STED Committee Teleconference
Conference Call Agenda and Notes
Thursday March 24, 2011
(1:00-3:00 pm Eastern Time)

Notes recorded by Lynn Taylor

Dial-in Logistics   Purpose    Agenda    Attendees    Discussion Notes

Dial-In Logistics

Conference Date:	March 24, 2011
Conference Time:	1:00-3:00 pm ET
Bridge Call-in #:	703-648-4848
# of Ports/Lines:	??
Conference Code #:	69180#

Purpose

Attendees List: Present for the meeting are in bold.

Invited:
Bill Hazell, Steve Lipscomb, Joyce Williamson, Anthony Paulson, Peter Griffiths, David Pollock,
Mike Nolan, Franceska Wilde, Lynn Taylor, Alan Ward, Steve Blanchard, Mike Ierardi,

Guest: Melanie Hood

Agenda And Discussion Notes

STED Web Page: http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/STED/index.html
Minutes Web Page: http://nwis.usgs.gov/rltaylor/STED/03242010notes.htm

Committee Business Items

• Review minutes of January 2011 meeting -Bill
• Nothing talked about.

• External communication reports -Bill
• No one has been to meetings where they let people know about STED
• Next week Bill will be attending the SW Data Conference in Tampa. Bill
has a flyer he used at the Central Region Conference last year.This is a good tool to use when going to meetings.
• TEL courses not on the flyer - Overview of Water Quality Sampling - A video produced by the OK WSC. It should be on the under construction list for now because the title and description will change as OWQ works with the OK WSC. AI - Francesca will provide the new title and description when available.
• Franceska suggestion - Add a sentence that STED solicites any ideas people have. Group agrees.
• Alan suggestion - Change the sentence prior to the link to the STED page so that it draws people to the page. To see the world of training/developemental opportunities go to: http://water.usgs.gov/usgs/sted/index.html. Group agrees.

Priority Action Items

• STED Web Page -Bill, Mike I.
• AI - Mike will request an alias for the STED page from the natweb folks so that people can use upper or lower case in the url.
• Mike I. changed the HIF links because Karen Ray let MIke know the HIF changed their links.
• Group decision - Put the HIF home page (http://1stop.usgs.gov/uo/) behind the Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility link.
• Remove Equipment Help link
• Add a link under Training by Subject subbullet for Instrument Training provided at the HIF,
• STED comittee members should use the STEDWEB in the subject line so Mike can sort his email on that to find requests for changes. Please copy the chair of STED on any requests so the chair can filter requests and set priorities.
• Request to add IT/SA supported by Office of Water Information. Bill -
Table this until we get a new IT representive on STED.

Committee membership-Bill, Steve B.

• Peter replaces - Harry Jenter
• Anthony replaces - Steve Anthony
• Still need someone to replace Barabara as IT representative, Bill as committee chair
• Diane Jefferies retires next week, Alan will be acting for Diane and Melanie Hood will be acting for Alan.
• Steve B. has a replacement but we do not know who that is yet.
• Mike Nolan is retiring soon as well.
• Any suggestions STED members have for any of these positions let Steve B. know
• Franceska will be stepping down. OWQ will assign a replacement. Franceska will let us know.

Discussion Items

• Training Needs Survey - Alan
  • OED/NTC summary for new members -
    • STED started in 1999. OED representative has been on STED since 2002. The OED rep. has provided input on TEL courses. Water continues to support the software for TEL courses. OED puts people through a certification course for TEL development. Last year OED was able to fund 6 TEL courses with Human Resources Initiative funds. Alan has 800 completions for TEL courses to date. There has been no charge for water courses yet, but when the Water Quality course comes out there will be charge so we can start building a fund for future and reworking old courses in the future
    • Water training needs assessment (29% responded from 39 of the 48 WSCs)- Very helpful for supplying instructors and Subject Matter Experts, SMEs, information about the needs and the willingness to pay for courses both at the NTC and locally. Includes where the needs are and the supervisors identifiying the needs. If OED can respond to the current survey by adding more courses at NTC, regionally/locally, and with added TEL courese, Alan feels they will get an even better response next year.
    • AI - STED members provide Alan with comments and possible SMEs regarding the results of the water training needs assessment.
• Regional Co-op status - Joyce
• Interviews were held at 3 colleges in Feb and Mar. 18 students were selected fo placement. 15 are sure because they were done before waivers were required.
• In the next month there will be a conference call with the WSCs who selected a student so the WSC knows what the committee needs form them
• Next year the goal is to hold interviews closer together in time.
• Water quality principles - Franceska
  • One of the fundamental components was a case study exercise all students would take. The case study was designed and woven into the course as an assignment at the end of each lesson. Each student will be assigned to a group and each group will be assigned a mentor.
  • This course component was very difficult to implement with the mentor portion. It was revised to remove the need for mentors. Students will go to their QW specialist or QWQ for mentoring.
  • Audio narration would be helpful and is wanted based on student input, but it is too expensive to undertake.
  • Beta test students were asked to fill out a questionaire at the end of each lesson. Got good feedback on the first 7-8 lessons then it got very thin. The results have been addressed.
  • The is 40 hours. It quickest it was finished was 1 1/2 weeks. Most finished within a month, some students never finished. It is difficult to fit this in when working at the office and being pulled in 20 different directions.

Wrap-up

• Review assignments, establish next meeting date (05/26/11)

Next conference call: The next scheduled call is for May 26 , 2011, Scheduled for 1:00-3:00 Eastern Time. Reston phone bridge 703-648-4848 and code is ?????#

STED Committee Activities – 2011

Current Activities

1. Continue to develop, populate, maintain, and promote the STED web page as the primary source of STED communication to WRD personnel.
2. Continue to promote Technology Enabled Learning and establish an electronic learning repository for WRD personnel featuring links to a wide variety of instructional and informational material.
3. Promote the development of "Essential and Recommended" training programs for all disciplines, including Information Technology, for use by all scientific and technical WRD employees.
4. Consider the advantages of a regionally based cooperative education program with selected colleges and universities as a means to promote training of potential future scientific and technical WRD employees.

Future Activities

1. Continue to develop, populate, maintain, and promote the STED web page as the primary source of STED communication to WRD personnel .
2. Continue to promote Technology Enabled Learning and establish an electronic learning repository for WRD personnel featuring links to a wide variety of instructional and informational material.
3. Investigate opportunities for a WRD advanced scientific education program to meet USGS mission goals and encourage career development.