Technology-enhanced education...

UT's Powers outlines principles for online technology in higher ed

Traditional classrooms will likely be around for a long time, but technology certainly is making the "online" classroom run a close second as technology transforms the learning experience on higher education campuses throughout the country. 

 

Bill Powers (left), president of The University of Texas at Austin, this week released his Technology-Enhanced Education  report to the university. He notes that while technology is changing the education landscape in the same way it has touched nearly every aspect of everyday life, the opportunities outweigh the challenges. Powers has developed guidelines for using online technology in higher education that could serve as a national model.

 

Powers has been meeting with other national leaders in blended and online learning and organized the Public Flagship Network. The group has developed a consortium of Texas higher education leaders including universities, community colleges and university system leaders to work on different aspects of educational delivery.

 

Traditional classrooms with face-to-face interaction between faculty and student are not going away. But, they are being joined by online offerings that offer both challenges and opportunities..

In his report, Powers outlines five principles for using online technology effectively and efficiently to help students learn. "These innovations will create new education models that can transcend the time and space constraints of traditional academia," he said. "They'll increase productivity, generate revenue and save students and their families money."

  

Those five principles include:

• Faculty and academic unit control the curriculum, ensuring online curriculum mirrors the traditional curriculum with the same high-caliber faculty;
• Faculty should be supported and rewarded, realizing that they are the foundation on which resources are built;
• The model must be financially sustainable, and online courses have the potential to generate revenue, improve productivity and ensure student success;
• Content should be sharable across many different platforms; and
• Innovation must never stop, as today's students are used to living in a high-tech and high-touch world and expect the same from their education.

Powers notes that UT has been, and will continue to be, a leader in making online classes available to its students. In addition to providing online course material, the UT president said the university uses numerous other innovative education techniques, such as "flipping" courses. Flipping is a reverse order approach to learning in which students use Web resources such as video lectures and interactive problems that allow them to learn course content and skills and then to participate in the classroom with questions and discussions. The university is also developing "on ramp" courses to ensure high school and community college students are prepared to move into a leading public university like UT. Powers said the university also is building massive open online courses (MOOCs) in conjunction with a platform with Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC-Berkeley and other major research institutions.

 

"We are working at the leading edge of nearly every form of blended and online learning," said Powers in his report. It's all a part of UT's efforts to design and deliver 21st century education. 

Walt heads back to governor's office as chief of staff

State government veterans Taylor, Demerson also announced for new posts

Kathy Walt (top left), long-time ally of Gov. Rick Perry, is returning to the Governor's Office following a two-year absence. Walt left her job as deputy chief of staff in the Governor's Office in September 2012 to serve as executive manager for governmental affairs at the Lower Colorado River Authority. She now heads back to serve Perry as his chief of staff.

During her previous five years with the Governor's office, Walt also was an advisor and press secretary in the office. Prior to entering state government employment, Walt was a reporter for the Houston Chronicle for 13 years.

The veteran newspaper journalist also served stints as a reporter at other newspapers in Texas, Ohio and Virginia. She taught communications and journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University, The Ohio State University and Sam Houston State University. Walt holds bachelor's and master's degrees from The Ohio State University.

In addition to Walt's return to his office, the governor also announced the appointment of Jonathan Taylor (bottom left) as director of the Economic and Tourism Division of his office and Aaron Demerson (bottom right) as senior advisor for economic development. Taylor, a veteran of 10 years in state government, was most recently the director of the Enterprise Project Management Office at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. He also previously served as director of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. A veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve, Taylor holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University.

Demerson has been with the Economic Development and Tourism Division since it merged with the Governor's Office in 2003. He also is a former manager of the Texas Tomorrow Fund for the Comptroller of Public Accounts and was manager of credit administration at the Texas Department of Commerce. Demerson holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

New law aimed at protecting highway department workers

While the state of Texas already has laws on the books to protect police, fire and emergency personnel stopped on Texas roadways with emergency lights flashing, a new law that goes into effect in September will provide that same protection for highway workers.

The state's Move Over/Slow Down law has been expanded to provide protection for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) workers. The law requires that drivers must move over one lane or slow down when approaching TxDOT workers and vehicles stopped with overhead flashing blue or amber lights.

The new law requires motorists to move out of the lane closest to the TxDOT vehicle when possible or reduce their speed to 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit. If the road does not offer multiple lanes, the driver must slow down. On roadways with posted speed limits of 25 miles per hour or less, drivers must reduce their speed to 5 miles per hour. Violators can be fined up to $2,000.

SORM announces reorganization, restructuring of agency

A comprehensive review of the State Office of Risk Management (SORM) has led to major restructuring of the agency aimed at streamlining existing divisions and focusing on better accountability, communication and efficiency.

