Community Lifelong Learning IntraNet Collaboratory

This document is the synopsis of a proposal we are looking to "sell". I present it here as an example of the potential dynamics present in an active community with participation from university, schools, comunity government and local business partners.

Let me know if you are interested.

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Developing a Community
Lifelong Learning IntraNet Collaboratory

Elizabeth (Libby) Black
Boulder Valley School District
University of Colorado

George H. Brett II
Boulder Public Library

Ken Klingenstein
University of Colorado

Main Document -- Knowledge Transfer Cycle -- CLIC Model

Vision

To create a community intranet collaboratory, a shared digital environment, that will provide electronic links between education, local government, civic services, and local commercial enterprise with primary emphasis on the socio-geographic boundries of the "local community."

(see diagram explanation)

This collaboratory through the use of geographic information systems (GIS) technologies will (1) provide educators with "real world" materials to use in teaching, (2) give children the opportunity to contribute to their community in a meaningful way through the curriculum, and (3) demonstrate to members of the community at large (government, civic, and commercial) the value of reciprocal, interactive projects with the K-12 community.

Goals

To develop high level of community interest and involvement in a Community Lifelong Learning Intranet Collaboratory (CLIC) through a one year planning / educational / demonstration process.
To produce a white paper / report describing the various process methods and outcomes of community collaboration through three parallel efforts:
1. A Working Group made up of committed parties of the Boulder Valley Communities as well as the research that will explore issues and build buy-in from their representative bodies through a series of monthly seminars / workshops.
2. A Review of literature that will research and summarize findings from previous and existing community / education networked technology transfer projects.
3. A Demonstration Project that will serve as a proof of concept to better illustrate to the working group and interested parties what types of activities will be developed and sustained later on as a result of the CLIC project.
To develop a sound business-plan / project agenda that can serve as the core element for funding the CLIC project in part or in whole.

Audience

The immediate audience for this project will be the representatives of the various partners to be involved in the CLIC process. This would include members of the education, library, local government, civic and commercial communities.

The long term audience will include students as agents of knowledge management, members of the community as producers and consumers of content, and teachers who with librarians will serve as intermediaries between the aforementioned participants.

Work Plan

We have chosen not to apply for funding for the CLIC project without first ensuring that there is indeed commitment from all the necessary participants. In that light we propose a one year time frame that includes three paths of work: the Working Group, the Research Component, and a Demonstration Component.

The process of building the CLIC framework will begin with a two day workshopfor the Working Group (green line on the diagram above). This first event will serve as a baseline for representatives to learn about each other personally as well as the work that they do. By the middle of the second day the group should begin to establish some goals, outcomes, and/or deliverables that will be explored over the coming 9 months. It should be noted that among the outcomes could be questions to be answered, processes to be explored, barriers to be examined, and resources to be tapped.

The initial two day event will be followed by monthly 1/2 day seminars. The structure of these meetings would involve update information, working towards the goals set forth in the workshop, and exploration of new issues that related to the project. Ideally the seminars would rotate physically so that participants would experience the various physical organizational environments.

The research component (orange line on diagram above) of the project would run in parallel with the seminar component. This part of the process is critical to provide information about what results other similar projects have had in the past that are both postitive and negative. At the sixth month milestone a report and supplementary information will be presented to the workshop group. This report will be used in developing the criteria and content of the white paper. The next three seminars would be used to outline and draft the white paper.

Early on in this project, two teachers, a librarian and a business partner will work together to test the educational applications of GIS which support curriculum as well as the needs of the business partner. ESRI, the publisher of ArcView software has an office in Boulder and has agreed to support this Demonstration (blue line on diagram above). During the year-long process there will be periodic information updates from the demo group to the main Working Group (see up and down arrows).

A rough draft will be compiled and edited with notes from the workshop and seminars, materials from the research component, and any supplementary documentation from the small demonstration GIS project.

The final two Working Group seminars would be used to evaluate and comment on the white paper and to make recommendations for short term and long term next steps in the CLIC process.

After the white paper is completed and ready for distribution selected representatives of the CLIC project will give presentations at respective professional conferences and meetings. It is hoped that at least one presentation will be given in each of the three primary communities: education, library and local government.

Working Model

The image below is a visual representation or reference point of the CLIC process. It will change and grow to accomodate the findings of the Working Group, Research Component, and Demonstration Component of the year-long development phase.

(see attached for description)

Principal Investigator Information

Libby Black, University of Colorado (UCB) at Boulder
Libby is the Director of the Boulder Valley Internet Project, a collaborative project of UCB and the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) designed to deploy Internet access to all 50 district schools, train teachers and students to use the Internet, explore curriculum applications and develop community connections through the community network. The project was initially funded by a 1992 grant from NSF. Under Libby's guidance, the Boulder Valley School District has become one of the national leaders in the implementation and application of the Internet in the K-12 area.. Libby has a Masters Degree in Secondary Curriculum and Instruction from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
: George H. Brett II
George Brett is an Internet Consultant working with the Boulder Public Library in developing resources related to networked information discovery and retrieval. George was the founder and principal investigator of the Clearinghouse for Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR) which was funded by the National Science Foundation in 1992. Subsequently Brett was also principal investigator for two NSF funded projects that demonstrated using the Internet in a K-12 setting: the Global SchoolHouse and the Presidential Awardees Internet Pilot Project. He also has been active in bringing together international / interdisciplinary organizations to create synergy and community. Brett has a Certificate in Advanced Studies in Information and Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters of Fine Arts in Fabric Design from the University of Georgia.
: Ken Klingenstein, University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Klingenstein is the Director of Academic Computing Services at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a Principal Investigator on the Boulder Valley Internet Project as well as the Boulder Community Network project (NTIA). Dr. Klingenstein's commitment to the support role which the university can play in the application of networking technology to education and community needs has been a driving force behind the success of both of the aforementioned projects. Dr. Klingenstein is very active in national networking organizations including his participation as a member of the Federal Networking Advisory Council. He has a PhD mathematics from University of California.