6-6+Notes


 * ** Review of agenda, Updates ** ||||  ||
 * From email sent 5-25

Met with Matt Ludwig and Marietta Rives about iEvaluate and Assessing Academic Rigor. Suggested a series that administrators could take, but Matt has strong reservations about putting Academic Rigor online. A group will be looking at that but he isn't in favor of putting it online. BOEE is accepting iEvaluate in lieu of Assessing Academic Rigor. We need to work with Matt to get more teachers so more sections can be offered. He is working to revamp the content over the summer. He was very excited about working with us on electives for administrators.
 * Updates:**
 * iEvaluate and Assessing Academic Rigor**

Jason Glass convened a committee on Online Learning statewide vision, which met May 20-21. In attendance were representatives from IPTV, ILO, Iowa College Aid, Connect Iowa (broadband), STEM council, Drake, Kirkwood, the BoEE, UNI, the ICN, and LEAs. Jason and Jeff Berger were in attendance for part of the meeting.
 * 1. Online Vision Meeting**

At one point in the conversation (when Jason and Jeff were gone, unfortunately), it was suggested that we create a "marketplace" of online learning possibilities for K-12 students, and that the DE would provide quality control over that site. There was agreement on this; however, I'm not sure if this is much different than what we currently have. Iowa Learning Online currently acts as a "clearinghouse" for other providers (most notably Kirkwood and the Belin-Blank Center).

In attendance representing the AEAs were Lane Plugge, Lisa Fry, and me. We shared with the group our set of services (see the last item in this email for a review), and expressed our interest in future partnerships to pursue K-12 online learning options. We re-iterated that we wanted to avoid duplicating services that other groups were offering, and by the conversation, it sounded like our offerings are indeed unique within the state.

Jason returned at the end to discuss next steps. It was suggested that we would continue work in possible task forces, and that we would wait for iNACOL (the international research organization in online learning that served as facilitators of the session) to type up a summary. Given Jason's upcoming departure, it remains to be seen who will be the push for this continued work.

The AEA PD Online Advisory Council met this month for our spring meeting. We held two meetings to accommodate schedules. Below are the actions of the Advisory Council:
 * 2. Advisory Council**

• They approved change in our cancellation policy. We had a current provision that allowed an individual to transfer to another course in the catalog without paying a fee. This was being abused in one particular situation, as individuals who were in danger of not completing the course simply transferred to a later section. The policy allows for a maximum of one transfer only, regardless of hardships. Otherwise a participant would either complete the course or withdraw without a grade.

• They provided feedback on our Student Personalized Learning System proposal (see the Chief Administrator update below). There was overwhelming support for the proposal and some general interest in providing feedback as it is being developed. We see this group as an ongoing stakeholder group in development of the product.

• They also discussed our 2012-13 data (attached below). In general, they found the data positive and improving throughout the year. This was attributed to the addition of instructional designers, including Deborah Humpal serving as a liaison for our online instructors, offering help in the revision of courses. There were some specific suggestions for professional development content, especially in the area of STEM and competency-based education, which are new areas where districts are hungry for guidance.



Members include: Ron Morlan (Waterloo), David Olson (Dubuque), Matt Townsley (Solon), Amy Wichman (Central Clinton), Marcel Kielkucki (Kirkwood CC), Dana Schon (SAI), Deron Durflinger (Van Meter), Holly Palmersheim (Cedar Rapids), Layne Henn (Sioux City), Barb Chambers (Morningside), Greg Horstman (BoEE), Trista Peitzman (IPTV), Dominic Giegerich (CAM), Allan Nelson (Clayton Ridge), Gwen Nagel (ILO/DE), Bridgette Wagoner (Waverly Shell Rock), Tiffany Morgan (IPTV), Sue Swartz (DE), Jeff Dicks (Newell-Fonda), Chuck Sengstock (Drake), Andrea Stewart (Muscatine), David Smith (Spirit Lake), Lou Ann Gvist (IASB), Steve Rheinschmidt (Southeast Iowa CC), Cindy Swanson (ISEA), Deb Versteeg (Online Council, AEA 267), Jennifer Sigrist (Van Meter), Gail Wortmann (ILO), John Carver (Howard-Winneshiek).

