Discussion:  Call to order at 11:30 AM.  

Staff:  Kraig Lofquist, Deb Hericks, Beth Kabes, Priscilla Quintana

Guest:  Ron cone

Discussion: 

Infrastructure
During July, 90% of the ESUCC-hosted services were migrated to the ESU 3 VMWare hosting environment. The migration process was quick and we are seeing higher performance in the new environment due to newer hardware. The remaining services will be moved during September, after which the Lincoln environment can be consolidated to one server for offsite backup replication. This project will reduce hosting costs by about $28,000 per year.

ESUs made some upgrades to their parts of the single sign-on framework during the summer which will reduce the number of clicks for users to sign in and use the system. Updates are planned to integrate with LTI content sources, such as PBS learning media, and with the Clever SSO platform with a number of schools are using.

A final part of the work in this area this fall is to complete a security assessment with the US-CERT division of the Department of Homeland Security.

SRS and AAP
The new version of SRS went live on July 16th. The new version brings all of the SRS functions into one application, from 3 different versions running together in the past. Through software and hosting optimizations the new software is noticeably faster than previous versions. There have been a number of problems with the software and they are being addressed by the development team of 3 as quickly as possible. To improve this process, we should continually release incremental updates and improvements rather than holding updates and releasing all at once in the summer. A second improvement is to strengthen the testing process for the software prior to release. The current focus for the SRS team is to complete coding and certification for the 2019-2020 ADVISER data system.

Dawn Litt left her position at the helpdesk in July. Minh Vu is new to the SRS helpdesk as of August 27th. He has a degree in Marketing from UNO and has previous helpdesk experience. Minh is learning the SRS application as he assists users and helps prioritize items for development. He will also be working with us to build awareness and online presence for all ESUCC areas and projects with quality content.

In addition to meeting immediate needs, the SRS team will be investigating competing products and services and working with the user community to set the future direction for the project.

Development has started on a prototype for the second version of the Academic Advancement Plan (AAP) system. The first version is in use by some Rule 18 interim program schools and resident districts and we have received feedback as to what is needed in the new version. We will be working with this user community during the fall to finalize the new version of the application.

Executive Director asked for open discussion on SRS.  Shared thoughts on frustrations.  Tickets are being prioritized as they come in and worked on.  Discussed adding an update on the SRS system as to the status of work being completed.  We will continue to communicate with people as progress continues.  Continue to work with contract developer to help address concerns and complete work.  Team plans to have most top priority issues to completed within two weeks.  Discussed to reach out to key stakeholders to get update from them as to the feels out in the buildings.  

Servers have been virtually moved within the system.  Discussed also the new position, same position just an updated the job descriptions.  AAP discussed the schools that are within the AAP sytem.  About half districts are using the AAP, to use system to transfer student files electronically versus manually.  

Discussion: 

Technology Director shared the previous round of Innovation Grant projects draw to a close, the NDE has developed a series of Innovation Networks to guide innovation projects and funding for the next two years. During the summer of 2019, the state board of education established five Innovation Networks:

• Data Visualization and Use (Matt Hastings-NDE, Don’t Panic Labs)
• Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) (Beyond School Bells)
  • Leveraging additional private funding to multiply innovation funds
• Instructional Materials (process of selecting) (Cory Epler, Teaching Labs)
• Asynchronous Digital Instruction & professional learning (Vivayic)
  • Articulate 360 - software to create courses
• Equitable Access and Digital Resources Innovation Network? (ESUCC)

The ESUCC is named as directing the Equitable Access and Digital Resources Innovation Network over 2 years until the summer of 2021. $1.5 million has been allocated for this work and a contract is in development between NDE and the ESUCC. The network will include an advisory committee of about 6 people with diversity in roles, locations, and sizes of the districts or areas they represent, such as an administrator, a technical leader, an instructional leader, a professional development leader, from a mix of smaller districts in rural areas and larger districts and urban areas. This advisory board will establish the processes for operating the ongoing innovation network and select and manage two innovation projects to build or buy, implement, and train users on software or software enhancements. In the contract being developed, Scott Isaacson is named as the director of this network.

ADVISER will be outside of this grant but will continue to move forward and we will still be part of that contract.  The products that come out of this grant will plug into the ADVISER/Dashboard project.  We will continue to add to the Ecosystem:  data store, data store, etc.  Our portion of this grant was approved by the state board in August.  

Discussion:  BlendEd/Distance Education Director discussed the new TLT Special Project for Digital Age Pedagogy for 2019-2020.  Last years special project has been completed, this would be the next step in that process.  The teachers/coaches of the project last year was reported as high quality resources that were put into the OER Hub.  This project proposal came out of the TLT workgroup in May.  NDE has been asked to partner with is in this project/match funds.  Dorann Avey has reported that this has been approved.  This will help to expand the work and help promote the creating of the resources. This proposal would include 50 teachers and 20 mentor teachers to build this collection of resources.  The total cost of this budget is $28,000.  This project has been approved by the TLT Leadership to be voted on by TLT at the meeting next week..  Information Services to vote and recommend to full board next month.  

 

Discussion:  BlendEd/Distance Education Director shared the proposal for OneDrive Project Proposal.  This would help with professional development resources for ESU staff.  The only future expense would be the cost of adding additional licenses to our collection.  

Discussion:  Nothing new to report.  

Discussion: 

BlendEd/Distance Education shared details of her report.  

Discussion:  Instructional Materials shared information fro her report.  Detailed reports are available in her report.  The OER Toolkit is worth checking out.  Shared the TLT successes for 2018-2019.  the info graphic is located on the TLT Google Site.  

Discussion:  Meeting adjourned at 1:29 PM.