EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Thursday, August 7, 2008, 1:30PM-4:30PM CT

Host site: Executive Building Room 103, 521 S. 14th, Lincoln, Nebraska
Remote #1: Panhandle Station, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Remote #2: Wayne State College Library, Wayne, Nebraska
Remote #3: Kearney Public Library, Kearney, Nebraska
Remote #4: Creighton University Crisis Health Sciences Building Room 217, Omaha, Nebraska
Remote #5: ESU 16, North Platte, Nebraska

 

Minutes

 

VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:
Dr. Michael Chipps, Mid-Plains Community College (North Platte)
Dr. Eileen Ely, Western Nebraska Community College (Scottsbluff)
Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools (Lincoln)
Mr. Steven Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School (Omaha)
Mr. Ed Hoffman, Alt. for Stan Carpenter, State College System (Lincoln)
Mr. Chuck Lenosky, Creighton University (Omaha)
Mr. Dennis Linster, Wayne State College (Wayne)

Mr. Thomas (Tip) O’Neill, Alt. for Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University (Lincoln)
Mr. Art Tanderup, Tekamah-Herman Community Schools (Lincoln)
Dr. Bob Uhing, Educational Service Unit 1 (Wayne)

 

LIAISON/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT:  Dr. Kathleen Fimple, Alt. for Marshall Hill, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education; Mike Kozak, Nebraska Department of Education; William Scheideler, Alt. for Brenda Decker; SuAnn Witt, Nebraska Department of Education

MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT: Mr. Arnold Bateman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Mr. Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University; Mr. Ron Cone, Educational Service Unit 10; Mr. Kent Gydesen, Lexington Public Schools; Ms. Yvette Holly, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Mr. Jeff Johnson; Centennial Public Schools; Mr. Craig Pease, Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools; Mr. Michael Winkle, NET.

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

 

Dr. Terry Haack called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m.  There were 9 voting members present at the time of roll call.  A quorum existed to conduct official business.  It was stated that the meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Public Meeting Calendar Web sites on 08/03/08 and the meeting agenda was posted to the NITC Web site on 08/05/08.  A copy of the Open Meetings Law was posted by the door of the Executive Building videoconferencing room as well at each of the remote sites.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE AUGUST 7, 2008 MEETING

 

Tip O’Neill moved approval of the August 7th, 2008, meeting agenda as presented.  Ed Hoffman seconded the motion.  Roll call vote:  Hoffman-Yes, Chandler-Yes, Haack-Yes, Tanderup-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Linster-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-9, No-0.  Motion carried.

 


CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE MAY 1, 2008 MEETING

 

Steve Henderson’s employer was incorrectly listed in the May 1, 2008 minutes as DAS Budget Division but should have read, “Office of the CIO”.

Art Tanderup moved to approve the May 1st, 2008 meeting minutes as corrected.  Chuck Lenosky seconded the motion.  Roll call vote:  Hoffman-Yes, Chandler-Yes, Haack-Yes, Tanderup-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Linster-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results:  Yes-9, No-0.  Motion carried.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

There was no public comment.

 

PRESENTATION: NEBRASKA INTERACTIVE, LLC -- DISCUSSION OF THE STATE EDUCATION PORTAL

Brent Hoffman & Abby Anderson of Nebraska Interactive LLC

 

Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Anderson gave a PowerPoint presentation demonstrating the Nebraska.gov web site.  They are asking for volunteers to help redevelop the State’s education portal website.  Nebraska Interactive’s primary goal is to list an abundance of links to existing educational websites.  A brainstorming session would be beneficial.  One approach would be to develop a geographic search engine with links to public/private schools, which would be helpful for people moving here from out of state.   

 

Dr. Chipps suggested that one individual from each council sector volunteer to be included in the brainstorming session.  Those who volunteered include Mike Kozak, Nebraska Department of Education; Kathleen Fimple, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (will get a representative); Dr. Bob Uhing, ESU 1; Dennis Linster, Wayne State Community College; and Steven Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School.

 

PRESENTATION: PARTNERSHIP FOR INNOVATION -- NROC CONTENT AND SERVER DEPLOYMENT

Erica Volker 

 

Ms. Volker spoke about the Partnership for Innovation (PFI) NROC Content and Server Deployment.  The curriculum content contains rich multimedia and is very engaging.  Currently, there are two community colleges and seven high school districts utilizing the NROC courseware.  Nebraska schools and colleges have unlimited access through a three-year Partnership for Innovation licensing agreement with the Monterey Institute of California.  At the end of the three-year contract, they will determine whether or not they will continue.

 

There are unlimited site licenses around the state of Nebraska.  If entities wish to host NROC on their servers, there is a 23 GB storage requirement and there must be at least one contact at each site for feedback and support.  Non-profit entities are also eligible to host the online curriculum as well.  Partnership for Innovation would like to assist in getting information about NROC out to Nebraska educational institutions.  It was suggested that PFI work with all ESU administrators, the Department of Education, and community colleges and other higher education institutions.

