DDO Workgroup Update December 2005
From Shifted Learning
WiscNet Digital Districts Online
Workgroup Meeting Update
December 8, 2005
Contents |
[edit] Portal Development
The current DDO portal has been up and running since August (http://digitaldistricts.org). Through the portal folks can register for online courses from the DDO catalog, access sample policies and procedures for online learning, access the Learning Objects repository, and in the future access online professional development offerings. The portal now has the ability to accept credit cards for products, which includes ElementK. The catalog for these items will be posted soon. Registrations and course enrollments are handled through the back office functions of the portal by the registrar (currently Joan Peebles). The planning stages for the new portal redesign are underway and almost complete. The new development is slated to begin in January and will address reducing the back office workload and will automate many of the processes that are now done manually.
[edit] Business Plan Development
The DDO business planning subcommittee has met several times to draft a business plan and to discuss cost-recovery fee philosophies. The plan is still in draft form and needs feedback from the entire workgroup before it is finalized. A copy is being provided at this meeting.
[edit] Marketing & Communications
The DDO marketing & communications subcommittee has met several times and has come up with a plan that is included in the draft business plan. Alicia has created a brochure and will be working on developing scenario fact sheets in the near future. A copy of the brochure is being distributed at the meeting.
[edit] Presentations
Several folks have been doing presentations about DDO around the state. The first were the Department of Public Instruction’s regional Instructional Media & Technology meetings. We gave an overview of DDO and an invitation to participate. We ended up talking with around 200 folks. Joan presented at the WCON Online Symposium, November 16th, and Alicia has been talking about DDO at the WiscNet regional planning meetings. A proposal has been submitted for the Wisconsin Charter Schools conference and we are waiting to hear if the proposal has been accepted. We declined the presentation slot at WEMA/Brainstorm. We were offered a 30 minute slot at 7:30am. After conferring with Joan and Ross, we decided it did not offer a good return on the investment.
[edit] Course Summary
This information will be very easily reportable on the portal going forward, but due to some portal problems in early fall, the Fall data isn’t available via the portal. Last year while the grant was in place, there were 75 courses consumed.
DDO stats for this fall:
- 25 students; 37 courses
- Districts: Granton, Whitehall, Owen Withee, Holcombe, Bloomer, Independence Madison, Middleton, Wisconsin Virtual Academy
- Vendors: Appleton-Kiel Partnership, Florida Virtual, Wisconsin Virtual
- Present Courses: Algebra, American History, American Literature, AP European History, Business and Consumer Math, Earth and Space Science, English I-IV, Health, Geometry, Latin, Personal Economics and Finance, Marine Science, Reading Comprehension, Spanish 1, World History, Web Design
[edit] Staffing
John Ehringer has been employed as a WiscNet DDO LTE since fall. He is doing development work and portal support 20 hours a week.
[edit] Sponsored Participation in WiscNet Workgroups
The WiscNet board recently approved a policy that allows non-members institutions to participate in WiscNet work groups when sponsored by a WiscNet member. The guidelines are as follows:
Member Sponsored Participation Guidelines:
- A WiscNet member may sponsor one or more non-member institution(s), that are eligible for WiscNet membership, to participate in a working group in which that member is currently active. WiscNet membership eligibility is set by Article Two of WiscNet’s By-laws (available on the web at http://www.wiscnet.net/Members/WiscNet_Board/By-laws/)
- The sponsor's member-representative shall notify in writing the WiscNet Executive Director, identifying the non-member institution, the likely participant(s) and the intended working group.
- The sponsorship shall expire on the next June 30th. The sponsor may renew the relationship per item.
- MSPs may participate in working groups (maillist, web and teleconferences, test installations, and face to face meetings).
- MSPs must become members to use member-services developed by their working group.
[edit] Statement of Account
(attached)
[edit] Invoice amounts as of November 2005
(attached)
