Projects

August 2015 - August 2020

Technology to Advance Learning Outcomes at Northland (TALON) Title III NANTSI Federal Grant

This five-year, $1.75M grant project is designed to make post-secondary educational opportunities available to students across the service area, which includes the tribal lands of the Navajo, Hopi and White Mountain Apache people, through a robust network of tele-present linked classrooms. As a primary intent, and due of the projects capacity to bring post-secondary educational access to a region profoundly marked by the effects of poverty and lack of access to quality opportunities, there is significant potential to improve the quality of life of students and communities. Key objectives include:

• Increase high school student enrollment in college courses from 16 area high schools from 38 to 260 (580%), not less than 50% who are Native American.

• Increase the percentage of students who participate in dual enrollment, then enroll at NPC following high school graduation from 39% (average from 2010-14) to 78%, with not less than 50% being Native American.

• Increase the number of students enrolled in College & Career Preparation from 40 to 280 (600%), not less than 50% of whom are Native American.

• Increase the number of Full Time Student Equivalents (FTSEs) by 15%, resulting in a total operational savings of 9%.

Milestones: Grant and Budget Approval, Scope definition, Infrastructure and Hardware design, Contract Agreements, School commitments and scheduling, Delivery definition (i.e. LMS, standards, etc.) and training, Installation, Configuration, Testing, and Launch.

Results: 1st year: The most crucial accomplishments in this reporting cycle were installation, testing, and successful deployment of CISCO Telepresence at all planned sites (10) and scheduling 25 course sections with a total dual enrollment of 191 students.  Deployment of this distance learning technology along with the organizational tasks necessary to reliably deliver high quality instruction to the region’s rural areas improved Northland Pioneer College’s capacity to reach Native American and low-income students. The data results in 19.1 students per class average (191 students), 68.32 FTSE increase, 6 course (25 individual classes), and 8 faculty. Reduced bandwidth traffic and consumption by over 80% while delivering 1080p HD quality capability. Eliminated three legacy delivery methods and streamlined a single Moodle LMS option to improve functionality and adoption. Leverage various software and hardware performance capabilities to improve internal organizational communication resulting in improved project processes and team collaboration.

2nd year: 184 students enrolled in at least one TALON course. (These figures represent an unduplicated student count.) The total enrollment for both semesters (duplicated count) was 345. Overall, 90 percent of students in TALON courses completed their college-level courses. From all TALON participants 117 graduated from high school in spring 2017. Thirty-two of the graduates took and successfully completed MAT 152. Eleven of those also completed at least two other college-level TALON courses with grades A, B, or C. As the TALON program continues for the next 3 years, the percentage of students taking multiple college-level courses along with MAT 152 is projected to increase. About 49 percent of all students participating in the TALON program are minority students, with nearly 30 percent identifying as Native American.

3rd year: Through spring 2018 (through the fiscal year 2018), the TALON project had 924 student enrollments with an 88% success rate (A, B, C, or P). In fiscal year 2018, we enrolled 579 students (duplicated count), 32% of whom were Native American (unduplicated). In spring of 2018, 210 students who took at least one TALON class graduated from their respective high school. Over this reporting period, we served 25 new students in college and career preparation (CCP) programming available at the TALON sites. A teacher shortage in Arizona continues to be a significant challenge for high schools. A survey done for the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association found 1,547 classrooms in Arizona had no teachers to start the 2018 school year. AZPAA also reports 663 teachers quit within the first month of school. Arizona loses more teachers each year than it produces at ASU, U of A, and NAU (state universities) combined. In this environment, the TALON program plays a crucial role in delivering high quality instruction to rural schools that would otherwise not be able to provide college-level course opportunities to their students. The technology has allowed various program expansions to include College and Career Preparations and courses impacted by HS teacher shortages across Navajo and Apache Counties. Efforts to establish a cost sharing consortium continues.

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*Note: The TALON program and technology has been presented at numerous conferences (i.e. UBTech, OLC, NACEP in Washington DC, and others), and profiled in EdTech Magazine, University Business Magazine, The Tribune and other publications. CIO, PJ Way, has been named the 2019 IT Vanguard Award recipient by Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise as nominated by industry peers for the innovative solutions.