At our May meeting, the Governance Council put together an amended budget for the preparation of the student personalized learning system (see Chiefs update below). In addition, they have prepared a payment schedule based on input from the Online Council for consultants who complete development of online content.
 * 3. Governance Council**

Keys to the categories listed:

• Consult - In a course starting from scratch, an individual provides content expertise and helps gather resources and determines assessments and activities, but does not build the course directly. • Revise or Design - With a pre-existing course or set of course-like materials, an individual revises the content, putting it into an appropriate format for AEA PD Online, adjusting for Iowa-specific language, adding missing components, checking for the accuracy of links, etc. OR, working with a content consultant on a new course, this person designs the course by building content within Moodle/Soft Chalk. • Develop - In a course starting from scratch, an individual provides both the content expertise listed under “consult” and the instructional design expertise in "design". In other words, she does it all.

There are some caveats to this type of work. As said before, this would not be available for current statewide system employees. It would include a written agreement for the work, which would include stipulations for intellectual property. And it would be initiated solely by the AEAs and AEA PD Online (i.e. a consultant could not come to us and say she would develop a specific course for money).

In addition, the Governance Council is looking into two other issues. First, EMC Insurance is offering free for Iowa schools access to Safe Schools, which is a competitor to our training system. While Safe Schools trainings tend to be shorter and lighter on content than ours, they have an extensive catalog (250 total trainings, covering 100-ish topics... some of them are review vs. initial trainings). IASB has (unfortunately for our funding stream) been actively marketing this to schools. Because of this, we need to think proactively about how our training system can mesh with Safe Schools. There will continue to be a market for our trainings, as we provide many Iowa-specific trainings that Safe Schools does not. But having two separate systems for schools is inconvenient to say the least. Kurt Subra (AEA 11) and I will be meeting with representatives from EMC to begin discussions about this.

Second, there was some discussion in the Online Council about which of the AEA K-12 Online services (listed in the last update for a review) are part of the fee for Iowa districts (remember, this has been reduced to .25 per student). The Governance Council will be looking at the list of services and be making a recommendation in June.

The Chief Administrators voted to approve the construction of the student personalized learning system, and the development of credit recovery options for students during the 2013-14 school year. A concept paper giving a preliminary look on how this will function has been attached, as well as a quick look at the budget outlay for this work. Our plans for stakeholder involvement on this project include the AEA PD Online advisory group, the statewide Competency-Based Education group, the STEM Council, and the Blended Learning online communities.
 * 4. Chief Administrators**

The Chiefs also approved the development of a business plan for selling of AEA PD Online services out of state, which was approved in this session's legislation. It is assumed that this will be legal starting July 1. I will be bringing the business plan to the Chiefs in June for further discussion.

Evan will be presenting a business plan to the Chiefs for further discussion.
 * Question** about selling AEA PD Online services out-of-state:
 * Answer**: Ideas include the possibility of selling the use of our training system to out-of-state users to use the system for a fee. Possibilities include ideas like selling our "system" for a yearly licensing fee to other states who may not have that type of training system, and perhaps there are possibilities for the Student Personalized Learning System to be "saleable" to out of state users but that is down the road a bit.




 * 5. Special Education Directors, Project Management Template**

The Page B and Page F professional development, residing on the statewide Moodle server, have been completed. These products require a facilitator (they are not self-paced). Over the summer, the SPED Directors and AEA PD Online will prepare for implementation of the PD for districts. In addition, the Weighted Enrollment Factor (WEF) Matrix training has been completed and is also available on the statewide Moodle server. We are hoping to move that over to the training system so that records of completion may be maintained; however, teachers are able to access the training now. Additional summer projects include the Alternate Assessment training (see below), as well as work with Child Find and miscellaneous IEP resources.