 

Ms. Volker recommended establishing an advisory committee of both faculty and IT professionals. The advisory group would meet two to three times per year.     

 

The website’s URL is http://www.nrocnetwork.org/

Erika Volker’s e-mail is Erika@futureforcenebraska.org.  

 

Dr. Chipps suggested that Ms. Volker stay in touch with Mr. Rolfes in order to ensure that she gets the additional input that she needs.

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS

Marketing task group reportEd Hoffman and SuAnn Witt

Members:  Arnold Bateman, Ed Hoffman, Rick Golden, Steve Stortz, and Chuck Lenosky

 

Current and future Network Nebraska services might include:  Internet II;  Interactive videoconference scheduling; E-mail service-storage, backup, reliability; learning management system provision and support; Automated Notification Service; Virtual Private Network routing; Wikis/Blogs (CIPA compliance); Help Desk; Listserv; and VOIP

 

Potentials of the network Server-based services include:  Data backup/restore capacities; disaster recovery partnerships; webhosting (server space, not web site development service); SAN (disk space for storage).

 

Potentials of the network Security include:  Data scanning-identity theft, privacy issues (files and e-mail).

 

Next steps include profiling to identify customers and specific interests to those customers. The approaches to promotion may include booths, e-mail ads, print ads, and presentations at meetings.

 

Discussion included issues about the product and services line for Network Nebraska and a possible time line for completion.  Dr. Chipps would like to see a template or a mechanism of the work being done by the task groups to ensure that their contributions are meaningful.  It would be beneficial to receive notification via e-mail to all interested parties that this work is being accomplished.  Mr. Rolfes suggested accumulating the task group reports and posting them on the NITC website, as well as including them in the NITC newsletter. 

 

Ms. Witt commented that there are some overlaps with the other task groups. 


Funding/E-Rate task group report
– Stephen Hamersky

Members:  Stephen Hamersky, Art Tanderup, Terry Haack, and SuAnn Witt

 

Action Item:  Learning management systems;  D3 --Develop an affordable plan to provide access to learning management system software for every teacher and learner who uses synchronous video distance learning and to also train teachers in effective instructional design to integrate synchronous and asynchronous technologies.

 

As a result of discussion the group did not feel qualified to select a learning management system nor develop the rules for use of the software statewide.  It was felt that having one system statewide is a good idea as it would reduce implementation and training costs, and would enable on-line collaboration and course sharing between schools.

 

Action Item:  E-rate classification of pre-kindergarten, adults, tele-health, etc.; N4e --Work to amend Nebraska Department of Education policies to include Pre-K as an eligible population for Universal Service Fund (E-rate) purposes. N4d--Develop a formula for E-rate cost allocation that allows affordable fees for adult

education and other ineligible population services to take place in K-12 settings.

 

 

The adult non-GED and college programs are outside the scope of e-rate funding and would need to be changed at the federal level, which would be very difficult.  It should be possible to get pre-kindergarten reclassified by the State of Nebraska.  The task group recommended the following steps:

 

·        Research which state statutes need to be changed

·        Create a state legislative bill to change the pertinent state statutes

·        Find a state senator to sponsor and submit the legislative bill

·        Lobby in favor of the legislative bill and get the bill signed into law

·        Recommend that NDE and state legal reclassify pre-kindergarten as E-rate eligible

 

Dr. Haack stated he’d be willing to assist in drafting wording for the legislation as well as finding a sponsoring senator.  Mr. Kozak and Ms. Witt will also assist.  Mr. O’Neill that private, higher education entities do not qualify for E-Rate. 



Services task group report – Gordon Roethemeyer

Members:  Gordon Roethemeyer, Ron Cone, Jeff Johnson, Craig Pease, Kent Gydesen, Clark Chandler, and John Dunning.

 

Mr. Roethemeyer reported that it has been difficult to get the Services task group together for a meeting.  

Dr. Haack asked the following questions: 

  • Are the five action items still in the same priority order?;
  • Are there other action items that should be accomplished before the others?; and  
  • Are there other action items that could be accomplished sooner than the others (e.g. #1?) 

Mr. Roethemeyer recommended that the next action item to work on should be D4--Encourage higher education entities to list all dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment course opportunities on the statewide clearinghouse and scheduling software system.

 

A marketing plan of the services and courses offered is vital.  It was suggested that the Office of the CIO assist with the marketing plan.


Governance task group report
– Dennis Linster

Members:  Group Leader Yvette Holly; Mike Chipps; Eileen Ely; and Dennis Linster

 

The work group met on July 10, 2008, and made good progress.  It was decided to seek input from the K-12 sector for action items N4h and N4g.  It is important for the Education Council to review and discuss the frequencies of Council meetings.  Not meeting more often than every other month will hinder groups from keeping on task.  The Council should meet during critical times such as the budget reviews.  The Council should become more earnest in the development of the agenda items and look at how we could change the composition.  At times it has been observed that decisions regarding policies, standards, procedures, etc. have been made without input from Councils.  There also seems to be a very strong emphasis on studying centralization and what it might or could mean. Acquiring reports from the Technical Panel, Network Nebraska, etc. would be very helpful and beneficial in keeping the Council informed.

