WNC EdNET Project and Progress Summary
Project Summary
Purpose
To collaboratively assist the schools and colleges in Jackson, Macon,
Clay, Cherokee, Graham and Swain Counties, and the Cherokee Tribal Schools
to procure and use upgradeable high capacity broadband technology configurations
and services to enhance learning, professional development, and organization
administration, and to open up learning opportunities not currently available or
imagined.
Objectives
1)
To establish a collaborative of partners for the purpose of collaboratively
enhancing the development and use of technology as a tool for improving learning
opportunities
2)
To facilitate procurement of broadband infrastructure by participating
partners’ central and field sites
3)
To facilitate capacity building and use of broadband technology for the
enhancement of teaching and learning
4) To help export the WNC EdNET model to other potential adopting sites.
Partnerships
and Organization
The project grantee, the Southwestern Commission, is in partnership with
the Western Region Education Service Alliance (WRESA) to collaboratively manage
the grants. An Executive Steering
Committee composed of the CEOs of the 12 partners plus a Golden LEAF
representative governs the project. Partner
Technology Coordinators are primarily responsible for implementing and helping
to evaluate the program. A
Technology Applications Committee provides leadership in use of high speed
technologies and applications. Consulting Partners from other agencies and
organizations such as ERC, e-NC Authority and NCDPI provide technical leadership
and guidance.
Partners
Western
Region Education Service
Jackson County Schools
Macon County Schools
Clay County Schools
Cherokee County Schools
Graham County Schools
Swain County Schools
Cherokee Tribal Schools
Southwestern Community College
Progress Report (through April 2007)
Summary/Projections
Many aspects of WNC EdNET are actively coming together. The transport infrastructure is being deployed, plans and initiatives for additional funding are in place, the 501 (c) (3) organization is close to being formalized, the Awareness Conference is on track, and equipment decisions have been made.
When the Technology Coordinators recently decided to have a 10 Gb capacity and to use high capacity upgradeable electronics, the cost projections for the electronic equipment increased substantially.
The increased cost requires additional funding. The request for additional funding has resulted in a delay in the use of ARC funds. When the results of the current funding initiatives are known, decisions on the encumbrance of the ARC funds will be made. Hopefully we will be able to aggregate the ARC funds with new funding and complete the electronic equipment procurement and installation soon.
Goal Progress Report (Taken from ARC Progress Report 2, April 2007)
ARC Activity #1:
Progress: As reported in the grant application, the WNC EdNET collaborative structures have been in place for almost two years. Examples of specific activities included several meetings of the Technology Coordinators for planning and decision making. Meetings of the Executive Committee have been used to select the infrastructure vendor and to approve the negotiated agreement with the vendor. The Technology Applications committee has been involved in planning curriculum applications of technology. All collaborative parties have been involved planning development and dissemination of the WNC EdNET Project (See Appendix A – WNC EdNET Activity Log).
Guidelines for the establishment of a 501 (c) (3) organization (WNC EdNET Inc.) have been developed. The organization is currently being formalized (See Appendix C for 501 (c) (3) Material).
All of the collaborative bodies are currently participating in the plans for the Technology Awareness Conference to be held next fall (October 12, 2007).
· Multiple funding initiatives are currently underway to include requests to the state Beta Program. A special bill has been introduced in the NC General Assembly to help fund WNC EdNET. The new 501 (c) (3), WNC EdNET Inc., plans to submit a request for funding to the Janirve Foundation in June 2007. Formula for partner pro-rata funding of WNC EdNET Inc. and the long term maintenance of the WNC EdNET fiber are currently under consideration.
Additional work to be accomplished on this activity includes:
· Formal adoption of WNC EdNET Inc.
· Formal agreement and adoption of WNC EdNET maintenance agreement.
· Continue to collaboratively seek funding and other resources to support the project.
ARC Activity #2:
·
The building of the
transport infrastructure to each of the 60 education sites is currently
underway. Contract negotiations are
in the final stages. Golden LEAF,
Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Philanthropic contributions are the major
sources of funding for the “build” phase.
A portion of the Golden LEAF and Cherokee Preservation Foundation funds
will be used to provide a match for the ARC funds herein requested.
The vendor ASAP (
Progress has been made during the reporting period toward accomplishing this activity as follows:
·
Contractual agreements were finalized to begin work on the
provision of transport infrastructure (fiber) to all school sites except for 5
schools in
· Work on the fiber transport system to sites under contract has begun and is making substantial progress. Several sites are currently ready to be connected, pending the procurement of the switching/routing and related equipment (See Appendix B Infrastructure Progress Report).
·
Additional funding was obtained from the Cherokee Preservation
Foundation and the NC Rural Center to help cover the cost of the underground
deployment of fiber from Topton to Robbinsville.
Rock terrain in this 14 mile section increased the cost per mile;
however, project planners, funding source, the
·
The
·
The
Additional work needing to be accomplished on this activity includes:
· Procure specific funding for the remaining school and college sites.
· Commence construction on the Topton to Robbinsville section of fiber deployment.
· Proceed with procurement of electronic equipment needed to make the fiber transport fully operational and functional.
· Complete the deployment of fiber and electronics to all of the schools.
· Monitor and evaluate the construction.
