Stortz, Norfolk Lutheran School

 

MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT:  Mr. Gary Aerts, Alt. for Arnold Bateman, University of Nebraska; Mr. Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan; Dr. Michael Chipps, Mid-Plains Community College; Ms. Brenda Decker, DAS-CIO; Marshall Hill, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education; Ms. Yvette Holly, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Mr. Craig Pease, Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools; and Mr. Jeff Stanley, Conestoga Public Schools

 

CALL TO ORDER, ELECTRONIC POSTING, LOCATION OF OPEN MEETING LAW DOCUMENTS, ROLL CALL, INTRODUCTIONS

 

Co-Chair, Dr. Haack, called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.  There were 10 members present at the time of roll call.  A quorum existed to conduct official business. Meeting Notice Posted to the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar 04-01-2011. Agenda Posted to the NITC Web site 05-06-2011. A copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Laws was on the southeast wall of the NET Board Room and at each of the remote locations..

 

Guests who were present introduced themselves.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE MARCH 10, 2011 MEETING

 

Mr. Hamersky moved to approve the May 10, 2011 agenda as presented. Mr. Hoffman seconded.  Roll call vote: Cone-Yes, Dunning-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE March 10, 2011 MEETING

 

Mr. Hartman moved to approve the March 10, 2011 minutes as presented.  Mr. Lenosky seconded.  Cone-Yes, Dunning-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

There was no public comment.

 

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

Tom Rolfes, Office of the CIO/NITC

 

Dr. Chipps is resigning and will need a replacement.  The University of Nebraska will be recommending a replacement for Arnold Bateman to complete the 2010-12 term.  Mr. Lenosky will be resigning from the Council but has agreed to remain on as an alternate.  Mr. O’Neill is looking for a replacement for Mr. Lenosky.  Mr. Pease is retiring.  Below is the proposed nomination slate for membership renewals and new members:

 

Higher Education (2011-13 term)-Awaiting confirmation

·         Yvette Holly, representing the University of Nebraska System

·         Chuck Lenosky, representing Independent Colleges & Universities [resigning]

·         Mike Chipps, representing Community College System [resigning]

·         Ed Hoffmann, representing State College System

 

K-12 Education (2011-13 term)-Awaiting confirmation

·         Bob Uhing, representing Educational Service Units

·         TBA (Craig Pease retiring), representing Administrators

·         Stephen Hamersky, representing Nonpublic Teachers

·         Leonard Hartman, representing Public Teachers

 

New Members (2010-12 term)-Awaiting confirmation

·         John Dunning, representing State College System

·         TBA (Arnold Bateman retired) UN System

 

The NITC staff will need sector confirmation by June 23rd for approval by the NITC at their June 30 NITC meeting.

 

Mr. Hoffman moved approval of proposed slate of nominations upon recommendation and confirmation from their sectors.  Mr. Johnson seconded.  Cone-Yes, Dunning-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hoffman-Yes, Johnson-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Schmailzl-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

VIRTUAL SCHOOL UPDATE

 Mike Kozak, Nebraska Department of Education; Gordon Roethemeyer, ESU Distance Education Council

 

Nebraska’s Race to the Top grant was not awarded.  In the January 2011 State of the State Address, Governor Heineman stated that he wanted Nebraska to develop a Virtual High School.  Matt Blomstedt and Mr. Roethemeyer were charged with assessing what Nebraska was doing in the way of online education.  The virtual school discussions were held with many interested groups participating.  Mr. Roethemeyer proceeded with his presentation of ENVISION:  A Nebraska Virtual Instruction School.   ESU 10 hired a Remote Leaning Specialist who is responsible for teaching online and blending learning classes.

 

By 2012, ENVISION’s goal is to have 40 virtual school teachers teaching at least 100 online courses with access to 450 two-way interactive courses.  By August 2015, the goal is to increase enrollment to 700 students and increase the number of online courses to 400 courses.  The target implementation date for the virtual school is set for August 20, 2012.

 

After the presentation, Education Council members expressed the following concerns, issues and/or questions:

·         The Virtual School is primarily ESU-focused.  There are a lot of potential providers that have not been part of the discussion. For example, the University of Nebraska-Independent High School, Higher Educational Institutions, Career Academies, etc.

o    Mr. Kozak acknowledged that a statewide effort would need to involve more state resources in the development. With the current budget crisis, the Legislature and the Dept of Education have no funding to contribute.  Per discussions with Dr. Breed, Mr. Blomstedt and Governor Heineman, it was decided that an inventory of existing courses would be gathered and developed into a virtual school portal where parents, students and counselors could go to access course availability and information. At this point, the project is moving forward slowly since there is no source of new funding.

·         Nebraska public schools’ requirements for graduation.   A review of graduation and accreditation requierements will occur this upcoming year.  Rule 10 states that any online course offered by another Nebraska high school can be approved for credit at the local level by school boards.

·         Assistive technology.  The Department of Education has Mark Schultz with Vocational Rehabilitation as a resource.  The Educational Service Units were reminded to address accessibility issues with the system and web design. Mr. Weir, CIO of the University of Nebraska, recommended that project administrators contact Christi Horn, ADA Compliance Director at UNL.  She has the compliance regulations that all educational institutions must follow.

 

For more detail on the Virtual School presentation, please contact Gordon Roethemeyer at groethem@esu10.org.

 

GOOGLE NEBRASKA UPDATE

Mike Kozak, Nebraska Department of Education

 

Nebraska Google.  Other states have signed on with Google to be one of their education states.  Once enrolled, local districts can set up their own sites.  Mr. Kozak provided a brief demonstration of the Nebraska site from http://google.neschools.org .

