CURRENT MEETING REPORT
Reported by Tom Newell, InterNIC
Minutes of the Network Training Materials
Working Group (trainmat)
Meeting Agenda
1. Discussion and approval of agenda
2. Trainmat Catalogue
3. Introductions and sharing of project information between meeting participants
4. Using the network to deliver training
Meeting Notes
1. Discussion and approval of agenda
Jill Foster made introductions and reviewed the proposed agenda, soliciting approval and suggestions for additional discussion items.
2. Trainmat Catalogue
The motivation for pursuing a catalogue
of Internet training resources grew from discussions two years
ago in recognition that no similar resource existed.
Mark Prior, Margaret Isaacs and Jill Foster led the initial efforts as working group chairs. Mark developed a WWW forms-based submission capability for interested people to nominate training resources for inclusion.
http://coolabah.itd.adelaide.edu.au/TrainMat/catalogue.html
A mailing list was used to review submissions
and discuss the draft.
network-training-tf@mailbase.ac.uk
mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (subscribe network-training-tf
firstname lastname)
Please note that new submissions via the
web form were emailed to a small editorial board for review.
At the Stockholm IETF meeting, the decision
was made to prune the number of entries and begin making a qualitative
assessment of training resources submitted for inclusion in the
catalogue. At the same time, it was decided to organize entries
around categories and to standardise the values in the fields
of the entry form/template. Margaret Isaacs (University of Glasgow)
took on much of the work and completed this in January.The existing
entries are currently being verified by the Netskills team (Newcastle)
with the authors or responsible agencies.
The working group chairs believe it is time
to close the work on the document. If the review process is allowed
to continue, the project has the potential for never ending. Jill
will issue the document as a final internet-draft by the end of
April.
It was agreed that the effort should avoid
becoming a forum for commercially-based training vendors to use
as an advertising or promotional venue.
If this were to become a living document,
volunteers would be needed to maintain it. It was suggested that
an editorial board could be an appropriate mechanism for reviewing
items submitted for inclusion (as suggested in Stockholm) but
that this should not be taken on given the volunteer nature of
the exercise. This was met with little discussion.
3. Introductions and sharing of project
information between meeting participants
Jill said that, following brief presentations
regarding the Netskills project and the InterNIC "15 Minute
Series", she would ask participants to highlight training
related initiatives which they or their institutions are pursuing.
Donal Hanna (Netskills programmer) provided
an overview of the Netskills project. The Netskills project is
principally a collection of modular training packages focused
upon supporting the higher-ed community by providing materials
and resources for trainers. The project does include some user-based
training materials in the form of WWW-based interactive tutorials.
(Initial version in the final stages of development.) This preserves
"state" between sessions and records user progress.
The service is built upon Perl scripts.
Donal went on to provide a synopsis of the
Information Gateway and the Network Education and Training Electronic
Gateway (NETEG) services as repository programs for collecting
training resources. The overview highlighted an organizational
schema for resources accessible via the WWW. More information
about Netksills can be found at the URL: http://www.netskills.ac.uk/
Tom Newell of the InterNIC provided an overview
of the "15 Minute Series" program. The InterNIC in a
partnership with the American Library Association, Library and
Information Technology Association, has begun developing an Internet-accessible
resource for Internet trainers. The "15 Minute Series"
will be a collection of modular and extensible training packages
from which an Internet trainer may construct a curriculum which
meets the needs of a local community or specific environment.
The packages will be made available in a variety of formats using
the Internet as a delivery medium. The InterNIC brings to the
partnership a unique positioning within the community to promote
and disseminate Internet information. The library community provides
the effort a concern and empathy for the needs of information-seekers.
The InterNIC is developing a prototype currently and hopes to
have a set of core materials available by late this summer.
Kesh Bakaru of San Diego State University
discussed a project exploring real-time delivery of of sound and
image data and its application in long-distance education.
April Marine mentioned the NASA NIC training
efforts.
Joyce Reynolds indicated she would like
to see the project continue in some useful capacity. She is especially
interested in examples of using the network to deliver training.
She mentioned the idea of using MBONE technology. Tom Newell (InterNIC)
expressed an interest in exploring the potential of such a project
as a tool for R&E communities.
A Systems Architect for Bell Atlantic demonstrated
a JAVA applet tool for network metering with a training potential.
4. Using the network to deliver training
Jill discussed projects in the UK which
used ATM and MBONE networks to provide (amongst other teaching
applications) surgery observation capabilities over long-distances.
Tom Newell mentioned that the InterNIC was
working with Patrick Crispin to host the ROADMAP mailing list
training program on a regular basis. Jill Foster indicated she
would be interested in mirroring the effort in the UK.
Jill concluded with a discussion of her
efforts to get PowerPoint registered as a MIME type which has
hit a brick wall. She suggested that the Area Directors were looking
into the current process for nominating MIME types and the review
mechanisms. Finally, Jill encouraged USV folks participate in
HTTP development discussions in order to raise issues focused
on user needs and interests related to training.
Once the final draft has been approved, the working group will close down.