Educational Technology Team Meeting
1:30-3:30 - July 25, 2006
Teleconference Information:
Toll Free access: 1 800 519 1987
Meeting Number: *2743314*
AGENDA
Agenda Item
Call to Order
Review of ETT Work Plan
Status of Distance Education in Alaska Report
DESB Accomplishments to date
Technical Help Desk
Advising Help Desk
Faculty Development
Elluminate Joint Use Agreements
Consolidation to a single CMS
Distance Education Metrics
a. Distance Education Data Committee
10. UATV
a. Consultant Visit and Scope of Work
11. 2008 Budget Initiatives
12. Case Studies
13. Update on ADEC
14. Other Discussion Items
15. Adjourn
1.
2.
3.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Attachment
1
2
Link
3
Link
Link
Link
4
5
6
Presenter
Karen Perdue
Karen Perdue
Curt Madison
Curt Madison
Curt Madison
Curt Madison
Curt Madison
Curt Madison
Steve Smith
Isabelle Tissier
Karen Perdue
Karen Perdue
Karen Perdue
Karen Perdue
All
ATTACHMENT 2
2. Review of ETT Work Plan
1. Continue to develop Alaska ICE (Internet Course Exchange) as a tool
for registrars to maximize student enrollment in distance education
courses offered across the UA system.
Responsible Party: Curt Madison
Delivery Date: Next ETT Meeting
2. Finalize Terms of Reference guiding activities of ETT and DESB.
Responsible Party: Karen Perdue and
Karen Schmitt
Delivery Date: Next ETT Meeting
3. Propose an implementation of a state-wide 24/7 distance education
student advising desk.
Responsible Party:
Phase 1 (Proposal): DESB Distance
Education Help Workgroup
Phase 2 (Implementation Plan): UA
Statewide IT and Student Services
personnel
Delivery Date:
Phase 1: June 30, 2006
Phase 2: Next ETT Meeting
4. Propose an implementation of a statewide 24/7 technical help desk for
UA distance education students.
Responsible Party:
Delivery Date:
Phase 1 (Proposal): DESB Distance
Education Help Workgroup
Phase 1: June 30, 2006
Responsible Party: Karen Perdue/SW
Academic Affairs
Delivery Date: Progress report due at
next ETT meeting
Phase 2: Next ETT Meeting
Phase 2 (Implementation Plan): UA
Statewide IT and Student Services
personnel
5. Put the minimum standards for distance education student services
across all campus or learning centers into University Regulations.
6. Define the scope of need for faculty development and propose a
response to the need in order to improve distance delivery quality.
Responsible Party: Faculty
Development Work Group
Delivery Date: June 30, 2006
7. Derive clear, credible metrics for inputs and outputs of distance
education.
Responsible Party: Gwen White and
Institutional Research
Delivery Date: Progress Report due
at next ETT Meeting
8. Support initiatives to provide more bandwidth and education
technology to students and faculty and staff and to fulfill UA’s public
service/outreach mission.
Responsible Party: Karen Perdue,
Steve Smith, Jim Johnsen
Delivery Date: Progress report due at
next ETT Meeting
9. Select at least two case studies of distance education programs and
create a best-practices document for distance education. Be sure to
study driving forces behind successful programs.
Responsible Party: Curt Madison,
Karen Perdue and possible contract
work by Steve Hamilton
Delivery Date: Progress report due at
next ETT meeting
10. Establish a mechanism to learn the best practices of other institutions
and programs.
Responsible Party: Individual ETT
members will seek out best practices
through attending conferences and
summits
Delivery Date: Ongoing
ATTACHMENT 3
Activities of Cross Campus Distance Education Coordination
since inception
Educational Technology Team and Distance Education Steering Board
Organization
Implementations of recommendations of the President’s Ad Hoc Committee for Distance
Education – October 2004
Selection of Chancellor appointed Steering Board members – November 2004
Selection of Educational Technology Team members – July 2005
ETT meets 4 times a year
DESB meets 2 times a year
Joint Summit meeting in the spring of 2005 and 2006
Workgroups – Information gathering
 Fall 2004

o Communication Plan for informing and feedback
o Student-Centered course development, scheduling, marketing
o Quality assurance for course design and delivery
Spring 2005

o Forming student count metrics
o Support for distance education faculty and staff
o Equitable workload for distance education faculty
o Articulation agreements among MAUs
Fall 2005
o Recommendations for Minimum Student Services, Equitable Revenue
Sharing, Faculty Productivity Metrics, Recognition of Student Support
Costs