Executive Director Jonathan Bow has named Gordon Leff as division chief of Strategic Programs, overseeing strategic mission-critical services, including Risk Management, Workers' Compensation, Communications, Document Processing and Quality Assurance.  Leff holds a bachelor's degree from The University of Texas at Austin and has been with SORM since 2004 as deputy director of Claims Operations and director of Claims Operations. 

Stuart B. Cargile will serve as division chief of Internal Operations, overseeing agency support functions, including Accounting, Information Resources and Human Resources. Cargile holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University, and has served with SORM since 1997 as director of Fund Accounting and CFO.

Barbara L. Klein has been named division chief of Legal Services, overseeing legal and compliance coordination, including Litigation, Fraud and Recovery and Legal Support Services.  She holds a bachelor's degree from St. Edward's University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Hampshire.  She has served SORM since 2008 as deputy general counsel.

Previously proposed budget cuts for TAMU System off the table

A proposal at the last full meeting of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to cut by 5 percent budgets of all the TAMU System institutions and agencies is now off the table. The regents took a pass on approving System budgets at their last meeting to explore the possibility of additional budget cuts.

However, meeting by telephone earlier this week, the TAMU System regents voted to approve the originally proposed budget - $3.8 billion - without the cuts. However, the regents did create a debt management plan for the next fiscal cycle, but gave no information or comments on the plan, why it was created or what its goals would be. Regent Charles Schwartz (pictured) did say that examination of the budget "leads to increased transparency, better process and ultimately better governance by the board."

TAMU System Chancellor John Sharp said the plan would be used to ensure that information regarding the budget was made available to regents well in advance of the budget process and would focus on debt repayment.

Howard College taps Rainey as dean of San Angelo campus

Howard College officials recently tapped Jamie Rainey (pictured) as the executive dean of the San Angelo campus. Serving as director of the Workforce Training Division at Howard since 2007, Rainey replaces Provost LeAnne Byrd, who is retiring.

Rainey has served two terms on the San Angelo City Council, as chair of the Concho Valley Workforce Development Board and on the boards of the San Angelo Community Medical Center, San Angelo Industries and Rio Concho Manor.

She previously worked for utility companies and a health care system in the private sector.

Texas A&M to pay $73.2M to acquire Texas Wesleyan University

In its goal to create a law school, regents of the Texas A&M University System recently agreed to acquire Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth at a cost of $73.2 million to create the Texas A&M University School of Law at that campus.

The agreement calls for A&M to pay Texas Wesleyan officials $30 million now and finish paying the remaining $43.2 million from 2014 through 2017.

Because of its history as a land-grant university, the new law school will focus on new areas of growth such as commercialization and patents, said TAMU System Chancellor John Sharp.

County, city officials meet to discuss new Hidalgo Co. courthouse

Hidalgo County and city of Edinburg officials recently met with representatives of the architectural firm that will come up with preliminary plans for the county's new high-rise, $113 million county courthouse. While no one argues with the need for a new courthouse facility, the main question remains how it will be financed.

The city is involved in the project to avoid a repeat of the county seat being moved, which happened when it was moved from the city of Hidalgo when Edinburg built a new courthouse. City Manager Ramiro Garza Jr. (pictured) described the new courthouse as "of interest and benefit to our city." Garza is working on a finalizing a partnership with the city on the courthouse project. The city's contribution is likely to be in the form of private investments in tax increment zones around the courthouse, hopefully avoiding a tax increase.

But, there are detractors who feel the county should be the sole participant in the financing and are also opposed to private-sector financing such as a public-private partnership.

Alvin ISD to ask voters to approve $212 million in bonds

Alvin Independent School District trustees recently agreed to ask voters to approve $212.5 million in bonds in November to build several new facilities and buy land.

Board members plan to use the bond funding to build a new high school in Pearland, pay for design and construction of a new technical education facility and buy land for a new football stadium and natatorium. If voters approve, the bond proposal also will be used to construct a new elementary school and junior high school, renovate a junior high school, fund upgrades to technology and security, build a satellite bus station and a new agriculture facility,

Southlake allots $1.6M to design first phase of recreation center

Southlake City Council members recently agreed to divide into two phases the design of a new community recreation center and to spend $1.6 million to design the first phase. Completing the project in two phases will help ensure the city is being prudent and responsive to the needs of taxpayers, said Mayor John Terrell (pictured).

Plans call for the center to feature community rooms, a senior center and schematics for the second phase of the project that would add fitness and aquatic amenities. Voters, however, must approve using funding from the Crime Control Prevention District fund in an election planned in May in order for the second phase of the plan to begin. If the proposal for the second phase wins voter approval, city officials plan to spend about $1.7 million in August 2015 to pay for the second phase design. The recreation center is scheduled to be open by December 2017.

