STED Committee Teleconference
Conference Call Agenda and Notes
December 8th 2011
(2:00-4:00 pm Eastern Time)

Dial-in Logistics   Purpose    Agenda    Attendees    Discussion Notes

Dial-In Logistics

Conference Date:	December 8th 2011
Conference Time:	2:00-4:00 pm ET
Bridge Call-in #:	703-648-4848
# of Ports/Lines:	20
Conference Code #:	Code: 97727

WebEX: https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/j.php?ED=166988672&UID=481407502&PW=NNzQ5NzY2Mjdm&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D (Password is STED)

Scientific and Technical Employee Development Team (STED)

Purpose

WebEX:https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/j.php?ED=166988672&UID=481407502&PW=NNzQ5NzY2Mjdm&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Password is (STED)

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

Agenda And Discussion Notes

Agenda Items:

• WebPages:
• Team Name: Scientific and Technical Employee Development (STED)
• All Webpage references must be updated to say Scientific rather than Science to keep the naming consistent.
• STED Charter
• Approved and posted on our Webpage and to our SharePoint.
• STED Page team description

The Scientific and Technical Employee Development (STED) function is to provide guidance and feedback on employee development and training within the Water Resources Division. The objective of the Scientific and Technical Employee Development (STED) Committee is to provide guidance, recommendations, and tools for employee development within the Water Mission Area. The objective is to provide information on and give links to training options specifically for hydrologic data collectors and hydrologists looking for career paths and training opportunities within the hydrologic field - including Water Quality, Surface Water, Ground Water and Water Use disciplines. The purpose of employee development is to provide opportunities for individuals to improve employee performance and enhance skills and capabilities that will assist them in maximizing their full potential and achieving USGS mission objectives. Please send your questions and comments to the STED Committee.

Draft Web Page so Edits can be reviewed status – Mike

More Photos – Send photos with appropriate safety gear to Mike for the front page

Contact Mike Nolan and find out about moving the training that was done by him and is stored in Menlo Park to Reston status – Jim

Fact Sheet – Has everyone reviewed?

Status of Tech Memo – Franceska

Intro to QW sampling is on TEL website but not listed as a QW course even thou it is found in the DOILEARN status - Franceska

Survey Responses and results – Alan

TEL and Streaming - Can we start to create a list of current limitations to streaming and a plan for testing creative solutions to get streaming out to the field. Need actual statistics and results on how streaming is received in the field.

Streamgagers Course – Data Committees want it – How do we help them gain traction and get this started?

We will start talking about the “Training Tracks” during the February meeting – Nicole to put a suggested plan together (with the help of others) by then for us to discuss and edit

Additional Topics brought up:
Next meeting: February 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm EST.
Completed Action Items

[Soft Break]

Discussion and Action Items

AI: Create a list of current limitations to streaming and a plan for testing creative solutions to get streaming out to the field. Need actual statistics and results on how streaming is received in the field.
Web Page (Michael Ierardi and Steve Lipscomb):

AI: Mike to make a draft web page so that edits can be sent to the STED for review.

AI: More photos to be added to the page. Send photo’s (assure appropriate safety is being followed in photos) to Mike to add to pages (ALL) – More pictures will help the page’s appeal.

AI: Set up schedule and assign members the monthly duty of checking web pages for errors. Find tools that can be used to scan pages for dead links (Nicole and Mike).

AI: Contact Mike Nolan and find out about moving the training that was done by him and is stored in Menlo Park to Reston (Jim)
Interaction with Data Committees:

AI: Draft an official tech memo. Have STED review it and then request it be reviewed by Bill W for consideration and distribution. (Franceska – Nicole to assist as needed)

AI: Work with Data Committees regarding STED presence at their conferences. Plenary session, Booth in vendor area, brochures in registrations packets. (Jen) – Franceska also suggested that a demonstration of training tools and TEL might fit into a poster session. Jen will follow up with committees as we get closer to meeting dates and explain our options.