 

DISCUSSION: SOLICIT COUNCIL INPUT ON POTENTIAL ACTIONS RELATED TO ACTION ITEM N2A: MEMORANDA OF AGREEMENT FOR NETWORK NEBRASKA; AND D1: STANDARDS FOR LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

 

Mr. Rolfes stated that N2A will be targeted at not only the K-12 institutions but at all educational institutions.  Currently, there is not a signed agreement document.  It has all been done by verbal agreement.  Mr. O’Neill recommended that whoever represents the NITC legally could draft a document. Mr. Rolfes stated he would have the Collaborative Aggregation Partnership work with DAS’s legal counsel. 

 

D1-Standards for Learning Management Systems have already been assigned to the Technical Panel.  The task group has not met since May 30, 2007.  Mr. Linster suggested that the Council recommend to the Technical Panel to reinstitute this work group and include a timeline.

 

ACTION ITEM: REVIEW AND DISCUSS FREQUENCY OF EDUCATION COUNCIL MEETINGS (2005 MEMBER SURVEY SUMMARY )

 

Some members felt that the Education Council should meet more frequently and that perhaps the meetings could be shorter in length and held via videoconference.  The council discussed how often meetings should occur.  Dr. Haack stated that since the last meeting frequency survey was administered 3 years ago it should be reissued to get feedback from the new members. After getting input from the Governance task group, Mr. Rolfes will circulate a new meeting survey to all members, alternates and liaisons.  This agenda item was tabled and will be added to the next meeting agenda to relay the results.

 

ACTION ITEM: DISCUSS IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING NOTIFICATION OF MEETING TIMES AND MEETING MINUTES FROM ALL NITC COUNCILS

 

Dr. Chipps stated that members feel there is a growing disconnect between the Education Council, the NITC, and other councils.  In order to discuss the issues with other sector members and/or other NITC councils’ members, communication from the Office of the CIO should occur.  Dr. Haack feels it would be helpful for each council to report as to what they think is important and where they are going so everyone could be better informed across the board.  Dr. Haack asked if they had a recommendation to resolve those issues. 

 

Dr. Eileen Ely joined the meeting via video conference from Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.

 

Mr. Rolfes stated that there are five other advisory councils besides the Education Council; State Government Council, Community Council, eHealth Council, GIS Council and the Technical Panel. Each council could review each other’s minutes to be kept informed of what they are doing and their progress.  Council members provided the following suggestions to improve to communication:

 

·        Have a representative give a report at the Education Council meetings

·        Have Tom Rolfes provide a brief report

·        Send a copy of the minutes electronically

·        Education Council could be asked to report at the other councils’ meetings

·        Have task groups review minutes of other groups

 

Mr. Rolfes will consider these suggestions.  In the interim, he will send other advisory councils’ meeting minutes to the members. No formal action was taken on this agenda item.

 

 INFORMATIONAL UPDATES

 
Biennial Budget Process/Timeline

 

09/15/08          IT Project Proposals due

09/16/08          Projects posted on website

09/17/08          Initial assignment of reviewers by staff and notice sent to Technical Panel members

09/19/08          Reviewers receive projects and scoring sheets by e-mail

10/03/08          Completed scoring sheets due from reviewers

10/13/08          Distribute summary sheets, with reviewer scores and comments, to submitting agencies for

comment/response

10/16/08          Agency response due (optional)

10/21/08          Technical Panel meeting

10/23/08          State Government Council meeting

TBA                 Education Council meeting

10/27/08-         Council Co-Chairs’ meeting (if needed)

  10/31/08 

11/05/08          NITC meeting documents posted

11/12/08          NITC meeting

11/14/08          Report to Governor and Legislature

 


Network Nebraska Phase 2
- Eighty-nine (89) new entities joined Network Nebraska during Phase 2 (Summer 2008).  All were connected on time with the exception of two sites due to flooding issues.


Network Nebraska Phase 3
- A letter of invitation was sent to the superintendents and ESUs regarding the Network Nebraska Phase3 upgrade.  So far, 9 of 53 responses have indicated that they are interested.   Schools have until the end of August to respond.  The Office of the CIO received a request to meet with Lincoln Libraries regarding Network Nebraska and they have expressed interest in membership and a connection.  As a result of sharing information with the Nebraska Catholic Conference, Omaha Archdiocese is interested in Network Nebraska, with a potential Internet access provision of 78 schools

 

AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE OCTOBER MEETING, CONSIDER LOCATION FOR THE OCTOBER MEETING, and MEETING ADJOURNMENT

 

The next meeting will be held in conjunction with the biennial budget process/timeline.  Mr. Rolfes will poll the members availability and announce the date at a later time.

 

Mr. Linster moved to adjourn.  Mr. O’Neill seconded.  All were in favor.  Motion carried.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:11 p.m.

 

Meeting minutes were taken by Candace Cruickshank and reviewed by Tom Rolfes of the Office of the CIO/NITC.