All ADEC Annual Meeting Minutes
March 22-24, 2001
Safety Harbor Resort & Spa
Tampa, Florida

The All ADEC Meeting reception was held in the Main Dining Room from 6:00-8:00 p.m. ADEC meeting notebooks including agenda, minutes and items of business were distributed to all attendees.

Don Poucher, Administrative Council and Program Panel member, welcomed members of the Administrative Council, Program Panel, Principal Contact Officers and guests to Tampa, Florida for the annual All ADEC Meeting.

Tom Fretz, Chair of the ADEC Board of Directors, said this is a unique time for ADEC in distance education, and he was glad to see so many come together for this meeting . He thanked Poucher for his assistance with the location and arrangements for the meeting. Fretz stated that we will be working on our strategic planning, bringing ideas to the group. We will discuss where we are with respect to the Agricultural Telecommunications program. Terry Meisenbach signed off on the proposal and it is in the hands of the USDA Administration. Fretz mentioned Congressman Hinchey and all of his help with Agricultural Telecommunications. On March 6 ADEC presented Congressman Hinchey with a meritorious service award. Daryl Lund and Dean Sutphin also pitched in with Ag Telecom, and we appreciate their assistance. The ADEC Excellence in College and University Distance Education National Award was presented to Cornell University for their Global Seminar at the NASULGC CARET luncheon on March 5. Honorable Mention awards were presented to Great Plains IDEA and Kansas State University for Masters in Agribusiness. Fretz said we will also discuss the Norman Borlaug University – ADEC is a full partner with NBU, and we will talk about our international relations with Russia and Monterrey Tech.

Gamble discussed the three-year, $4 million Advanced Internet Satellite Extension Project. Partnership includes ADEC, I2 universities, smaller and minority serving institutions, rural and remote learners, Tachyon, CAIDA and NLANR. Gamble listed the core institutions working on the project – North Carolina State/A&T Universities, University of Maryland, University of Illinois, University of Nebraska, University of California and Washington State University. Emerging partnerships include AN-MSI, EPSCoR, HBCUs and Tribes and Tribal Colleges. Gamble talked about project goals and research objectives and gave an overview of the Tachyon network including equipment configuration. He discussed the ADEC/Tachyon pre-test which the core institutions took part in June 5-August 4, 2000, the test results and conclusions. He informed the group that the test conclusions are on the ADEC website. Gamble noted that there were some weather-related problems with the dishes (snow). The solution is dishes with de-icers. The cost for a de-icer is approximately $350. Wholesale price on a dish is $4,250 and our price is $3,900 with $950 for installation. Gamble's "in a nutshell" summary included 1) building a satellite-based IP network; 2) network performance measures; 3) studying the network's effectiveness in a variety of educational settings; 4) studying community dynamics; and 5) exploring issues of sustainability.

Gibson asked the following questions:
- When we look at learners, who has access?
- What do we have for numbers? We need to look at demographics.
- What are they downloading?
- Why are people using the network?
- What are the learning outcomes?
- development of distance learning skills
- time management
- development of online learning skills
- content mastery

Gibson stated that we need to look at learners and teaching-learning opportunities. Are we building capacity? What are the design aspects? We need to look at the negative impacts of TAPS as well as the positive.

Flora discussed the potential impacts of wireless technology for excluded communities which include human capital, social capital, natural capital and financial/built capital. She said excluded communities are "communities that by reason of location, culture, race, or social class do not participate in the institutional goods and services from market, state and civil society that are accessed by the majority of U.S. citizens." Flora talked about the community context, assets and outcomes. Key elements of measurement for the project include diverse perspectives, participatory contract, systematic learning, context specificity, group inquiry, facilitating external agents, sustained learning and action, attention to outcomes, monitoring and evaluation. Community outcomes are expected to be increased use of the skills and abilities of local people, increased networks and communication, increased initiative, responsibility and innovation, health ecosystems with multiple community benefits, and appropriately diverse and vital economies.

• Cooperating Partners

Rice is the AN-MSI Project Assistant for EDUCAUSE and attended the All ADEC Meeting in place of Dave Staudt, AN-MSI Project Director, who could not be present at the meeting. Rice discussed the four-year, $6 million grant from the NSF. The overall goal of the project is to assist minority-serving institutions as they improve Internet connectivity, campus networks and their technical support, and advanced use of the networks. Partners include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. AN-MSI has 101 schools participating at this time. AN-MSI Committees include Executive Awareness, Resource Development, Network Technology, Internet Connectivity, Applications, and Evaluation & Assessment. Services to be offered from the project include VolP for telephony, Internet data, videoconferencing, wireless campus backbone delivering 30 Mbps over a 10-mile radius, and wireless mobility. Awards granted to date are for Ft. Berthold, Turtle Mountain, Ft. Peck and Sitting Bull.