Spring 2006
o Faculty Development – Bethel, Fairbanks, Homer, Juneau
o Technical Help Desk – Report completed June 12
o Advising Resources – Report scheduled completion June 30
Faculty - Professional Development – iTeach
 iTeach 2004 Fairbanks, May 2004, 10 faculty

iTeach 2005 Fairbanks, May 2005, 12 faculty

iTeach 2006 Fairbanks, May 22-26, 2006, 12 faculty

o Workshop announcement http://distance.uaf.edu/events/iteach/
o participant blog http://community.uaf.edu/~iteach/blog/
iTeach on the Road 2006
o Bethel - May 2-4, 2006 15 attendees
o Homer - June 14-16, 2006 18 faculty
http://community.uaf.edu/~cde/wiki/
o Juneau - June 19-21, 2006 19 faculty
http://community.uaf.edu/~iteach/wiki/Main/Juneau
Instructional Design – Collaboration among support staff
 Professional Development – iDesign
o May 11-12, 2006 http://community.uaf.edu/~idesign/blog/
 Instructional Design Job Family
o Realignment of Grade placement completed May 28, 2006
Reporting
First 45 Days
http://www.distance.uaf.edu/steeringboard/docs/first45days.doc
Status of Distance Education in Alaska 2006
http://www.distance.uaf.edu/steeringboard/docs/Status-of-DistanceEd.pdf
Websites
o Educational Technology Team http://distance.uaf.edu/ett
o Distance Education Steering Board
http://distance.uaf.edu/steeringboard
o Distance Education Gateway http://distance.alaska.edu
o iTeach http://distance.uaf.edu/events/iteach/
o iDesign http://community.uaf.edu/~idesign/blog/
Statewide Projects
 Elluminate eLive web conferencing software solution jointly funded on all
campuses
 Alaska Internet Course Exchange (AK ICE) course sharing software tested for
roll out
 Online Course Quality Rubric http://distance.uaf.edu/resources/rubric.pdf
ATTACHMENT 4
Elluminate Web Conferencing Application
UA Joint Use Agreement
The University of Alaska uses various conferencing options to support classes and do
administrative work. The College of Rural and Community Development has
experimented with web conferencing for the past two years to use in conjunction with
audio conferencing courses. CDE has implemented and maintained the software.
In July 2005, UAA purchased an annual hosted unlimited license to the same software.
UAS began investigating adding the same software to its collection in the spring of 2006.
As a result of the close communication afforded by the DESB and ETT, all the
installation instances have been coordinated into a single license. A novel technical and
administrative solution is now in place that contributes significant cost savings to the
University in addition to significant simplification for students and staff.
UA now collectively holds a permanent license for 300 concurrent seats paid through
June 30 2008. A single server located at UAA will integrate to all three university course
management systems as three separate views. UAA will provide engineering support
through a negotiated service level agreement to UAS and UAF. The license
administration remains at CDE.
As a result of negotiating a permanent license, each university will see annual costs for
sustaining the web conferencing software drop over 80%.
ATTACHMENT 5
Distance Education Data Committee
ETT Chair Karen Perdue has charged Gwen White, Director of UA Institutional
Research, to create and chair a committee on Distance Education Data. Gwen White will
select the committee members and begin holding meetings in early August.
The purpose of the committee is to:
-Review the existing technical definition for distance delivery/educational technology
and expand if needed. Additional data elements (dimensions) of interest for distance
activity may also be identified.
-Develop an operating definition for distance delivery/educational technology.
The committee will make recommendations on these issues to the DESB/ETT. Approved
technical recommendations will be forwarded to the BST for discussion and
implementation.
ATTACHMENT 6
Scope of Work
Planning to Maximize the Potential of UATV
University of Alaska
The University of Alaska Educational Technology Team (ETT) is seeking qualified
consultants from the field of educational television to advise on best practices for
enhancing the University of Alaska’s statewide cable educational television station as a
component of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ education and public outreach
mission:
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, as the nation's northernmost Land,
Sea, and Space Grant University and international research center,
advances and disseminates knowledge through creative teaching, research,
and public service with an emphasis on Alaska, the North, and their
diverse peoples.
This project will require travel to Fairbanks, Alaska during the summer of 2006.
The University of Alaska has long assumed a pivotal role in knowledge dissemination to
multiple audiences--students, scholars and citizens. Through its libraries, museums,
publications and press, and through its public television and radio stations, the University
of Alaska invests millions of dollars to fulfill this function. These long-standing
institutions provide basic knowledge services in a way so intrinsically intertwined with
the quality of Alaskan life, it is difficult to measure their impact on the culture of the
academy and the civic engagement responsibilities the University has accepted.
University of Alaska institutions have assumed a dominant role in exploring, celebrating
and examining the peoples, life and cultures of the North.
The University of Alaska has undertaken many initiatives to respond to the needs of
students, faculty and the citizenry in light of the swiftly changing technological
environment. The University has enhanced internet services to students, centralized
information systems with UAOnline, MyUA, created innovative digital archives such as
the Virtual Library and Digital Archive (VILDA) and has formed a governance structure
for Educational Technology and Distance Education to integrate, prioritize and
coordinate distance education programming across Alaska institutions of higher
education. UA has also embraced its role as a disseminator of information. Its recent
projects to take the lead with International Polar Year outreach and education, revitalize
the Museum of the North and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Alaska
Constitutional Convention, indicate the depth of UA’s commitment to education for all
Alaskans.
KUAC Background Information:
The University of Alaska and its Board of Regents are the licensees of KUAC public
television, a station that not only serves Interior Alaska and the Fairbanks area, but also
distributes all programming for public television stations in Juneau and Bethel, as well as
the majority of Alaska communities outside of the immediate Anchorage area.
Four television services were established by the state of Alaska as part of the
consolidation of public telecommunication services in the 1990’s. At that time, statewide
satellite services were established for Public Broadcasting (AlaskaOne), Legislative
Coverage (Gavel to Gavel), Educational Television (UATV) and Alaska Rural
Communication Service (ARCS).
The University controls UATV, the statewide satellite television service of the University
of Alaska, which is distributed free and available on most cable television systems in
Alaska. The UATV service currently provides coursework, public health information,
special activities from the University of Alaska Southeast campus in Juneau, occasional
special lectures and performances and a regular feed from NASA television.
Effective late-summer 2006, the uplink for all Alaska public telecommunications signals
will be relocated to KUAC in Fairbanks, creating efficiencies in distribution and greater
opportunities for enhanced services. While KUAC will be the television control hub for
all four services, KUAC will only be responsible for programming decisions on
AlaskaOne. With co-location of these four services come opportunities for wider
distribution and greater impact. Newly-implemented digital television services allow for
simultaneous distribution of up to four channels at once. The statewide public
telecommunications infrastructure, once updated, could provide four times as many
services to Alaskans at nominal costs.
KUAC will install an entirely digital TV control facility in the summer of 2006. The new
operation center will allow KUAC to provide up to four simultaneous digital video
services including high definition television. Fully automated, computer-based video
servers make it possible to customize services on each of the four channels at any hour of
the day. Once the control room is fully operational, KUAC will be able to provide
multiple channels of educational television to any Alaskan with a digital receiver or cable
television access.
Educational Technology Team Background Information:
The ETT was created by University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton to provide a
focus to develop UA capacity in educational technology and distance learning. Composed
of upper-level university administrators from across the state, the ETT developed its
annual work plan in March 2006. The Team listened to and examined information about
UATV and the potential for the University to further develop technologies. Support and
enhancement for UATV are directly reflected in ETT’s Goal Six: Support initiatives to
provide more bandwidth and education technology to students, faculty and staff and to
fulfill the University’s public service/outreach mission.
Associate Vice President Karen Perdue, Chair of the ETT, has formed the UATV
Steering Committee. This committee will receive all recommendations from the
consultants and be responsible for developing the final implementation proposal.
Services Requested and Expectations:
Consultants retained for this project will be asked to propose an implementation strategy
to the UATV Steering Committee that meets the following goals:

