ADEC, OSU, Warm Springs, and Umatilla meetings, July 11-12, 2002

The meetings at Warm Springs and Umatilla were very productive. Bob Rost assembled quite a large group for the site visits including Bill McCaughan, OSU Dean of Distance & Continuing Education. It is my observation that rarely do you see a dean out in the field like that - impressive! OSU is very much behind AISEP. I sensed this feeling as well from the tribal representation at each meeting. The following is the list of attendees FYI (I can provide e-mail addresses if needed):

OSU
Bob Rost OSU extension
Bob Pawelek OSU extension
Greg Chilcote OSU/ECTU
Yogi OSU/ECTU
Clint Jacks OSU/WS extension
Larry Pribyl OSU/IS/CMC
Dwight Owens OSU extension
Bill McCaughan OSU, Dean of Distance & Continuing Education

Warm Springs
Wendell Jim CTWS general manager
Russ Winkler CTWS IS

Umatilla
Susie Calhoun CTUIR education
Jessica Fisher OSU UM Co. extension
Lisa Breckenridge CTUIR economic planner
Storm Johnson CTUIR IS

As you can see, this was quite a turnout. We covered a great amount of material and topics over the course of the two-hour meetings at each site. Basically we broke it down into three working groups: technical, coordination, and programming.

Warm Springs
Their site is located inside an old boarding school building. Wendell Jim is the manager. The site, like Umatilla, is unique since it functions as a conglomeration of various college units. OSU (50's), Central Oregon Community College (70's), and WSU (recently) all provide programming at various levels. The hope is that OSU and possibly WSU can provide the upper level courses students need to graduate with a bachelor's without leaving the reservation. This does create an interesting problem though as far as equipment is concerned. Until the meeting, the CPE had not been connected to any computers. We did connect with a laptop as a demo. So, the unit hasn't been utilized or tested from their end. This is mainly because of discussion on where to network the IDU and whose computers are going to be utilized. COCC needs to be in on this discussion as well. Bob instituted an August 15th deadline for this decision.

The ADEC liaison work will remain with the contacts currently designated. Everyone, however, showed a lot of interest. I directed those not familiar to our website. It looks like a real team effort in regards to coordination.

There were a number of content ideas floating around:

300/400 level coursework for degree completion
web-based courses (Bill's WebWarriors)
skill development/training courses
imbedded certificates
community members learning technology
outgoing cultural programming and courses
Bill's Virtual Tribal College (Oregon)

Umatilla
Their site is located in an older building used for a variety of educational activities: college coursework, training, workshops, 4H, extension, and language classes, among others. Lloyd Commander is the manager. Their site is similar in college composition to Warm Springs with OSU, WSU, Treasure Valley Comm. Coll., and Blue Mtn. Comm. Coll providing classes there. There were no representatives from the community colleges present. That may be important later as we move more into the content arena. The Tachyon installer was there, but still couldn't finish because one of his employees sent the wrong IDU (no coax input). So, there was no demo, but the install should be finished by today. Umatilla has a large rack with space, so the networking will be much smoother there than in Warm Springs.

The ADEC liaison work will mainly remain with Storm Johnson, but Susie Calhoun may get involved as well. She seemed like a real good contact, and I'd like to work with her more. Lisa, the tribe's economic planner, and Jessica, OSU Co. Ext., were also very interested. Again, a team effort on coordination was present.

Many of the programming ideas discussed at Warm Springs came up again at Umatilla. There were some additional ideas, as well:

special events multicasting
community workshops
more communication and course sharing among tribes
getting all housing ready for in-home web-based courses

One important item expressed at both sites by all present was the need for mobile applications. Both sites support education in remote areas on each reservation. Most of these areas have no internet access. Although these areas don't essentially need 24/7 access, the ability to pull in a mobile at certain times is greatly desired. I sent out information on Dr. Bob's project. I think it is VERY important to get a mobile over to the ATNI conference in September. I believe there will be a flood of requests after that one though.

Otherwise the trip was fantastic! Beautiful scenery (Warm Springs, Umatilla, Mt. Hood, Hood River, Portland, etc., etc.) and no problems.

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Craig Campbell
Project Coordinator for
Tribal Colleges and Indian Affairs
American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC)
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