Ross introduced himself as the Tribal College Information Technology & Applications Coordinator for ADEC, and said he is excited to be here. He is looking at ways to achieve goals and to help identify and define areas of need in Tribal Colleges.

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities -
Walter Hill & Daniel Godfrey

• Dan Cotton - Singing Presentation - "The Digital Divide: A Country Western Technology Song," "Song of Have's and Have Not's," and "All Those We Teach."

3. Norman Borlaug University
NBU: Dick Merritt, Earl Ainsworth and Rod Sharp
ADEC: Tom Fretz, Janet Poley and Mike Burke
Daryl Lund

Tom Fretz, Chair of the ADEC Board of Directors, welcomed everyone to the 6th Annual ADEC Awards Luncheon. Fretz began by presenting the Irving Awards. He recognized past Irving Award winners and mentioned that Irvin Omtvedt was the first recipient and the person for whom the award was named. This year's Irving Awards were presented to:

Irving Award

* Rosemary Haggett, Associate Provost for Academic Programs at West Virginia University

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Mike Burke, Chair of the Excellence in College and University Distance Education Award Committee, presented the Excellence award winners:

ADEC National Excellence in College and University Distance Education Awards

* First Place - Cornell University Global Seminar: Environment and Sustainable Food Systems
H. Dean Sutphin and Isatou Jack, Kathleen Kelsey, Lee Riddell
Cornell University - United States
E.A.R.T.H. University - Costa Rica
Open University of the Netherlands
University of Melbourne - Australia
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Uppsala University - Sweden
Wageningen University - The Netherlands
Zamarano University - Honduras

* Honorable Mention - Master of Agribusiness Program
Kansas State University

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Fretz called on James Hamilton, University of Illinois, and Kevin Hayes, Oklahoma State University, to present the Program Panel and PCO awards.

• Outstanding Educational Programs

* Food & The Environment - University of Florida
M. E. Swisher and Ron Thomas

* Web-based Horticulture - Cornell University
Kenneth Mudge and Kelly Hennigan

* IDEAL2 Videoconference Team
Erik Anderson, University of Idaho
Scott Fedale, Washington State University
Jim Hamilton, University of Illinois
Valorie McAlpin, University of Maryland-College Park
Craig Wood, University of Kentucky

• Infrastructure Development Awards

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Afternoon Session of the All ADEC Meeting Continued

4. Introduction to the ADEC Strategic Plan
John Kelly and Don Poucher

Poucher discussed the draft strategic planning paper and where ADEC is at the present. ADEC programming is offered locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally and is characterized by these principles: 1) design for active and effective learning; 2) support the needs of learners; 3) develop and maintain the technological and human infrastructure; and 4) sustain administrative and organizational commitment. Poucher said ADEC's future is taking the next step with strategic planning – enhancing the Kellogg Engagement Model: the Collaboratory Concept; broaden the focus of the consortium; and leverage the consortium for generating major new resources. Collaboratories are ". . . highly interactive environments made up of people, environments, hardware and connectivity and software driven tools that encourage and enhance teaching and learning specifically to engage people in intensive ways in the created environments." Collaboratories would meet the needs of member institutions with capacity building, specific products and services, think tank for technology/pedagogy/policy/research, and leadership development. The collaboratories would enhance engagement with communities of interest, however they are defined, through digital inclusion; connecting to historically under-served audiences, enhancing inter-agency collaboration and synergism; and advancing rural and community revitalization.

The meeting group divided into six breakout sessions to discuss and share ideas.

Breakout Sessions and Facilitators Around Strategic Collaborators
• Think Tanks- Dave King and Dean Sutphin
• Professional Development - Capacity Building- Chere Gibson
and Kevin Hayes
• Distance Education Policy- Valorie McAlpin and Larry Coyle
• Technology R & D- Kevin Gamble and Dan Cotton
• Marketing & Analysis- Dave Watkins and Don Poucher
• Peer-Refereed Educational Products- Jim Green

Total group discussion - each group shared summarized comments and ideas. It was decided to make the draft plan and draft summaries from the six task forces available on the ADEC website to all ADEC Administrative Council, Program Panel and PCOs for comments and suggestions. The ideas will then be forwarded to the Executive Committee for discussion. Following the Executive Committee discussion, Poley will work with Kelly and Poucher to revise the draft plan. The plan will then be forwarded to the full Board for discussion and vote. It is expected that this will be completed by June 1.

