IHETS and its mission

Background

A state-supported consortium of public and private colleges and universities, the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS), provides technology services, network operations, and facilitation of distance education in Indiana.

In 1967 the Indiana General Assembly, through legislation, authorized the state’s colleges and universities “to jointly arrange for the use of a multipurpose, multimedia, closed-circuit, statewide telecommunications system.” The structure of the networks and services which has evolved is the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System, or IHETS.

The mission of IHETS is to help higher education in Indiana —working in consultation with K-12 schools, public libraries, public broadcasting stations, and other identified education and information providers—enhance the development of human capital statewide through effective use of telecommunications and information technology.

IHETS operates as a state-funded consortium: Ball State University, Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc., Indiana State University, Indiana University, Ivy Tech State College (Community College of Indiana partner), Purdue University, University of Southern Indiana, and Vincennes University (Community College of Indiana partner). Through these eight members, all accredited college and university campuses in Indiana are eligible to participate in IHETS’ services.

Since IHETS’s inception, the member institutions have increasingly used IHETS to expand outreach and educational services to a wide range of organizations. Today, IHETS serves schools, libraries, and governmental organizations as well as college and university campuses.

SUVON

IHETS’ most widely used service among campuses is a telephone network—the State Universities Voice Network—interconnecting 77 college and university campuses for education and business calling. SUVON carries data and facsimile signals, but its main use is for voice communication. In fact, the network carries approximately six million calls a year. Many campuses make it possible to call off the network into surrounding communities for college business. In this way, calls on SUVON can reach nearly 80 percent of the calling areas in Indiana.

Audio Conferencing

Using IHETS’ digital telephone bridge, individuals or groups at multiple locations can meet conveniently and economically for audio conferences. The service is used regularly for distance education classes and administrative meetings.

Video conferencing

IHETS also supports dial-up video conferencing using Integrated Services Digital Networking (ISDN). A video conference provides for the exchange of both audio and video information, allowing participants to hear and see one another. Initiated in 1996, IHETS Video Conferencing is used for both classes and administrative meetings.

IHETS Video

Long before the terms “video conference” and “distance education” were coined, Indiana’s universities were using a sophisticated one-way video, two-way audio television network to deliver postsecondary instruction throughout the state. In operation since 1967, IHETS Television now uses digitally compressed satellite technology to reach more than 325 locations — campuses, hospitals, industries, county extension offices, public schools, government agencies, public TV stations, and libraries. Most of these Learning Centers are in Indiana, but nearly 15 percent are scattered throughout the country.

IHETS currently uses four channels for outbound statewide programming with origination from most of the public university campuses. Partnerships with cable and public television stations extend selected programs to students in their homes.

An important component of IHETS Television is the two-way audio system which facilitates class interaction. The talkback system is currently used in 80 percent of network programs to permit student questions and help reduce the psychological distance between the students and their professors. The IHETS-designed system allows students to ask or answer a question simply by pushing a button.

Network programming currently accounts for between 8,000 and 20,000 enrollments in credit instruction or noncredit continuing education each year. In all, the network carries some 250 hours of programming each week. Certificate, associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degree programs in a variety of areas are available entirely via the network.

INDnet

INDnet, a statewide computing network, provides a high-quality Internet link between Indiana’s scholars and researchers and their colleagues around the nation and the world.

INDnet was created to enable Indiana’s colleges and to enhance instruction, share resources, encourage research, promote collaborative efforts, and provide a basic infrastructure in support of library automation. INDnet also plays an important role in the institutions’ long-standing involvement in distance education by linking students in remote areas for computer delivery of course content, for access to library resources, and for electronic communication with the instructor and other students.

IHETS is responsible for operating and maintaining INDnet. Participants pay an annual fee based on type and size of organization to support the costs of network circuits, hardware and software, Internet access, and network management. Participants are responsible for operating and maintaining their own local area networks, for providing access to the network for their students or staff members, and for training their own end-users in appropriate network use.

IPSE

Through the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), Indiana’s colleges and universities collaborate to expand learning opportunities through distance education. The Partnership emphasizes cooperation in program planning, mobility of credit, collaborative needs assessment, attention to student support services, and a wide variety of technologies including those which can deliver education to students at home.

The Indiana College Network (ICN) serves as an umbrella label for the institutions’ combined distributed learning activities including dozens of certificate and degree programs. A network of more than 60 Learning Centers, augmented by a toll-free hotline for referrals and counseling, provides technology access and learner support.

IHETS Management

The IHETS Board of Directors, composed primarily of college and university presidents, deals with major public-policy issues and approves appropriation requests. The Management Committee, composed of a senior administrator from each member institution, supervises management of the system and approves budgets and operating policy, with advice from the Integrated Technologies Committee and the IPSE Working Group. Specific projects are handled by a range of task forces and committees reporting to these groups.