Kaufman County proposal to privatize jail draws opposition

Kaufman County's proposal to privatize the Kaufman County Law Enforcement Center drew negative comments from various participants in a recent commissioner's court meeting. The court solicited a request for proposals earlier this year, but has since removed a requirement that would ensure that if privatized, the current staff would be retained for at least the first year of the contract with a private operator, with current salary and benefits.

One detention officer told commissioners that a private firm's top priority would be to maximize their profits, while local employees are more concerned with the safety and security of the community and its residents. Others proposed putting the issue before voters to decide if they wanted the facility turned over to a private-sector firm. Commissioners have said they expect the county could realize a savings of about $1 million per year by utilizing the services of a private company.

Hidalgo's application for foreign investment program approved

The city of Hidalgo has become the latest applicant to be approved for an EB-5 Regional Center. The center is part of the federal government's EB-5 program that encourages foreign investments. In exchange for a commitment of $1 million toward an American business venture that will result in the employment of at least 10 full-time workers within two years, the investors can qualify for permanent resident status. Because Hidalgo has a high unemployment rate, the threshold for foreign investors drops to $500,000.

Hidalgo went through a multi-year process before being approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Investors will now be sought through the Hidalgo McAllen Reynosa Regional Center, which will be controlled by the city.

Hidalgo Mayor Martin Cepeda (pictured) said the investment program could result in new jobs locally and provide an economic boost to the region through such projects as hotels, restaurants and other developments. Hidalgo's newly approved center now becomes one of 388 across the country.

Denton ISD schedules $312.5 million bond election in November

Denton Independent School District trustees recently scheduled a $312.5 million bond election on Nov. 5 to pay for new schools, renovations to existing schools and energy conservation.

A new high school, two new elementary schools and a new middle school are needed to meet enrollment growth of about 25 percent in the last six years and for future growth, according to district officials. Other projects included in the bond election are funding to build an addition for ninth grade at a high school, renovations at 17 existing schools and acquiring more land for future growth.

Montgomery County to build three new EMS stations

Montgomery County Hospital District officials recently agreed to build or remodel three EMS stations to maintain response times as population grows and to replace outdated EMS stations. Current plans are to begin construction on the EMS facilities in early 2014 and complete construction before the end of 2014.

The hospital district plans to partner with The Woodlands Fire Department to remodel Fire Station 2 to add space for EMS services at the existing facility. Plans call for replacing Station 40 with a new 5,000-square-foot regional station at a cost of about $600,000. The new facility will have four bays to house three ambulances and a vehicle for the supervisor while providing sleeping space for up to five emergency medical services personnel.

Hospital district officials also plan to build a 1,800-square-foot facility on Aldine-Westfield Road. It will house three EMS personnel and one ambulance at a cost of about $300,000, replacing a leased building housing EMS Station 21. Once renovations at Fire Station 2 are completed, EMS personnel from Station 23 will relocate to The Woodlands facility to provide more centralized coverage in that area.

Fort Worth ISD looking at three options for November bond election

Superintendent Walter Dansby (pictured) of Fort Worth Independent School District recently outlined three options to the board of trustees for a November bond proposal. The options for the bond proposal ranged from a $585 million option to a $777 million bond package.

Described as the "essential" projects by Dansby, the $585 million bond option includes construction of a new high school, building an additional 300 classrooms, upgrading security and technology in addition to renovating 14 schools to provide facilities for pre-kindergarten for all four-year-old children in the district.

A $667.5 million proposal would add a new performing and fine arts campus, new buses, maintenance trucks and uniforms and instruments for band students to the project in the first option. The $777 million proposition would call for upgrades to athletic facilities, including new field houses at all high schools, adding new turf to practice fields and a new multi-purpose center. Trustees are slated to vote on Aug. 23 on whether to call a bond election and decide which projects to include on the bond election ballot.

Friendswood to ask voters to OK $24 million in bonds in November 

Friendswood City Council members recently voted to schedule a $24 million bond election in November to pay for upgrading and expanding a fire station and the library, improving parks and for street and drainage projects.

Council agreed to ask voters to approve four separate proposals on the ballot, including a $7.7 million proposition for streets and drainage and a $7.2 million proposal to upgrade four parks and buy land for new parks. Other propositions on the ballot are $6.5 million to design, expand and equip Fire Station No. 4 and $2.5 million to fund the design and expansion of the library.

Hunt County hospital district eyeing $12.3 million bond election

The board of the Hunt Memorial Hospital District recently continued discussions on asking voters to approve $12.3 million in bonds on Nov. 5 to pay for three projects to upgrade or enlarge facilities.

Board members plan to ask approval of $5 million to build a new, 19,000-square-foot outpatient facility in Commerce and a $4.5-million, 15,600-square-foot outpatient facility at its medical pavilion in Quinlan. Both facilities are planned to include emergency room beds, a trauma bed, observation rooms and a helipad. Construction on the new outpatient clinic in Commerce is expected to begin in late spring 2014 and be completed in eight months if voters approve the bonds.