5. Program Presentations

• "The Business Case for Extension E-Learning"
Larry Coyle, University of Minnesota

• "Doc@Distance & More"
Theresa Murphrey, Texas A&M University

• "Online Academic Support - That's SMARTHINKING"
David Cashwell, SMARTHINKING, Inc.

SATURDAY, MARCH 24 - ADEC Showcase and All ADEC Business Meeting

1. ADEC Excellence Award Presentations

• Global Seminar: Environment and Sustainable Food Systems
Dean Sutphin, Cornell University

• Honorable Mention - Masters in Agribusiness - Kansas State University
Bryan Schurle, Kansas State University

• Honorable Mention - Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (IDEA)
Margaret Weber, Oklahoma State University (East Room)

2. Selected Agricultural Telecommunications Projects

• "Internet Lessons for Plant Biotechnology"
Deana Namuth, University of Nebraska
http://croptechnology.unl.edu/

• "RadioSource.net - A National Real-time Internet Web-based Radio Project" http://edmedia.ifas.ufl.edu/radiosource/
Ashley Wood and Ron Thomas, University of Florida

• "National Model for Technology-Enhanced Private Pesticide Applicator Training"
Larry Coyle, University of Minnesota

• "Seed Science Distance Learning Project"
Jack Fenwick, Colorado State University

• "Feeding Young Children in Group Settings: A Multiple Mode Course"
Erik Anderson, University of Idaho

• "Teaching Animal Nutrition On-Line"
Pat Schoknecht, University of Richmond and the Mid-Atlantic Consortium/Rutgers University

• "Developing a National Alfalfa Information System" - David Hannaway, Oregon State University - PI/Project Leader
Walter Wedin, University of Minnesota - Presenter/Attendee

• "Nutritional Assessment for Adolescents"
Bob Sams, University of California-Davis

3. All ADEC Business Meeting

• Tom Fretz called the meeting to order. He began by thanking Janet Poley, Janet Means and the ADEC staff for organizing the All ADEC meeting.

• Fretz then asked John Kelly to lead the discussion of ADEC finances. Kelly expressed his thanks to Alan Moeller for his assistance and counsel on the finances. Regarding member institutions who have not yet paid their dues, Kelly encouraged colleagues to follow up for payment. He noted that Jan Poley and Dan Godfrey have been working diligently on getting dues paid. It was asked when the ADEC budget for the next fiscal year will be planned. Poley said the budget has to be adopted by July 1. ADEC has a minimal budget with few reserves over expenditures.

Strategic Planning - Breakout sessions were held on the six collaboratories including Think Tanks, Professional Development - Capacity Building, Distance Education Policy, Technology R & D, Marketing & Analysis and Peer-Refereed Education Products. After the breakout sessions, the group decided that the breakout summaries should first be documented and put on the ADEC website for comments from Administrative Council, Program Panel and PCOs who were not present at the All ADEC meeting. The Strategic Plan with incorporated ideas would then be forwarded to the Executive Committee, and finally to the Board for approval.

Agricultural Telecommunications - ADEC will be working on the next round of proposals shortly. We will work on raising the level of funding on next year's program. The Farm bill is in rewrite - we may want to take selected action. Everyone should be on the alert.
NBU - good discussions took place during Friday's meeting. We have an agreement with NBU, and Jan Poley is a member of the Academic Advisory Board. NBU has paid $10,000 for an ADEC affiliate membership. There is a long list of issues that haven't been discussed yet. We need a group of ADEC people who can assist. Program Panel and PCOs at the meeting agreed that they would like to be included in discussions - to be informed of what is happening. Poley stated that Sam Smith, President Emeritus at Washington State University, is now on the NBU Board of Directors and that this is a very positive thing.

• Terry Gibson stated that Kate Sydik, ADEC Web Master, has done an excellent job of the website and thinks she should be commended. Scott Fedale agreed. Both Gibson and Fedale brought a resolution to the floor of the business meeting. Fretz will send Sydik a letter with the resolution and gratitude on behalf of the organization.

The All ADEC Meeting Adjourned.