ADEC Official Report

ADEC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY DISTANCE EDUCATION: Today ADEC is awarding its first $5000 and an Excellence trophy to the University of Kentucky as selected by peer review. A separate brochure is available that showcases the nine award winners and honorable mentions.

DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE: ADEC continues to work toward an ADEC Digital Channel. The FCC ruled in our favor as we protested the attempt by EchoStar to place the 4% Educational Set-Aside on a satellite located at 61.5 w. This would have relegated education programming to a ghetto. The northwestern part of the United States would have difficulty receiving it. Instead, the FCC ruled with us indicating that this educational programming had to be on the full Continental United States (CONUS) coverage satellites at 110 and 119 degrees. We also protested what appeared to be overcharging for use of these channels. We are working to get our programs aggregated so they can be available to both DBS providers - EchoStar and DirecTV, as well as to cable head-ends. The University of California has been allocated an EchoStar channel and can thank ADEC for the fact it is located in a CONUS position. Since DBS is a new service, the nation can thank ADEC for being the only organization willing to stand up and assure that the American public gets access to educational programming. We are working on our programming and business plan at this meeting. The increasing optical fiber and Internet2 structures will decrease the need for as much satellite transponder space as we had potentially anticipated a year ago. This will reduce cost. ADEC has approximately 1000 programs - academic, as well as Extension and non-formal education in its program database. These use a variety of technologies as we now move forward in the convergence environment - the Internet begins to look more like television and television begins to look more like the Internet.

ADEC WIRELESS INTERNET: ADEC is partnering with the Tachyon Corporation on a pending National Science Foundation grant for wireless Internet. We anticipate doing this research and development work with new funds and staff. A core group of member institutions will take the lead and work closely with rural delivery, 1890 and 1994 wireless delivery.

AGRICULTURAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM: ADEC flawlessly implemented last year's Agricultural Telecommunications Program. The consortium received $873,000 from CSREES for ADEC management. $863,000 was granted for thirteen outstanding programs. The consortium, with North Carolina State as the lead, developed a computer-based system for submission of proposals and reporting. The entire peer review process used technology. This could save millions of dollars if more widely implemented. All proposals are available on the ADEC Web site for review.

ADEC GRANTS: ADEC awarded $67,000 of program grants for module development within the consortium. This grant process was managed by the University of Florida and prototyped work later selected for other grants. All of these grants involved multiple institutions partnering together and they are available through the ADEC Web site for review.

ADEC IRVING AWARDS: ADEC presented its highest honor - the Irving Award at its banquet last evening to Kirvin Knox, Colorado State University - recent past treasurer for ADEC and current International Task Force Chair, and Alan Moeller, University of Nebraska, Assistant Treasurer for ADEC since 1994. This is the 5th year for these awards.

ADEC INFRASTRUCTURE, BARRIER BUSTER AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AWARDS: The ADEC Program Panel and PCOs also presented these peer nominated and reviewed awards at last evening's banquet.

IDEAL2 DISTANCE EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION: H. Dean Sutphin, Cornell, chairs our new IDEAL2 Distance Education initiative. We are collaborating with EDUCAUSE on the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative to implement the recommendations made by the IDEAL1 Committee chaired by Rosemary Haggett, West Virginia University. IDEAL2 will host a major national videoconference April 13, 2000 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Sam Smith, President of Washington State University, and I are inviting presidents, provosts, vice-presidents, faculty, staff and students to come together to discuss the "ideal" way to move our distance education systems forward. There is a brochure available and more material on the ADEC Web page as well.

KNOWLEDGE MARKETPLACE: ADEC is using the "Knowledge Marketplace" framework for several key activities. This paper, developed by Dave King of Purdue, shows the importance of our working together to achieve a knowledge marketplace. In the knowledge marketplace, just as in the shopping mall, there have to be enough customers to make the investment in distance education program development and delivery worthwhile. The growing ADEC infrastructure includes:

• Online catalog (www.adec.edu) - developed by the University of Illinois and the University of Nebraska
• Module development project - significant contribution by Al Turgeon, The Pennsylvania State University
• Electronic Commerce System - Consortium Task Force - prototype will be unveiled today and will be fully implemented by August 2000.
• Guiding Principles for Distance Teaching and Learning - leadership provided by Valorie McAlpin, University of Maryland. These can be found in both the Award Brochure and the 10th Year Anniversary Report
• Distance Education Evaluation Program (DEEP) - this product was developed by Utah State University and now being extended through a contract with SSA, Inc. Evaluation training and new ADEC evaluation projects will be discussed during the All ADEC meeting.
• Open Source Initiative - North Carolina State University is taking the leadership with the National Agricultural Library and the Cornell Mann library to help us plan for improved interoperability, cataloging and taxonomies.

ADEC INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE: The Board of Directors passed a recommendation to expand its vision, governance and operations to include international partners representing educational entities with commonly held interests. Kirvin Knox is chairing a task force to develop specifics in terms of governance, articulation of rights, responsibilities, relationships, funding system and other linkages. ADEC led in a number of international programs this past year including: an international showcase and videoconference with Russia, an international Think Tank in the Phillippines including many of the major donor agencies and a collaborative workshop with Monterrey Tech University for a United Nations agency holding its international meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Three members of the Board presented a paper at the International Council on Open and Distance Education in Vienna, and Poley sits on the planning committee for this organization.