 

 NETWORK NEBRASKA UPDATE

John Stritt/T. Rolfes 

 

NNAG April 26, 2011 Meeting Agenda.  For Network Nebraska phase 5, the Office of the CIO received 36 Letters of Agency (LoA) primarily from school districts in the southeastern part of the state. Twenty-three did not return their Letters of Agency but can still join this summer at a little higher backbone rate.  At tomorrow’s CAP meeting, Brenda Decker and Walter Weir will develop a Letter of Commitment, as requested by the schools considering the Network.  Metropolitan Community College, Hastings College, and the Grand Island Public Library are also planning to connect this summer.  Once they have joined, 90% of Nebraska’s educational entities will be participants of Network Nebraska.  Within the last 30 days, Network Nebraska conducted an emergency power study on Grand Island College Park.  A new emergency power generator will be purchased and installed in time for the upcoming school year.  For over a year now, NNAG has brought together Educational Service Units, Higher Education institutions, K12 educators and administrators to work towards the same goal of improving Network Nebraska to serve the educational entities of Nebraska.  The group is in the process of discussing Network Planning for 2011-12

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS - EMERGING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

Group Members: Jeff Johnson, Steve Hamersky, Clark Chandler, Yvette Holly, Lois Dietsch, Jeff Stanley, Leonard Hartman, Mike Kozak

 

Mr. Hamersky reported that this is a new task group with much of the first meeting’s discussion focused on the Task Group's description, responsibilities and possible action items.  Below is the result of the discussions.

 

Task Group Description:  The Emerging Educational Technologies Group will identify, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding new technologies and innovations and the resulting impact on education within the state of Nebraska.

 

Goals and Responsibilities:

·         Identify technologies and innovations that will impact or are impacting education and advise the NITC and state representatives on ways to improve the return on investment regarding these technologies.

·         Determine resources, applications, or systems that can be coordinated or shared to benefit educators across the state.

·         Suggest user-based network services to the Network Nebraska services group.

 

Possible Action Items:

·         Research what groups are doing within Nebraska and in other states in the area of emerging technologies.

o    Determine which emerging technologies are most significant to education ideas: pads, smart phones, cloud computing, social networking

o    Advise the state how to assist educators utilize emerging technologies

§  survey about best way for state to help with new technologies

o    Determine services that could be shared statewide

§  survey about current or emerging services to be shared

§  develop shared services to reduce costs

·         Research what groups are doing within Nebraska and in other states in the area of digital media.

o    Monitor the status, usage, and make recommendations regarding content management systems

o    Monitor the status, usage, and make recommendations regarding digital media resources and digital media repositories

 

Also discussed were current Council action items that may apply to the new Task Group. 

 

Mr. Kozak stated that that he has a staff member, Brent Gaswick, who has a job description that matches many of the possible action items.  Mr. Weir suggested that the Task Group keep the NITC standards and guidelines in mind as they explore and recommend new action items, especially assistive technology compliance. One of the guests suggested desktop virtualization as an emerging technology

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS - SERVICES TASK GROUP

 

No report. Mr. Rolfes volunteered to send the last two years of Network Nebraska marketing survey data that dealt with desired services to the Services work group.

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS - GOVERNANCE

 

Mr. Schmailzl reported that the Governance task group has not had a follow-up meeting since the last council meeting.

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS - MARKETING

Network Nebraska Marketing Survey Report 

 

Ms. Witt is co-chair along with Mr. Hoffman.  Market survey results were linked to the agenda.  Ms. Witt reviewed the draft results.  Some of the items members indicated need to be addressed included the following:  virtualization, leadership & management of Network Nebraska, rates and shared services.  Next year, the survey will ask what types of shared services entities would like and how that will save them money.

 

The Action Plans from Education Council Task Groups still need to be included in the report.  This year the survey included demographics of the participants.  Dr. Uhing stated that for future survey timeframes, it would be better for K-12 schools to get the survey earlier in December so that more staff could participate.

 

NITC ACTION ITEMS UPDATE

 

Task Group Membership.  There will be quite a few transitions with the resignation, renewal and new members to the Education Council.

 

Action Item Matrix of Assignments.  There will be new action items from the Emerging Technologies group, as well as other new items from other work groups.

 

Action Item Listing.  Members were asked to review these for discussion, completion, or elimination at the next meeting.

 

OTHER/ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

FCC Public Forum, May, 18, 2011.  Several of the FCC commissionres are coming to Nebraska to hold a public "workshop" on the modernization of broadband.  Mr. Rolfes reviewed the day's agenda.  Dr. Hoesing, NITC Commissioner and Superintendent of Alliance Public Schools, will be part of the “Consumer Discussion and Public Forum” to be held from 4:45-6:00 p.m.

 

There have been lots of discussions at all levels regarding IPV6.  Mr. Rolfes informed the Council that June 8th has been designated World IPV6 Day. 

 

AGENDA ITEMS AND LOCATION FOR THE 7/XX/2011 MEETING

 

For the next meeting one of the agenda teams will be continued discussion of the Task Groups, Membership and Action Items.  The next meeting date will be determined. 

 

Mr. Johnson moved to adjourn.  Mr. Hoffman seconded.  All were in favor.  Motion carried by voice vote.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

 

The NITC Education Council wishes to thank NET for helping host the May 10, 2011 meeting.

 

Minutes were recorded by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Tom Rolfes.