Heightening in-state awareness of the university’s research expertise and reputation

Develop greater citizen understanding of Alaska science and innovation

Strengthening the university’s relationship with K-12 educators

Helping K-12 students succeed in school

Enhancing Alaskan’s preparation for college and the workplace
The work plan for the consultants will involve four phases:
Prior to Site Visit: Initial phone conversations with the UATV Steering Committee to
provide an overview of the project and to make preparations for the site visit.
Conversations might involve a separate discussion with KUAC personnel for general
technical and statewide broadcasting information.
Fairbanks Site Visit: Consultants will meet with the UATV Steering Committee to
review goals and schedule. Consultants will conduct a series of interviews with various
constituencies representing statewide interests and concerns, as well as community
educational leaders to gauge interest and need for educational programming. The
committee will be responsible for scheduling all interviews and assisting the consultants
in contacting relevant individuals and organizations for their input. Prior to the end of the
site visit, the consultants will meet with the committee to deliver their observations and
preliminary findings.
Juneau Site Visit: One consultant will visit the University of Alaska Southeast Campus
in Juneau to review the current operating situation for UATV in order to determine if any
features and functions of the station should be maintained after the transfer to KUAC.
Report Delivery: Within three weeks, the consultants will deliver to the Steering
Committee a draft report detailing their findings and recommendations. After receiving
the committee’s feedback, a final report will be delivered within six weeks of the site
visit. Implementation proposals will be generated by the committee based on consultant
recommendations.