The directors and I were very pleased with not only the outcome of the project, but also the workflow, which was directed by Gary Petersen (AEA 8) and Linda Vann (AEA 267). We will be replicating that workflow with the Special Ed Directors, in conjunction with the DE, prioritizing topics for development. We will use the project management template, and use AEA PD Online's funding structure to reimburse individuals for development.



For an example of a project management plan in progress, check out the Alternate Assessment plan below.

The Media Directors voted to not renew the AEA's contract with NROC, a provider of online courses. AEA PD Online will also not be paying for the content, meaning our access will end June 30.
 * 6. Media Directors - NROC**

Much of NROC's content is available for free (open-source) at http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/

I am meeting with Matt Ludwig and Marietta Rives to discuss changes to the iEvaluate program. Currently we offer a course that meets the requirement for Evaluator 1 & 2. Initial discussions have indicated updating this course and possibly add additional courses to meet requirements for Evaluator 3.
 * 7. iEvaluate**

Rob Brookhart (instructional designer) is working with the Institute for Excellence and Ethics (which works with Character Counts) to create some online lessons from their curriculum. We have a planning meeting on June 14.
 * 8. IEE (Character Counts), Other Partnerships**

In addition, we are working on partnerships with the Iowa College Aid Commission (credit recovery) as well as SAI (various projects)

I am working with Emily Thatcher's statewide group on creating a training overviewing the Alternate Assessment. This training would be ready this fall. The project management plan is listed below.
 * 9. Alternate Assessment**



A reminder of the trainings added to the training system this year so far: • Bullying Prevention • Digital Publishing (Mac) • Harassment in the Workplace: Recognition and Your Responsibilities • Health Information Privacy (HIPAA) Compliance • Interviewing and Hiring Practices • TPACK - Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge Integration
 * 10. Training System**

Trainings scheduled to be completed this summer • Digital Publishing (Windows) • Ethics for Educators (2013) • Vision Screening • Alternate Assessment • Digital Publishing (Softchalk) • WEF Matrix • FERPA • Crisis Response • Crisis Response - School Violence • Cyberbullying/Online Safety

On June 3, the old Moodle server (http://moodle.aeapdonline.org) will be taken down for good. We have just a few more courses on that server that we are moving over to the new server. The old address will be re-directed to the new server on that date.
 * 11. Moodle Hosting, Remote Learner**

Starting June 3, we will begin moving courses from the Remote Learner server (http://resourceiowa.org) over to our own Moodle server, and then migrate the server to version 2.3. Our goal is to have it up and running on June 6. We also are looking at a common authentication system for the two Moodle servers, the registration system, and the training system (meaning users will have one username and password for all the systems). This will be a project over the summer.

A reminder that LEAs may use the K-12 Moodle server for free as part of their opt-in program. The address will be http://moodle.aeak12online.org. As part of the service, we will customize the theme for a district's area with their logo and colors.

I met with the technology integration consultant group on May 7 and overviewed the services that we offered (see below). The technology integrationists will visit as a group and determine the ways in which they (as a group) would like to partner with AEA PD Online. We are hopeful this will include overseeing a community within the Agora as well as the Google Apps and other technology integration statewide courses that we offer. || Continue the discussion of the role of the Online Council: Sent a survey--results attached
 * 12. Technology Consultants**
 * **Discussion** ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Future of the Online Council
 * keep things the same
 * scaling back to a couple of times a year and serve as an advisory group
 * merging this with the LEA Advisory group that meets twice a year
 * eliminating the group altogether

AEA 267 raised the idea of having it be more of a discussion amongst the AEA's. Deciding the future of the online council should be a conversation within the AEA's itself and then look at the next steps with our partners. Rhonda said it sounded fine with her. Talked with Lynn and Denise. Lynn questioned if there was anything that may be said that our partners couldn't hear. Lynn wonders what message says about partnering and where they stand. She would rather see the council disband rather than take that step. Bryan says we need to get our ducks in a row and how we partner. Just a suggestion. If others don't want to that's fine. Get input from our partners and then meet with just the AEA reps to make a decision about the online council.