The third proposal is $2.7 million to renovate the third floor of the Hunt Regional Medical Center by decreasing the number of rooms to 22 while increasing the room size and purchasing new equipment for the larger rooms.

Frisco, Dallas Cowboys ink $115M pact for shared facilities

Members of the Frisco City Council and trustees for Frisco Independent School District recently approved a $115 million agreement to build a new practice facility complex that includes an indoor stadium and a new headquarters facility for the National Football League Dallas Cowboys. The agreement with the two Frisco entities marks the end the Cowboys' almost 40-year affiliation with the city of Irving.

Under terms of the agreement, the school district will contribute $30 million and be permitted use the new indoor stadium for games. Cowboy officials also agreed to develop 91 acres of the remaining land, be responsible for any costs exceeding $115 million and pay an estimated $1.5 million a year for maintenance and operation of the sports complex.

The goal is to complete the new facility in time for the 2016 season. It is expected to seat 12,000 for sports games and 22,000 for concerts and other events.

Pasadena group urges $106 million bond proposal this fall

A Pasadena citizens group recently urged city council to ask voters to approve $106 million in bonds in November after trimming the original wish list submitted by city staff by almost $20 million.

Appointed by the city council, bond committee members recommended splitting the ballot into four separate propositions to include $63 million for street and drainage projects, $14.75 million for the police department, $13.75 million for the fire department and $14.5 million for parks and recreation projects.

Birdville ISD puts brakes on possible bond proposal discussion

Birdville Independent School District trustees recently agreed to delay discussion on a possible bond election in May 2014, citing lessons learned from the failure last May of a $183.2 million bond package to pay for upgrades to technology, security, campus renovations and new science labs.

Trustees agreed to buy education technology for classrooms and new door buzzer systems for elementary and middle schools using funds from the 2013-2014 budget, a district spokesperson said.

The decision followed a recommendation by a consultant to discuss the reasons for the failure of the last bond package and begin planning on a bond election next year. The board president stopped the discussion, saying board members have received feedback on the reasons for the bond failure and preferred to move on to the future.

Hutto wins grant to build new hike and bike trail

Hutto recently won a grant to build a new section of a hike and bike trail along FM1660. The new trail is expected to encourage more students to hike and bike to schools and other residents to use the trail to access businesses, parks and connect with existing trails to the south, said Mayor Debbie Holland (pictured).

City officials are required to contribute 25 percent to the cost of the new trail, with the grant from the Texas Department of Transportation paying the remaining 75 percent of the project.

Current plans are to complete surveying, engineering and environmental studies in 2014 and begin construction on the trail project in 2015.

Fort Bend to seek approval of $184.9M in mobility projects

Fort Bend County commissioners recently agreed to seek voter approval of $184.9 million in bonds to pay for mobility projects in each of the four county precincts.

Included in the bond proposal for Precinct 1 are building a railroad overpass on US59 and extending 10th Street from US90A to Clay Street. Among the projects proposed for Precinct 2 are extending Chimney Rock Blvd. from FM 22345 to Rosa Parks Elementary and the Knight Road Extension from Fort Bend County Tollroad to McKeever Road.

In Precinct 3, some of the mobility projects include extending FM 1483 from I-10 to Spring Green and traffic improvements throughout the precinct. Among the projects for Precinct 4 included in the bond proposal are construction of a transportation facility with offices, storage and space for bus maintenance and improving SH6 from Airport to east bound SH6.

To view a complete list of the roadway projects included in the bond, click here.

Rosenblum to retire as research director for Federal Reserve Bank

Harvey Rosenblum (pictured), research director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, recently announced he plans to retire on Oct. 31 after working almost 40 years with that organization. Rosenblum began as an economist in Chicago and then became research director in Dallas in 1985, where he also served as the primary monetary policy adviser to Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher.

Bank officials also promoted four economists to prepare for the retirement of Rosenblum and to assist Fisher when he becomes a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2014. Vice President Evan Koenig won promotion as a senior vice president and will serve as the main monetary policy adviser responsible for Federal Open Market Committee Research.

Another vice president and senior economist, Mine Yucel, won promotion as a senior vice president and director of research. John Duca, currently a vice president and senior policy adviser, is slated to become the new associate director of research for macroeconomics and finance. The vice president and director of the Dallas Fed Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute, Mark Wynne, is now slated to become associate director of research for international economics and continue as director of the policy institute.

Keller sets $8.1 million bond election to upgrade roads

By a one-vote margin, Keller City Council members recently voted to schedule an $8.1 million bond election on Nov. 6. City officials expect to pay for upgrades to roads and intersections if voters approve the bonds recommended by members of the Transportation Bond Program Advisory Committee.