ARC Activity #3:
·
The selecting, procuring and
installing of ARC procured connection, switching and use equipment is the first
major ARC proposed activity. The
project engineer working with the technology coordinators have the primary
responsibility of coordinating this activity.
The equipment will need to be selected, ordered, installed and tested in
the first phase.
Progress toward accomplishing this activity is mixed in that ARC equipment funds have not been drawn down and used, however the following positive progress has occurred during the reporting period:
· Major collaborative decisions regarding the type, specification, and capacity of electronic equipment for WNC EdNET have been made. These decisions involved intense discussions with engineers and vendors. The Technology Coordinators met with state network staff at Research Triangle Institute and subsequently met with engineers from Cisco Systems at Southwestern community college. After much consideration the Technology coordinators voted to procure and deploy SONET type equipment. Capacity serviceability, upgradeability, and reliability were major considerations (See Appendix D “Why SONET”).
· The Technology Coordinators agreed last week to hold the expenditure of ARC equipment funds pending the outcome of current funding initiatives. ARC funding represents only a small percentage of equipment funds needed for electronics thus the aggregation of equipment funds from ARC, CPFdn, Golden LEAF Foundation, and hopefully from the Beta initiative will provide a critical level of funding so as to allow the vendors to provide significant price breaks because of order size/volume.
· The equipment to be purchased has largely been identified. The equipment identification has been a long and technical process. The Technology Coordinators considered cost, upgradeability, re-occurring cost, etc. as key elements for consideration. The premise of investing on the front end in order to lower long term reoccurring cost was adopted (See Appendix D Sample Equipment List).
· The grant request for $1,000,000 submitted to the NC State Employees Foundation was not funded due to foundation priorities. The lack of SECU funding required project planners to seek additional funding elsewhere.
Additional work to be accomplished on this activity includes:
· Procure additional funding.
· Aggregate from all sources the equipment funds and request bids.
· Finalize procurement.
· Inventory equipment, deploy to sites and install equipment.
· Test equipment.
· Provide training.
· Use equipment to enhance learning.
ARC Activity #4:
·
The use of the technology to
enhance learning will be a long-term process and will be coordinated by the
partner Technology Coordinators and Curriculum Coordinators.
Regionally the partner Technology Coordinators and Curriculum
Coordinators comprise the Technology Applications Committee which will provide
much of the leadership and guidance for the technology application/use phase of
the project. The Technology
Application Committee is currently under the co-chair leadership of the college
and public school sectors and has been operational for several months.
A
state of the art Technology Application Awareness Conference is planned for the
purpose of showcasing many ways of effective uses of technology to enhance
learning. This conference will be
coordinated by the Technology Applications Committee and area colleges and is
planned for 2007.
Progress:
Since its empowerment, the Technology Applications Committee (TAC) has
had several meetings in various physical locations as well as cyber meetings.
The committee has co-chairs (1 from the higher education sector and 2
from the public school sector) who establish the agendas and conduct the
meetings. Examples of major areas of
focus thus far include review of internet 2, review of Centra software for cyber
meetings, review of various local partner technology application initiatives,
and planning for the region-wide Awareness Conference on technology application
for learning. The TAC group decided
to request the WRESA to manage the Awareness Conference to be held in October
2007 at
Funding for the conference will come from Golden LEAF funds and participant registration fees.
Additional
work to be accomplished included logistical organization for the conference,
the selection of speakers and technology programs to be showcased, the
development of a relevant program sensitive to various audiences and the
development of “roadmaps” for follow up initiatives.
Much of this has been done, school presentations are now under
consideration. The WRESA has
identified the keynote speakers, and has secured the
ARC Activity #5:
·
Record keeping, data
collection, data analysis and reporting will be a major project activity and
will be part of quality control monitoring and evaluation.
The project director will coordinate this activity.
Periodic reports will be provided to the key stakeholders in the project
as well as to the funding agencies.
Progress: Project staff has continued to update the Project “Activity Log” (See Appendix A WNC EdNET Activity Log). The finance officer continues to provide updated information on the budget. He has submitted two financial reports to the CPFdn during this period.
The primary vendor has submitted 2 progress reports during this reporting period (See Appendix B Infrastructure Progress Reports).
Additional work to be accomplished includes:
· Complete grant extension request for CPFdn.
· Prepare and submit reports to the Golden LEAF Foundation.
· Gather and analyze evaluation data in the areas of student performance, contract negotiations, quality control of infrastructure deployment; and awareness conference and training efficacy.
· Prepare and distribute evaluation reports.
ARC Activity #6:
·
Dissemination and
exportability of the project will be done as needed.
A publicity event and some overview presentations have been provided to
describe project progress thus far. A
project brochure has been developed. More
formal presentations and technical assistance capability will be developed to
assist “adopters” as the WNC EdNET demonstrates more effectiveness.
Progress: The project dissemination activities continued during this reporting period. Project personnel have had at least 2 meetings with state staff explaining WNC EdNET and discussing hookup to the state network as well as discussing state funding potential.
Balsam
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation is sponsoring a publicity event in May. The WNC EdNET project will have a booth and 2 persons providing WNC EdNET information.
An
overview of the WNC EdNET project will be presented at the
Additional work to be accomplished includes:
· Conducting the Technology Awareness Conference (October).
· Update the project brochure.
· Prepare a DVD depicting the WNC EdNET story.
· Continue presentations at national, state and local meetings.