Our Work
2009 Conference
AkDEC collaborated with ASTE on the 2009 conference with pre-conference sessions held at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. The AkDEC mission to develop, coordinate, enhance, and expand distance education opportunities and Alaska’s information technology infrastructure was well served in this gathering of up to 400 Alaska education technologists.
AkDEC highlighted its new Ak20 network and access to Internet2 in interactive exhibition on Monday and Tuesday evenings during the conference. AkDEC also presented conference sectionals on Managing Broadband and Distance Education Success Stories.
It is only through the collaborative efforts of the following Alaska internet service providers and the University of Alaska that the Ak20 Network continues to grow. AkDEC thanks ACS, AT&T Alascom, GCI and Telalaska for their continued support.
Ak20 Advisory Committee:
The Alaska Distance Education Consortium held a one-day Advisory Committee meeting in Anchorage to discuss policy matters relating to its new Ak20 Network. Morning sessions were devoted to explaining the Sponsored Education Group Participant (SEGP) program of Internet2 and the Alaska SEGP, the Ak20 Network.
Participants broke into policy-related workgroups during lunch and reported back in the early afternoon. The ideas and recommendations of the workgroups are consolidated in a draft report that is available at this site. Major findings which will become Ak20 policy include: a sliding membership fee based on member budgets will be charged and only dues paying members will have access to Internet2 through the
Network. Other priorities include funding and public awareness campaigns relating to broadband accessibility and affordability in Alaska.
Starband
Considering the challenges for installing and operating equipment at these remote sites, ADEC believes the Starband satellite pilot program to be a great success. At the close of this experimental Project (2003), 67% of the sites are still functioning.
Several sites switched to other types of connectivity as they became available. ADEC faced a technological frontier for rural communities and crossed it. Now the new frontier is wireless broadband capability, so villages can access new services without being tethered to specific offices.
The Center for Distance Education at UAF provided technical support, both through distance and onsite at at the rural locations. The project would not have been possible without this intensive quality support.
Plan for the Alaska Digital Commons
The Alaska Digital Commons is a collaborative project supported by Alaskan educational institutions and organizations. The purpose is to provide a wide array of opportunities for distance education as well as academic and technical support for students. It is our hope that the commons will become a vital, continually renewing students. It is our hope that the commons will become a vital, continually renewing digital community where Alaskans can share electronic resources and tools. Students, teachers and parents will be encouraged to utilize these resources and to contribute to the ongoing conversation about how this community can best support education in Alaska. There will be three components to initial framework for the Alaska Digital Commons.
The Commons will feature a searchable database. This database will provides information about all distance education courses and programs provided by accredited Alaskan post-secondary institutions. Alaskans will be able to access information about course costs and pre-requisites, the technology requirements to participate and the qualifications of course instructors. Students and instructors will have the opportunity to create individual profiles for the commons which will automatically provide information about their individual academic programs. Or, Alaskans can visit the site as guests to seek general information about opportunities. There will also be a similar separate database that provides information about K-12 distance courses and programs. Initially, this database will be administered and supported by Alaska Online, a consortium of Alaskan K-12 school districts. Eventually, both the post-secondary and K-12 distance offering could be available through the same entry point on the commons.
A timeline will be established to identify and implement student support services through the commons. As the ADEC statewide needs assessment provides data, the commons management team will identify exemplary models for providing online technical and academic support, electronic resources and reviews, digital communication tools (synchronous and asynchronous), employment resources, tutorials and other services with a clearly established need.
Professional Development Plan
The second component of the Digital Commons will be a Professional Development Clearinghouse database for all Alaskan professional development opportunities offered by AkDEC members. Initially, this database will be developed and supported by the Academic Technology Service at UAA. This database will provide multiple ways to search for professional development programs, courses and activities related to teaching through distance and the implementation instructional technologies. This self-maintaining database will also feature: web-based submission forms for program data, “subscriptions” for users for areas/topics of interest, discussion tools, and financial incentives for member institutions to participate. ADEC will continue to support a professional development committee to accomplish four objectives:
1. Sharing of professional development opportunities;
2. Addressing the professional development needs identified by members;
3. Creating and maintaining a public clearing house;
4. Creating a standard for professional development certification.
