The Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC), located at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio served as the Midwest Regional Technology Hub, supporting the SLRCs in Region III for the 2-year grant period from October 1, 1995 to September 30, 1997. The OLRC provided training, technical assistance, equipment, and funding to the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Project Staff:
Ohio Literacy Resource Center:
Minnesota Literacy Resource Center:
Advisory Group:
Year I: Hub Activities
I. Development of Midwest Network
M-NET web site was developed which links to NIFL, the other regions, and the 12 states.
A prototype homepage was developed for each state, which all states have expanded upon.
II. Development of each state's capacity to implement its own adult literacy web site:
Purchased computer equipment to fill needs for eleven states ($55,356 in equipment). Most states received a minimum of 120 MHZ Pentium with 16 MB Ram and a 1-gigabyte drive.
Put homepages for each state in their own directory, which they have, control over. Moved website from Hub server to a local server in five states. (Two states already had servers and homepages).
Made HTML editing software available to all states.
Upgraded the OLRC (M-NET server, installed and configured for the NIFL search system, installed and began using MomSpider to check for dead links.
Installed 800 number for use by Midwest states for technical assistance. Established listserv for Midwest states. Provided technical assistance to region by phone or email in approximately 200 requests.
III. Training:
Three-day training for 21 staff members from 11 states was held at Kent State University, January 31-February 2, 1996. Training consisted of planning time for aspects of the project, web site and HTML training, time to begin developing homepages, and Starting Point training.
Training for 8 local Ohio projects was held on January 17 and February 7; training for 2 Minnesota programs was held on January 26 and March 8. A total of 20 adult educators received training.
Made presentations at 3 national conferences (AAACE, COABE, and ALT), to Midwest State directors at state directors meeting, and to state staffs Illinois, and Indiana at Quad State Meeting.
Allocated $825 to each state for use in training activities.
IV. Local Program Projects:
Additional funds added to the first year grant were used for grants by the Hub to ten local programs (8 in Ohio and 2 in Minnesota) to obtain online access and use the Internet and LINCS in the classroom. A total of $34,068 was provided for personnel, travel, modems, software, access, and phone lines; and six individuals were partially funded to present at the ALT conference. A publication was done on the results of the projects.
V. Publicity:
The Hub published 2 Tech Talk newsletters, which were distributed throughout Ohio and given to other SLRCs to reproduce as needed in their states. Topics included general information on computers and the Internet as well as specific information on the Midwest local projects and web resources for teachers and students.
VI. Evaluations:
Each state submitted 2 reports during the year on activities in the individual state. Each local program project submitted mid-grant and final reports. Consolidated reports for the Hub were prepared three times during the year.
Year I: State Activities:
I. Development of Midwest Network:
All twelve Midwest states expanded upon the original prototype web pages. Each state developed goals for materials to be added to the web site. Common elements were evident on many pages: calendars (9 states), directories of local providers (5 states), bibliographies (7 states), links to other agencies and resources (9 states), and locally produced material online (7 states).
II. Training:
Used $825 in training for such activities as sending six local practitioners to ALT, developing a training prototype, paying travel expenses to bring Hub staff to state, and attending training workshops to enhance skills in web design and maintenance.
Over 18 workshops or presentations were made in the last quarter of the year for over 370 literacy educators, state staff, or representatives from other agencies.
III. Publicity:
In addition to presentations about LINCS around the states, articles were published in statewide newsletters in most of the states.
Year II: Hub Activities:
I. Training:
Three-day training was held in March 1997 in Kent, OH for two individuals from each state. Specialized training for tech personnel was provided as well as management discussions of issues and tech planning.
A set of materials was prepared for each state to be used in trainings, which included overheads and handouts.
The Hub made presentations on LINCS at 5 national conferences: AAACE, LVA, Adult Literacy and Technology Winter Institute, COABE, and ALT. A presentation was also made to the Midwest State directors of adult education at the national meeting.
The Hub made presentations at 5 state conferences in the region: Illinois (2), Missouri, Minnesota, and Kansas.
Training materials on "Developing Web Pages and HTML Documents" were prepared and put on the M-NET web site.
II. Training/technical support for Local Partner Programs:
The Hub asked each state to choose at least one local Partner Program and prove coordination, training, and technical assistance to that program in the use of LINCS. The Hub provided states with a sample RFP, report forms, project action plan forms, and information on 1995-96 projects
III. Technical Assistance:
The Hub provided assistance to member states as needed by phone and email (5-15 per week). The staff answered a variety of questions from states about servers, statistics, programming, and HTML. A technet listserv was maintained for tech support and a Midwest listserv for general information and discussion.
