EDUCATION COUNCIL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Approved Meeting Minutes - September 16, 1998, 9:00 a.m.
Metropolitan Community College, Elkhorn Campus
MEMBERS PRESENT: |
|
Dr. William Berndt |
Dr. James Moeser |
Dr. Robert Burns |
Dr. John Muller |
Dr. Richard Gilliland |
Mr. Art Tanderup |
Dr. Uma Gupta |
Mr. Alan Wibbels |
Dr. Jack Huck |
Dr. Kristine Wolzen |
Mr. Dennis Linster |
|
MEMBERS ABSENT: |
|
Keith Bartels |
Terry Miller |
Susan Fees |
Woody Ziegler |
Jeff Johnson |
|
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS ABSENT: |
|
Dr. Dean Bergman |
Dr. David Powers |
Meeting was called to order by Alan Wibbels. Mr. Wibbels asked for a motion to approve the August minutes. Concerns were expressed by several of the members regarding the minutes recorded from past meetings. A request was made for the minutes to be more precise, less lengthy and more professional. Taking minutes at the meeting has been an issue due to the absence of an official recorder. The Office of the Chief Information Officer and the NITC is staffed with an Administrative Assistant. It will be this person's responsibility to be the recorder. It was moved by Dr. Gilliland and seconded by Dr. Berndt to revise the minutes of the last meeting for approval at the next council meeting. All were in favor. Motion carried. Dr. Huck volunteered to assist with the revision of the August minutes.
NITC SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 MEETING REPORT - Michael Winkle, Executive Director
Reports were given by each of the councils - Government, Education and Community. Action items included: (1) approval of the Recommendations of Minimum Technology Standards, Guidelines and Architectures; (2) approval of recommendations for the Government and Community Collaboration fund proposals; (3) NITC/Office of the CIO budget was reviewed and approved; and (4) the NITC Executive Director was directed to work with the Transportation Committee on the Interstate Right of Way issue. (5) A progress report was given by Skjei Telecom. Skjei has been contracted to report on and make recommendations regarding the Statewide Infrastructure comprehensive plan. Interviews are part of the first step in this process with the goal of completing their report by November 3rd. Mr. Winkle told the members that this deadline might change. Education Council members gave recommendations for others to be interviewed for user needs. Mr. Winkle will get a list of those interviewed for the first round as well as the list he recommended for the second round of interviews to the council members. Mr. Wibbels explained that a needs assessment should be performed for the K-12 sector.
STAFFING UPDATE - Michael Winkle
Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) staff were introduced to the Education Council members. Staff present were Lori Lopez Urdiales, Administrative Assistant; Rick Becker, Government Information Technology Manager; and Tom Rolfes, Education Information Technology Manager. Chris Hoy, the Community Information Technology Manager was not present. The CIO position has not been filled. Dr. Bergman asked to clarify Mr. Rolfes' role with the Education Council. Mr. Winkle explained that Mr. Rolfes' responsibilities would include staff support to the NITC in taking the lead in the budget proposal review process, web page maintenance, and act as facilitator between the Education Council and other NITC functions.
EDUCATION PROPOSAL AND PROCESS - Michael Winkle
Mr. Winkle reported that information and applications have been sent out to educational institutions. He is anticipating approximately 12 proposals from schools plus an additional 5-6 that would be submitted through the formal state budget process. Questions and concerns were raised regarding the deadlines. Correspondence originating from the Department of Education went out to the K-12 institutions with a September 30th deadline while the PostSecondary RFP's had the September 15th deadline as decided by the Education Council. There had not been communication to the other members regarding a change in the deadline. There were strong objections raised by some of the council members as to the relative lack of adherence to the September 15th deadline agreed upon by the council. It was decided to discuss only the process and timelines. Members were in consensus to proceed as follows:
October 7th - CIO Office will send proposal summaries and budgets to the council electronically (email and/or fax) to the Educational Council.
October 9th - Education Council will have an all day meeting (beginning at 9 a.m.) to tier the proposals into three groups (Top Priority, Moderate Priority, Low Priority, and X Priority with Recommended Changes). It was recommended to have the meeting in Lincoln. Mr. Winkle will work on the location. UNL will not be able to attend but will send a representative in their place.
October 15th - The Education Council forwards its recommendations to the NITC.
Dr. Burns recommended that all future correspondence should go out from Mr. Winkle as the NITC Executive Director on behalf of the Education Council. This will be possible now that the office is staffed.
Dr Huck began discussion regarding the former role of the NEB*SAT Coordinating Council (NETV) and the evolution of the NITC Education Council in the budget and funding request. The appropriations for NEB*SAT expires June 1999. Some of the council members were unaware that NEB*SAT would no longer be in existence. Dr. Berndt was concerned that members of the Education Council do not have the expertise or experience to make decisions on proposals and suggested as one option that NEB*SAT become a subcommittee of the Education Council. Dr. Bergman commented that there was a historical void of K-12 representation on NEB*SAT. Mr. Winkle reminded the Council members that at the last meeting it was agreed to form a subcommittee to review this issue and to bring forth recommendations to the Education Council. Mr. Winkle will forward the names of the subcommittee members to the council and will get a meeting scheduled in the near future.
Dr. Wolzen recommended that the Council members list their concerns and at a future meeting discuss the concerns as well as evaluate the education proposal application process. All were in favor.
REPORT ON TRI-VALLEY LEARNING POD - Alan Wibbels
Mr. Wibbels shared with the members the collaboration efforts that went into the proposal, which was accepted through the Excellence in Education grant process. He informed the group that the Telephone Company did not meet the requirements for the RFP. The Cable Company did meet the requirements and now only required approval by the NITC's technical committee. He asked if the Education Council also needed to approve this change. Mr. Winkle informed the group that the proposal did not have to be approved by Education Council after it was reviewed by the Technical Committee. Mr. Wibbels provided members with a status report on Distance Learning Pod development.
Mr. Winkle commented that the purpose of the discussion was to emphasize collaborative efforts and proposals, which were cost effective, and identified and met user needs. Dr. Powers asked that the Education Council consider making a recommendation to the legislature to allot monies for line charges and service contracts for all educational institutions. This would address the issue of connectivity and access for the public interest. Dr. Powers was asked by the council members to do research on the cost that institutions are currently paying so that this topic could be discussed sometime after the October 9th meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Dr. Wolzen reminded the Council that they need to examine their work and how it ultimately benefits students. An evaluation component was recommended for the future.
Dr. Powers asked if writing a letter of recommendation for LB144 monies proposals would be a conflict of interest. It is difficult to determine where the boundaries are between the councils. It was determined that it would be appropriate for him to write the letter, but that the issue was not germane to the Education Council's responsibility.
Mr. Rolfes, Education Information Technology Manager, handed out a form for the council members to update with address and mailing information for the CIO Education Council database.
Kent Hendrickson wanted to make the council members aware that AIM and ESU 10 are currently both functioning as Regional Academies for Cisco and helping implement local academies that train students through a two year curriculum. The outcome is that students will have the opportunity to take a national certification test through Sylvan Learning and become Certified Network Associates through the Cisco Corporation.
Dr. Gilliland offered to give members and other interested persons a tour of the Metro Community College Elkhorn campus Distance Education division.
It was moved by Art Tanderup and seconded by Dr. Burns to adjourn the meeting at 11:50 a.m. All were in favor. Motion carried.
Minutes taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales, Administrative Assistant.
Meeting Minutes