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TALON Project Narrative

TALON 2017 Comprehensive 3rd-Party Progress Report

2018 Annual Report

Media Coverage - University Business Magazine

Media Coverage - EdTech

July 2017 - July 2021

Connected Classrooms - Cisco Telepresence & Interactive Design

Based on the successful results from a Title III grant, TALON, the college realized the opportunity to provide services which demonstrates proven  student success, higher retention rates, and interactive educational design. The ease of faculty and student use, dynamic engagement and reduced resource strain added significant value to the experience. A $1.7M, three-year, three phase effort to redesign the technology and distance delivery environment across the college enterprise began. The College is removing the three existing technology designs and consolidating to a single Cisco and interactive environment design. More than 45 end-point classroom connections are impacted at 9 campus locations. The technology design provides greater flexibility and availability. The technology leverages economies of scale as well as providing a direct increase to FTSE, by an additional 10% to 20%, within the high school environment across the county through a developing consortium and cost-sharing model. Inter-Governmental Agreements (IGA’s) established will provide defined benefits and expectations to protect parties involved.

Key objectives include:

• Reduce total cost of ownership for college classroom technology. (Support, maintenance, licensing, training, etc.)

• Integrate LMS into technology delivery with Student Information System (SIS) or (ERP)

• Design interactivity with touchscreen technology, speaker track cameras and observation displays.

• Enhance student learning environment to improve outcomes, retention & graduation rates.

Milestones: The project established a clear scope of work, three year timeline, defined budget and project phase roll outs. As part of the organizational strategic plan, the project set milestones to support annual objectives to address academic and administrative timelines. Areas defined as clear milestones include: Scope definition, budget recommendation and approval from Governing Board, collaboration with faculty, impacted staff and members of the student body, classroom layout and design review, BOM, contract agreements, implementation, and launch.

Results: Defined classroom delivery and instructional design was established. Reduced bandwidth traffic and consumption by more than 80% while delivering 1080p HD quality video and functional bi-directional interactivity. Student satisfaction was a remarkable statement of review which faculty requests for new technology environments increased. Room availability for scheduling and use increased by 12% efficiency. The first of three legacy delivery environments was eliminated. Multiple learning management systems were consolidated into a single Moodle LMS which improved functionality and adoption. A simplified technology environment was created to ease support and maintenance while promoting standards, best practice, and faculty adoption as well as reducing student barriers. More than $100k was realized in cost savings within the first year due to hardware and licensing. The cost savings of reduced support costs and maintenance is estimated at an additional $60 k annually. The second and third phases will follow in subsequent years.

November 2016 - March 2018

WAN Topology Tower Re-Design

The $1.5M investment directly upgrades and replaces aging infrastructure, improves network topology design and promotes efficiency. The existing microwave tower topology was built in the late 1990’s. The most significant upgrade occurred in 2004. Equipment has been maintained with reduced effort since the original design and badly in need of replacement. Assessing the existing topology had exposed several links which had significant potential to result in a single point of failure due to a lack of redundancy. Working closely with the Network and Systems Administrator, an upgrade plan and proposal was established. The project was established to redesign the microwave network and address the failure concerns and reduce risk.The focus of the work addresses broadband microwave technology equipment, tower inspections, repairs, construction, antennas and associated parts and materials. This is the first phase of a two part, 16 month project. The first phase began in March 2017. The second phase began after July 1st, 2017 with targeted completion of the network implementation by next Spring. The existing environment is currently beyond life expectancy by 3 to 5 years. There are 14 tower locations involved in the proposal. NPC utilizes the microwave radio equipment and design to deliver communication across the enterprise. 

Key objectives include:

• Reduce failure risk

• Upgrade design and develop redundancy

• Establish a serviceable and supported infrastructure

Milestones: Topology map, identify risks and opportunities, consultant evaluation, recommend new topology design, RFQ, Budget Approval, Coordinate project priorities with consultants/partners timeline and scope, obtain FCC approval and licensing, coordinate tribal agreements, execute.

Results: The redundant network resulted in 99.999% availability. Risk mitigation was a primary focus to increase reliability. The solutions provides redundant design and reliable network functions with the replacement of hardware. A 16% reduction of tower structures resulted in cost savings with insurance, power consumption, expense of lease for sheds and tower location land leases. Additional enterprise opportunities for partner leases on our new tower design developed as additional revenue streams from tenants leasing tower space. The tower development increased collaboration and partnership opportunities which led to successful relationships with county services and community support. No down time was experienced within the college enterprise related to controlled communication channels. High availability for instruction and operations was a significant result. The project was completed within 14 months and within budget. The ROI for the design is approximately two years with a life value of 5 to 7 years.

February 2016 - Jan 2017

Unified Communications