IV. Content of Information on LINCS:
The Hub redesigned the Midwest web site for overall improved ease of use.
The capacity of the Hub system was increased by 1) upgrading operating system to HP10.02; 2) installing all versions and updates to LINCS mdb search; 3) upgrading and installing scripts for processing, web band, statistics, and other software maintenance; and 4) purchasing and installing Cold Fusion and Allaire Forums for expanded web capability.
Cataloging documents: The Hub cataloged all the full-text documents on the 12 states' web sites, using Starting Point guidelines and the adult literacy thesaurus. Future cataloging is the states' responsibility.
The Hub provided library expertise to NIFL and the overall LINCS project through the Minnesota center.
The Hub maintained the Directory for Internet Resources through the Minnesota center.
V. Marketing:
The Hub published 4 issues of Tech Talk, a four-page technology insert to the OLRC newsletter. This was distributed to over 2300 people and Midwest states were encouraged to reproduce this publication for practitioners in their states. The Hub also published an article on the 1996 local technology projects.
VI. Management:
The Hub continued using the directors of each state center as an advisory group for the project. A full meeting was held at the annual training where most of the issues of the project are discussed. Additional discussion and input is ongoing through the listserv and through the opportunity for input into grant writing, etc.
The Hub encouraged each member state to identify their own goals and resources needed to accomplish their part of the grant, and then provided a $4,000 subcontract to help them meet these goals. Additional funds were realized from first year unexpended funds and an additional $500 was given to each state to encourage local usage.
The 12 state directors of adult education were sent periodic mailings with project reports and Tech News.
The Hub submitted a request to GTE for a $50,000 grant to develop and pilot model Teacher Inquiry Projects that integrate the WWW and hypermedia capabilities into teaching and learning in adult literacy environments. A proposal was also submitted to the US Department of Commerce for a $426,838 TIIAP grant that was not funded.
VII. Evaluation:
The Hub received reports from the states three times during the year describing their activities. These were summarized in reports for NIFL.
A survey on-line and in the Tech News attempted to get information on usage of the Internet and LINCS, but response was very small.
A phone survey of local projects in Ohio was conducted and summarized.
Year II: Activities in the States
I. Training:
Thirty-four workshops and demonstrations were presented to over 1000 practitioners. One state (Iowa) promotes technology at monthly teleconferences of practitioners.
Six states (Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota) made presentations to such state level groups as state staff, state literacy councils, state board of education, advisory councils, and state training facilitators.
North Dakota and Ohio made various presentations at Directors Meetings.
Eight states presented at eleven statewide conferences (multiple presentations, open labs at these conferences.)
Illinois and Michigan participated in presentations at COABE and ALT in addition to those done by Hub (OLRC) staff.
Two states (Minnesota and Michigan) held 2-day statewide technology conferences, with over 350 teachers and tutors attending.
II. Local Partner Programs:
Eighteen local programs received support and technical assistance during the year in seven of the states. Seven other programs in four states had been identified by the end of the year and will receive support in 1997-98. A detail, state-by-state description is attached.
III. Content of Information on LINCS:
Each state maintains its own web site and added new links and documents during the year. Work on the individual web sites varies according to staffing restraints at the individual centers. The states reported that 68 full-text documents were added online. Other types of activity on the web sites included bibliography with online order form, online submission of materials, demographic information, lists of state providers, and new links.
IV. Marketing:
Individual states published articles in statewide newsletters about LINCS, technology, and their own web sites.
V.Leveraged Funds:
The Midwest states have used their participation in the NIFL LINCS project as a leverage to obtain and use other funds to advance technology in their states.
South Dakota received a $195,735 federal grant from the Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative to link 24 local literacy councils with Internet resources and credits its participation in this project as a major factor in receiving this grant.
Seven states reported receiving 353 funds totaling $340,000 to support technology projects. Another $220,000 in funds in two states have been directed for technology projects from state funding.
In addition, each SLRC participating in the Midwest project have put in-kind support into this project at a minimum with just staff time and office support. The local programs that have participated have also contributed in-kind support.
For further information about this grant, contact Jean Stephens,
Phone: 330-672-2007
In Ohio Only: 800-765-2897
Fax: 330-672-4841 email: jstephen@literacy.kent.edu.