NYSDLC Meeting Minutes for September 30

The New York State Distance Learning Consortium

MEETING MINUTES

FOR

SEPTEMBER 30 & OCTOBER 1, 1999

Holiday Inn-SUNY

Vestal, NY 13850

The following is a summary of our most recent meeting. Please let me know as soon as possible if I have omitted or reported anything in error.

Review and Approval of May, 1999 Minutes -

We reviewed our minutes from the May 6^th and 7^th, 1999 meeting. There were no changes to be made to these minutes. Joe Price moved and Rodger Oesterle seconded to the motion to adopt the minutes. All were in favor.

Discussion -

Link up with Partners in Distance Learning’s annual conference.

In follow-up to John Furey’s presentation on Partners in Distant Learning at our last meeting, we discussed the possibility of taking part in their annual conference. We decided that we need to know more information about this conference that has been scheduled for spring. Rene Carver indicated that he is a member of the Partner’s in Distance Learning group, and he would provide us with more information regarding the Spring conference, including the date. In addition, we can check the Partners in Distance Learning website at www.partnersdl.org. to find our if more information is available.

Report -

Bridging Resources in New York State.

Holly Sharp distributed to all a copy of a document that she had collected as a result of her survey from our list server. It appeared that about fifteen or sixteen BOCES had responded to her survey. Holly’s survey summary was very comprehensive and useful. Steve will move this information out onto our web site at a future date. If you would like a copy of the survey, contact Holly Sharp. Thank you Holly for doing this survey.

Presentation: Arts - 4 - All Video Conference at BOCES -

At 2:45 p.m., we all boarded a limousine bus to be transferred to the Broome-Tioga BOCES distance learning room. There, we participated in a video conference that included two local high school violin students, and Daniel Heifetz, a master instructor at the Manhattan School of Music. The purpose of the video conference was to demonstrate how easy it is for music instruction to take place at a distance. Arts-4-All representatives distributed information regarding their company, which included background information, programs and fees.

Report: College Course Costs, Models and Agreements -

Penny Lester distributed a document entitled New York State BOCES Distance Learning Consortium Survey of the various BOCES around the state which reflected their current college course offerings and their agreement models for compensation between the schools and higher education. If anyone wants a copy of the document, they should contact Penny Lester. Several BOCES responded to Penny’s survey, and she received very valuable information regarding the availability of higher education on the various BOCES networks. Thank you Penny for doing this survey.

Topic -

New York State Distance Learning Annual Conference

After considerable discussion regarding having our own conference, we decided that we might take the approach of being part of someone else’s conference to see if the interest was there. It was suggested that we might try the statewide NYSC&TE conference which is in the Buffalo area. It was felt that we do not have time to participate in this year’s NYSC&TE’s conference, but we will look to participate next year. Steve Smith and Mike Bayba will contact their NYSC&TE reps to see if it is possible for us to have a breakout session in NYSC&TE’s conference next year. Steve and Mike will report back to the group at the January meeting and via the listserv. Dale Gardner suggested we each bring a teacher to our next meeting to help brainstorm about the conference content. Everyone seemed to agree to try to bring a teacher for the next meeting.

7. Subcommittee Reports

a. Web site review: We reviewed our current web site and made some changes to it.

· We decided to make some small changes to our home page design by moving the menu items to the left hand margin of the page. Hopefully, this change will be in place by the end of November.

· Matt will change the text color on the map page, so that when printed, the text corresponds to the appropriate BOCES location.

· Matt will also look for a better map of the BOCES regions to use on our website.

· We also revised the sequence of items that will be shown on the slidebar to begin as follows: The Site Directory, BOCES Links, White Paper, Terms and Definitions, and Courses Offered. We also agreed to combine some of the links under one heading, so we can reduce the number of items to click on, making it easier to get around our website. For example, under Planning and Room Design, we will include Room Design - Monroe BOCES, Room Design-ONC BOCES, Technical Standards, Equipment Manufactures, New Products, Grants, and Bids.

b. Teacher Database Review: Steve indicated that he had received the revised teacher/course database from Andy and it will be linked in when our website is updated.

c. Technical Report:

Mike distributed the revised mailing list for everyone to look at and update. The updated mailing list will be put on the web site when that web site revision is released.

Mike indicated that he has met with Parker Vision and discussed problems with the cameraman regarding liability, durability and technical support. He will get back to us about meeting with Parker Vision’s technical group sometime in the near future to obtain advanced training on the use of that system.

We need to activate the Tips, Problems and Solutions part to technical issues on our web site.

Roger asked if anyone has an old Parker Vision that they are no longer using. Please let him know so that he can use it to swap for an upgrade. He already has the credit, and he can share it with you.

d. Y2K -

It appears that everyone is ready for Y2K, with the exception of Bell Atlantic, who may have a problem with scheduling software. Hopefully, they will solve this problem before 2000.

8. Bell Atlantic Concerns:

Rodger discussed that as a group, we pay $2,000,000 to Bell Atlantic. Therefore, he indicated that we ought to have influence with Bell Atlantic at a much higher level than we have had traditionally. We need a contact to answer our questions and to let us know the corporate strategy for installing fiber throughout New York state. Steve will ask Andy to make such a contact. After some discussion, it was decided to try to bring representatives from Time Warner, Telergy, and Bell Atlantic to our next meeting so that they could discuss their strategic directions with us. If Andy is unable to make the contact at Bell Atlantic, Rodger indicated that he would be willing to do this for us. Mike Bayba said he would try to get Rich Flanders from Time Warner Cable to come to our next meeting to talk about corporate strategy. Steve Smith will try to get someone form Telergy.

9. Other Consortium Business-

Steve indicated that at the present time he had no other consortium business to discuss and no one else indicated they had anything to offer.

Future Meeting Dates and Agendas-

The tentative agenda for the next meeting is January 13-and 14 in Binghamton.

Strategic directions presented by Time Warner Cable, Telergy and

Bell Atlantic.

Discussion on our conference with NYSC&TE. You may wish to bring a teacher with you as part of our discussion.
Location of our next meeting - Rochester BUBL Project?

List of Those Present at this Meeting is attached.