AI: Work with CRACD to assure that as they start to develop cheat sheets and tip sheets that there is a cross reference to their pages from ours and vice versa (Jen).
USGS Course Catalog Project (Alan Ward):

AI: Alan to send information to STED on List-Serv and have Mike post this on the STED web pages.

AI: Jim to send email to tech offices and Subject Matter Experts to request they schedule their courses as far in advance as possible.

Training Tracks:

AI: Create a list of Job Series which STED will target to create training tracks – Start with 1-4 and expand as process develops. – Do we start with Hydrologic Technicians, or other series that might be easy to define?

AI: Create a list of different “tracks” or “specialties” for each of these job series. – How can we come up with a way to define the difference between general courses and those that would only be needed for people in specific career specialties?

AI: Create Categories for training and classify all current training classes within these categories (Computer, Ground water, Interdisciplinary, HR, Leadership, Management, Safety, Surface water, Water Quality) – are the NTC categories enough or do we need more breakdown or are their gaps? – What can we add?

AI: Create different targets for career tracking (examples: Before they start working, Annual, First Month, First Year, Emerging/Changing Technology, Role Based, First 5 years, Within Career) – Start to define a catalog – think of it like college catalog of things to choose from to graduate

AI: Fill in Gaps and come up with a plan to reach out to teams to fill gaps for future training. Encourage trainers to design courses with national consistency in mind – STED to present training plans and reach out to training developers to suggest gaps and content needs

AI: Develop a point system to assure staff reaches appropriate training per year. – Credit hours needed per year – scale to show managers and employees are invested in continues training and advancement to assure consistency in our data/product.

AI: Determine which classes and instructors are official –Jen asked some questions on this AI. What is official training? Is it things tracked in DOILearn? Do we need to make sure that all training is in the DOILearn system? Is this a STED function?

Suggested only classes 8 hrs or more is entered. Suggested only official instructors are allowed to instruct and offer credit.

Should there be a separate track for misc training and non official instructors? Who handles rosters in DOILearn – instructors or regional people?

Here is the new blurb IF the person is trained as the Instructor/Roster Manager (which there is a 2 webinar to become a Manager for DOILEARN). Collaboration between myself and Melanie Hood.

"We are mandated to track our official training within the USGS Learning Management System called DOI LEARN. The courses can be served using the same delivery method, but (official?) Instructors must fill out a course template provided by OED. It can be emailed to oeddoilearn@usgs.gov or faxed to the NTC for the Data Steward to set up the course. Please Note: a 'course' is a description of an activity such as Calculus I, and it becomes a 'class' when you add a date, time, location, etc. so a course can have many classes in DOI LEARN.

OED requests the course template be completed and sent to the NTC for entry into DOI LEARN at least one month prior to course/class date. This allows one week for OED to set-up the course and 3 weeks for the Instructor/Roster Manager to create the class and/or advertise, and students to register through DOI LEARN and obtain Supervisor approval. It is important to note, that the delivery of your course remains the same, but the tracking will be done through DOI LEARN. When a student signs up for a class, a notification email is automatically sent to their supervisor for approval, provided the student's DOI LEARN profile has a Supervisor's name listed in it. After the class, the Instructor/Roster Manager must complete the Class Roster within 7 business days so the transcripts show complete."

AI: Emphasize training options that are effective without being costly to the science centers. – With the shrinking budgets of science centers, we have to find cheap alternatives. To assure consistency in the organization, people must be trained regardless of shrinking budgets.

AI: Provide a skeleton product to management for their consideration and approval. If approved, STED to post guidance and get management approval to include guidance as part of employee development program. – Management needs to determine if training tracks are optional or mandatory. If they decide they are mandatory, then the governance lies with them to communicate this to science center managers.

AI: Determine equipment needs and identify network issues at office that may interfere with video streaming - Reach out to those involved in streaming and video conferencing options to test and plan for how to optimize these options to extend the training beyond the traditional classroom and still be effective.

AI: Tip Sheets? Field Manuals? Lecture Series?