Lynn: What is the rationale for making the change--did something happen in the past to move us this way? Today's discussion is just about whether or not the Partners should stay in the room for the decision?

Sandra Dopp: Is this an AEA council and we are invited as guests? Or are we part of the council? Bryan: It is the AEA's online council and we brought in partners to get other perspectives.

Gwen: what is the purpose of the online council Rhonda has looked at the data and says it should be a pretty easy decision. Remember the purpose of the council and is comfortable with the partners Jean--acting in the role of the consultant, not a voting member of the council Stacy: difference between the online council and the advisory group-- still confused about that

Originally the Online Council was brought together to share as a group and other partners were already part of that statewide group. Then the Governance Council came in after AEA PD Online was established as a budgetary oversite group.

In looking at the group, it seems that it won't be a big deal for the partners to stay in the conversation. Sue says it has been very beneficial to be at the table because it really helps the DE with their programs and how online learning can play a part in their future operations.

Majority of the responses, according to the survey, to eliminate the council altogether. What are the options for the Council members if this group is eliminated. One option would be that they join the Advisory Group. What is the feeling of the group about eliminating the Online Council? What are the sources for input for the operations for knowing what is going on in AEA PD Online? Feedback or weighing in on the data. Sheila King: I get the opportunity to work with Evan now and looking at the current structure of AEA PD online, involvement of all the groups: Chiefs, Advisory Group, Governance Council, etc.--seems that the online council doesn't need to operate now.

Sandra: The world doesn't need another meeting--unless there is a real need to meet, don't meet. Help us find a way for the DE connected. Deb: While the communication is valuable, but can those other groups carry the communication out to their respective groups. We do have communication structures in place, so if we have enough out there, can we sunset this?

Lynn: I would throw out there that Evan should be on the agenda to the state-wide Instructional Technologists meetings. I am in favor of using the other groups and disbanding the online council.

Bryan: See this as an opportunity to look at and restructure things that might not have worked well in the past. Eliminating the online council is a good first step. Good and bad--all these groups that have a "say" in AEA PD Online's work, so there are a ton of groups to keep happy. It would be easier to only have one group or individual to run things through. It's a chance to restructure and clarify the work.

Shelia: There is now a staff and they can help bring input into the advisory council and priortizing the work and there is a governance council that assists in the work. Think about how the staff can play a strong role in the work. It is an opportunity to position the work--make a proposal to the Chiefs to how the work should move forward.

Voting: Keystone--yes AEA 267--yes Prairie Lakes- Grant Wood- yes AEA 11-yes Kay-yes NW-yes Mississippi Bend-yes Green Hills-yes

Chiefs and Governance Council give specific direction and we work with the other groups to partner on projects. What other groups should we meet with? Lynn suggested meeting regularly with the Instructional Techologist group. Deb V. is working to see how we could partner with that group. DE has had a collaborative meeting structure in the past. We would need to set up a more formalized meeting with the DE. Evan will continue to send out monthly updates. Staff meets regularly on Mondays and you are welcome to attend virtually. There is the option to be part of the Advisory Group.

How we prioritize the work--bring that up to the Chiefs about what structure they would like. Right now our team can do that but is that what the AEA's want us to do? Do you want someone else to help prioritize that work? Sheila King and Lynn think that should be done by the staff.

Chiefs were looking for this groups recommendations. Plan on not having any future meetings but you will receive the monthly updates. The question about prioritization--the conversation will also be discussed with the Chiefs.

Survey Results ||
 * **Closing** ||  ||||   ||
 * Agenda items: ||