CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_


Reported by Ellen Hoffman/Merit

Minutes of the Network Training Materials Working Group (TRAINMAT)

Agenda


   o Review of Updated Charter, Introduction of Chairs.
   o Review and Discuss Catalog of Training Materials.
   o Top Node-style Template for Collecting Training Information.
   o Identify Documents/Materials that Need to be Produced.
   o Liaisons with Other Groups.
   o Training Activities by Working Group Members.


Thirty people attended the Working Group session to discuss training.
This is the first official meeting of the Group following a BOF at the
last IETF.

Review of Updated Charter, Introduction of Chairs

Jill Foster described changes to the Charter based on the discussions at
the BOF held during the previous IETF meeting.  Dates for production of
a guide to training materials were adjusted to represent current
projections.  The Group agreed to continue to use the us-wg@nnsc.nsf.net
mailing list rather than creating a new one.

Jill described her role heading ISUS in Europe and its relationship to
this Working Group, which is a joint RARE/IETF initiative.  She also
described the ITTI Network Training Materials Project which she
supervises, and distributed copies of their latest efforts.  These are
available via Anonymous FTP from mailbase.ac.uk in the
/pub/itti-networks directory.  Jill also described a two-year project to
train subject specialists and tailor training materials for that Group.
Ellen Hoffman described projects discussed at the Coalition for
Networked Information meeting in the working group on Teaching and
Learning, noting that end user training had recently been added to this
Group's responsibilities within CNI.

Review and Discuss Catalog of Training Materials

The ITTI Training Project cataloging effort is over, but Jill
recommended that it become the basis for this Group's document on
training materials.  The Group will focus on developing an FYI RFC on
training materials, and agreed to work with the User Documents Revisions
Working Group so as not to duplicate efforts in documenting materials.
Jodi Chu and Jerry Martin agreed to assist in this cataloging effort.
CNIDR agreed to house a database of training materials to make it easier
to maintain and update the listings.

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Top Node-style Template for Collecting Training Information

Jill noted she had been working with the CNI Top Node project as well as
others (NIR, IAFA) to further develop a template for describing training
materials.  She showed a recent version, and comments were made to
improve the template.  Jill will make these changes.  The template will
become an appendix to the FYI RFC so others can use it.  One area the
Group agreed to work on was a controlled list of ``Subject Headings.''
Lenore Jackson and Jennifer Sellers volunteered to help finalize these
by looking at other projects, such as ERIC, that catalog training
materials.

Identify Documents/Materials that Need to be Produced

Jill described the latest developments of the ITTI training project,
which include a survey that was distributed, a basic training program
done in PowerPoint that was available through the mailbase.ac.uk server
along with speaker notes, and evaluation sheets.  These can be used and
modified by others doing training.

Michael Mealling described several examples where MUDs are being used
for training.  He gave an example of one for biochemists which includes
a link to Gopher.  Jennifer Sellers described MUSE based training
projects.  Jane Smith is collecting examples of MUSE based teaching
projects.

Jill led a discussion of current needs for network training, which
focused on the need for on-line training.  Also discussed was the
problem of overloading network resources when a large class tries to
access a server en masse.  Suggestions were made for client/server based
training programs as one solution to this.  This area was identified as
one for potential future focus of the TRAINMAT Working Group.  Jill also
discussed the potential of Internet Talk Radio as a possible means of
distributing training.

Liaisons with Other Groups

The Group discussed methods for distributing training information,
noting that often mail groups become ``noisy'' so it becomes hard to
sort out information.  Susan Harris and Jane Smith volunteered to work
out ways to summarize discussions and use the mailing list to send it
out to the Working Group members.

Training Activities by Working Group Members

The Group discussed a project at the University of Newcastle, UK, to
catalog training materials and agreed to use this work as the basis for
an informational RFC on training materials.  Jill Foster lead the
discussion on a template to be used to catalog the materials.  The
template has been developed based on input from several other projects,
including the Networked Information Retrieval and Internet Anonymous FTP
Archives Working Groups, and the Coalition for Networked Information's

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Top Node.  The Group had open discussions on what is needed in training
materials and what projects are being worked on.  The Group agreed to
work on an informal posting system to the User Services Working Group
mailing list to share information about training aimed at trainers.
(This Working Group is a joint project with RARE ISUS).

Attendees

Robert Beer              r-beer@onu.edu
Al Broscius              broscius@bellcore.com
Susan Calcari            calcaris@cerf.net
Corinne Carroll          ccarroll@bbn.com
Jodi-Ann Chu             jodi@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
Naomi Courter            naomi@concert.net
Brent Curtiss            bcurtiss@magnuss.ocs.ohio-state.edu
Mark Davis-Craig         mad@merit.edu
Dale Dougherty           dale@ora.com
Sallie Fellows           sallie@ed.unh.edu
Jill Foster              Jill.Foster@newcastle.ac.uk
Marcello Frutig          frutig@rnp.impa.br
Jim Fullton              Jim.Fullton@cnidr.org
Maria Gallagher          maria@nsipo.nasa.gov
Greg Gicale              gicale@ohio.gov
Martyne Hallgren         martyne@nr-tech.cit.cornell.edu
Susan Harris             srh@umich.edu
Ellen Hoffman            ellen@merit.edu
Susan Horvath            shorvath@merit.edu
Lenore Jackson           jackson@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov
Ronald Lanning           lanning@netltm.cats.ohiou.edu
Hock-Koon Lim            lim@po.cwru.edu
April Marine             april@atlas.arc.nasa.gov
Jerry Martin             jerry+@osu.edu
Michael Mealling         michael@fantasy.gatech.edu
Cynthia Mills            cmills@bbn.com
Mark Prior               mrp@itd.adelaide.edu.au
Joyce K. Reynolds        jkrey@isi.edu
Francois Robitaille      francois.robitaille@crim.ca
Jennifer Sellers         sellers@nsipo.nasa.gov
Jane Smith               Jane.Smith@cnidr.org
Craig Todd               ctodd@desire.wright.edu
Chris Weider             clw@merit.edu
Richard Wiggins          wiggins@msu.edu



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