Chairperson & Moderator: Dwayne Hunter
Vice-chair: Princess Gordon-Patton
Secretary: Fred Piazza

Meeting Participants:

Nina Boston
Robert Fehr
Don Hamilton
Dwayne Hunter
Tom Knecht
Gloria Mosby
Fred Piazza

1. Review of CECP Toolset project (Prototype and RFI): Fred Piazza & Don Hamilton

• There was a "prototype workgroup" meeting conducted Atlanta prior to the last CECP meeting in September. The workgroup consisted of key technology, graphic design and instructional design players from the University of Florida and Louisiana State University.



• The first phase of the prototype is scheduled to be finished around the end of December or the beginning of January. This first phase would allow for the initial input of data into module format. The University of Florida was selected to be the prototype development site.



• As the prototype is being developed, Texas A&M offered to temporarily store CECP module information in an online courseware system they currently have available.



• Since not enough information was known to build an RFI, the RFI will be built in tandem with the prototype so that questions and concerns can be captured in the RFI as they arise in both the prototype development process and the temporary storage process.



• Another regional effort was mentioned: The Southern Regional Plant Disease Network is a regional plant disease diagnostic system. One of the needs identified by this group was to develop in-service training modules for the process. CECP was identified as the system that should house these training modules. The University of Florida has taken a leadership role in this project and some synergy is expected to occur with the Plant Disease Network and CECP.

• Taxonomy has been defined and will be finalized soon. Nina will be sending e-mail requests to the C-IT group asking for a prioritization of which categories need to be addressed first in developing new curriculum.

• ·The whitepaper concerning the C/IT request to form two separate committees was addressed at the last PLC conference call. The PLC vote was to table the issue until the face to face meeting in December.
  
  Underlying Issues:
  • a. Some Directors are unsure of what to do with Information Technology and Agricultural Communications units within their respective universities. This uncertainty has filtered into the decision process of separating C/IT into two groups.
    
    b. The PLC is concerned about the proliferation of sub-committees.
    
    
  • c. The PLC is also concerned about 1890 / 1862 representation within the proposed newly formed and separate Communications and Information Technology Committees.
    
    
• Does the whitepaper need to be revised?
  
  
  • a. Robert Fehr suggests that the C/IT committee needs to be prepared to answer questions concerning how the Communications and Information Technology efforts came to evolve and how their missions have become separate within the Extension function.
    
    b. Gloria Mosby believes that the whitepaper can stand "as is" and that a few of the committee members have not yet read the whitepaper. If the PLC votes to accept the recommendation at their December meeting, the motion will be forwarded on to the Directors and administrators for their review and approval.
    
    c. Dwayne Hunter points out that the gist of the message of the whitepaper is illustrated best in the summary page of the document and the content of the summary page should be stressed at the face-to-face PLC meeting in December.
    
    
  • d. Robert Fehr also suggests that the PLC committee as a whole may offer suggestions to strengthen the document.

• $43 Million for nation-wide network for both plant and animal diagnostics. $900,000 was given for the Plant Diagnostic portion to each region.



• Notification came to Experiment Station directors that Regional Plant Diagnostic Network Centers were being created.



• The University of Florida was arbitrarily designated as the coordinating center for the Southern Region. There was no opportunity for other universities to become the regional center.



• Each regional center was given $900,000 and each center was given the task of managing the money.



• The purpose of the network is to give rapid response to the identification of plant and animal diseases and pests and ties-in closely with bio-terrorism initiatives.



• Currently there are concerns about project expectations and production.



• A prototype is to be in place and tested by June, 2003. The prototype for the Southern region will be housed at the University of Florida.