A professional staff reporting to the IHETS executive director manages the day-to-day activities of the System, implements long-range goals, operates and maintains the technology systems, supports the campuses and their constituents in their use of technology, and administers IHETS’ annual budget.

Expanding the Scope of the IHETS Educational Consortium Mission, Vision, and Associated Issues

Mission

The mission of the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) is to help higher education in Indiana—working in consultation with K12 schools, public libraries, public broadcasting stations, and other identified education and information providers—enhance the development of human capital statewide through effective use of telecommunications and information technology.

Vision

By 2005 we will be able to say that:

• The Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System educational consortium is nationally recognized for leadership and service in developing and applying information and telecommunication technology to the enhancement of human capital in Indiana.
• IHETS, through the application of telecommunications networks and information services:
  • promotes effective use of educational technology from K-12 through higher education and into lifelong learning
  • increases opportunities for collaboration among the full spectrum of educators of Indiana
  • improves learners’ ability to gain access to a full spectrum of educational resources
  • provides faculty, staff, learners, and students in Indiana access to communities of interest around the world
  • IHETS has a strong track record of world class leadership in the application of network technology and supporting member use, based directly on learner needs.
    IHETS also provides exceptional support to member schools, institutions, and educational organizations as they develop technology-based educational programs and applications that serve the broad community of learners in Indiana.

Learner-Driven

Satisfying the needs of learners and students in Indiana is the foundation of this expanded educational consortium. Current technology allows learners ready access to virtually all information and educational programs across the continuum from K12 to higher education and ultimately through life-long learning.

As a consortium of education providers, the primary goals of IHETS can be broken into two specific categories:

• External—facilitate member use of telecommunications and information technology to increase educational opportunities and access for all people in Indiana.
• Internal—support members’ ability to accomplish more working together using technology for learning and teaching than each could do alone.

Learner needs define support the consortium provides its members:

• cost effective access to network bandwidth, satellite video, and audio- and video-conferencing
• educational programming built on the knowledge base of higher education, K12 schools, and the various life-long learning organizations from workforce development to the Cooperative Extension Service and others
• research and development into applications and uses of telecommunications which can be done better and/or in a more synergistic fashion across the consortium

Technical Services

Consortium members and education community stakeholders will continue to identify the expanded consortium through technical services and the ability to provide cost-effective education and information access. A review of these services and the issues associated with them provides a way of viewing what the expanded consortium could be:

• INDnet, higher education’s statewide Internet service serving 66 college campus sites, has become the nucleus of the new Access Indiana State Network (AISN), which now serves an additional 173 K12 schools and libraries.
  • During the next few years, IHETS will continue to invest resources in network development and the state network through user-fee revenues and various State appropriations.
  • While statewide infrastructure matures, IHETS resources used for network development will be gradually refocused on developing technology applications to address the specific needs of the broad spectrum of learners who require access to the full education knowledge base available in our state.
  • IHETS will create various virtual private networks that support the unique and specific needs of each member education provider and its diverse audiences.
  • IHETS will continue to work with hardware and software vendors in assessing and developing methods of using network connectivity, such as two-way video hardware, and share this analysis and application development with members.
• The satellite-based IHETS television network leases eight digitally compressed satellite video channels from GE, serving 331 downlink sites primarily in Indiana.
  • Channel lease will drop to six in 1999-2000, and tentatively to four in 2000-01.
  • Satellite video services will continue to have significant value to overall technology-assisted learning in Indiana. As increased use of the AISN begins to help identify where two-way and one-way video are most useful and cost-effective for Indiana learners, an effective satellite video service will continue to be a necessary resource.
• Audio conferencing and video conferencing bridge service is provided for members and related constituents.
  • Faculty who develop the most effective and accessible educational programs, courses, and learning modules will continue to find significant uses for these cost-effective services.
• SUVON, the inter-campus telephone network, is currently operated on facilities leased from MCI through a regional contract negotiated by the Midwest Higher Education Commission.
  • SUVON will migrate to the AISN beginning in 1999-2000. Savings generated will be reallocated to help expand learner access to educational telecommunications service

Integrated Network Services

As noted above, technical services are inextricably linked to each other as methods of effective teaching and information transfer. However, needs assessment, student support, Learning Center development, and a host of other non-technical needs are also linked in this effort. Decisions about expanding effective use of the technology are completely dependent on knowing who will use what technology and what will motivate students to seek access to the technology-based information and education.

The expanded consortium will have continued and, in fact, an expanded need to understand, support, and coordinate access for learners and those seeking information. Those are functions of integrated network services, which serves as an integral part of each of the technical service areas listed above.

Within the expanded consortium, a team approach, similar to the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), will be maintained in an effort to help member institutions and organizations better link rapidly developing technological capabilities with the needs of the users. IHETS members and their learner constituents will benefit from projects that focus on several issues, among them:

• conducting and sharing learner and other audience needs assessment
• conducting regular stakeholder conferences to gain insight from specific audiences
• increasing learner access to members’ educational programs
• coordinating satellite and terrestrial network access and scheduling
• promoting educational programming statewide
• increasing and facilitating student services
• continuing to address issues of credit transfer and articulation
• helping members identify and create professional-development opportunities to help faculty and staff use technology for teaching and learning

Integrated network services will focus on high-priority, quantifiable projects that can demonstrate a clear and positive cost/benefit ratio to the members and can be done best by no other entity.

Interaction with Other Distance Learning Organizations

Integrated network services of the expanded consortium could assume the responsibility of facilitating access for Indiana learners and students to distance learning opportunities from out of state providers such as Western Governors University and others. This could include reviewing available opportunities and cataloging them for comparison by learners and students. It could include support for creating collaborations and partnerships with other non-Indiana education and information providers. It could also serve as the significant Indiana contact for organizations as diverse as National Technological University (NTU); ADEC, the national land-grant distance learning consortium; Monterrey Tech University in Mexico; the Midwest Higher Education Commission; etc.

Each of these organizations, virtual universities, and/or consortia can provide some benefit to the learners and students in Indiana in one way or another. As an example MHEC will be involved in significant regional courseware development, Monterrey Tech may be a customer for some of our courses, and ADEC could offer national professional development opportunities for our faculty. Each will more effectively operate in Indiana with a contact point such as the expanded educational consortium

Stakeholder Input

Providing a mechanism for effective input from current and potential users with valuable insight about education in the state—such as corporate leaders and others—will be a critical responsibility of an expanded consortium. The organization will create effective opportunities for leaders from various target audiences in our state to advise consortium members regarding specific issues of concern about distance learning and technology access. Focus group discussions, stakeholder symposia structured to highlight specific issues and gather responses on site, and other methods will be used to capture input in a fashion which can be shared regularly and effectively with members.

IHETS Relationship to the Access Indiana State Network

A major strategic goal of the consortium is cost-effective access to and the effective use of bandwidth. The goal of the Access Indiana State Network is aggregation and management of public-sector bandwidth requirements to provide cost-effective access. This offers a synergistic relationship.

However, the consortium’s involvement in the development and management of the network should be viewed in context with the on-going and long-standing responsibilities of the organization. Contracting with the Intelenet Commission to develop and manage the network does not diminish the consortium’s overall responsibility to help members develop and provide education and information to the people of Indiana. In fact, it has been a significant benefit.

The purpose of the expanded consortium is to use the combined power of the members to guarantee service to the learners it serves.

Establishing one or more virtual private networks within the digital infrastructure of the State Network allows our long-term view to include the service needs of those we serve. Education and information providers will consistently require unique and significantly higher levels of service from telecommunication network providers than average users.

In addition, IHETS will continue to maintain a leadership role in the governance, management, and policy development of Access Indiana State Network. IHETS as an expanded consortium of education and information providers needs to continue to interact and participate in policy-making beyond simply developing the network infrastructure.

Evolution

The purpose of the expanded consortium is to minimize conflicts and maximize the opportunity for collaboration among educational providers statewide. Setting the stage for growth over time, this vision provides a solid foundation for adding members; restructuring the consortium status; and/or evolving network services at appropriate times.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of an expanded consortium would not require significant restructuring initially. Currently, the Department of Education is represented, and the Governor’s office has an appointed position. Adding one seat each representing libraries and Indiana’s Public Broadcasting Stations will be appropriate. This would bring Board membership to 12. At that point, the Board structure will be:

• seven public college and university presidents
• one representative of the Independent Colleges of Indiana
• the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
• one representative appointed by the Governor
• one representative from the libraries
• one representative from Indiana’s Public Broadcasting Stations

Influence on Policy

In addition, and ultimately as important, each of these Board members will have the responsibility of appointing one or more members to represent their area of interest on the Management Committee of the expanded consortium. Although additional partners, who may have diverse interests and responsibilities (particularly K12 schools and public broadcasting stations, neither of which are completely homogeneous groups), will gain only one seat on the Board of Directors, each will have the opportunity to add members who represent the broader scope of their interests on the working committees of IHETS.

The current committee structure also includes an Integrated Technologies Committee and a Partnership Working Group focused on effective use of the technology appointed by Management Committee members, which will also be open to added and more diverse members from the new partners.

Much of the value of consortium membership comes from policy-making involvement. As new members join the consortium, their representatives on the managing committees of the organization will have significant opportunities to influence on-going direction and priorities for the consortium.

Unanimously endorsed by the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System Board of Directors, December 8, 1998. 1/99