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The Northeast Texas Consortium (NETnet) began as the collaborative vision of Senator Bill Ratliff and five east Texas higher education administrators. In 1993, the five-member charter committee commissioned a study of the higher educational needs within a 50-county service area from the National Center for Higher Education Management or NCHEMS of Boulder, CO. The 1994 response highlighted opportunities for educational advancement such as expanded degree and certificate programs, non-traditional methods for reaching underserved student populations, and technology-enhanced curriculum delivery. To offer these benefits to a widely dispersed population of over 2 million rural Texans, however, would require a different approach than creating “brick and mortar” locations. Specifically, NCHEMS believed East Texas needed an educational network. |
The
fifteen member Northeast Texas Consortium formed in 1995 with each member
President serving on an Administrative Board. The administrative board,
with funding from the 74th Texas legislative session, created a full-time
Coordinating Office in 1996 and hired Director Kevin Roper. Working
closely with administrator Dr. Ronald Dodson, Kevin met with numerous
administrative and technical representatives, developing organizational
business, operations, and technical objectives. |
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As
the organization took shape and sought funding over the next two years,
it became clear that NETnet would need to address not only its own higher
education needs but, more specifically, the needs of its two largest
student populations - public school and healthcare facilities. NETnet
participated in launching two regional collaboratives – the public
school SUPERNet Consortium and
the medical East Texas Interactive Healthcare Network (ETIHN). Through
involvement in these initiatives including the design, installation,
and management of the resulting centralized technology, NETnet gained
a thorough understanding of the people and processes necessary to meet
the NCHEMS objectives. |
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With Senator Ratliff’s
guidance, the 76th Texas legislative session funded the NETnet network
project in 1998 to link the 15 higher education members. For the next
twelve months, teams of legal, academic, administrative and technical
representatives volunteered hundreds of personnel hours to create Request
for Purchase and contract documents governing every aspect of the design,
installation, and operation of the most advanced educational network
in East Texas. Concurrently, NETnet met with dozens of national and
multi-national vendors to survey options and solicit assistance. During
this time, NETnet also secured funding from the Texas Infrastructure
Fund (TIF) to create limited video conference services to its public
school and healthcare constituents. Late in 1999, the puzzle began coming
together as contracts were signed, limited “proof of concept”
services began, and project timelines were established. |
About the same time,
NETnet hired a gifted Administrative Specialist, Darlene
Flournoy, to coordinate office activities for a growing staff of
video, data and curriculum development professionals. As the project
developed, these four individuals contributed their formidable talent
and expertise to the final project, ensuring that the students, educators,
and technicians who would use the technology were fully trained and
well supported.
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The NETnet network project resulted in a 21-site carrier-grade wireless network linking over 300 geographical miles of rural East Texas. During the 18-month installation, NETnet forged relationships with a multi-national technology vendor team including NEC, American Tower, Andrews, and Southwestern Bell Datacom. In addition to the wireless network, NETnet staff members Gordon Martin and David Nichols supervised the installation of an advanced video conference room at each of the participating sites and custom MPEG-2 video conference video bridges at three locations.
The NETnet network went online in August 2001 with a ribbon cutting ceremony honoring Senator Ratliff and key academic and vendor participants. Before the ribbon pieces fell, the 15-member NETnet network could already link to literally thousands of sites worldwide through four regional, three statewide and one national educational network, creating a true meeting point for distance learning in East Texas. In late 2002, with the major technical component completed, NETnet initiated new projects to formalize user training and development including building a resource-rich website, training over 200 educators to use the NETnet video conference rooms, and creating multiple informational resources introducing students, parents and instructors to NETnet and its expanding distance learning resources. 2003 was a year to review our objectives. The NETnet Consortium was alive and well. The Coordinating Office was staffed and productive. The network project was fully operational. Users were trained, educators were teaching using the technology and connections to other state and regional networks were heavily utilized. During one 30-day period, NETnet staff managed over 1000 hours of video conferences while more than doubling volume compared to the previous year for two additional months. Most importantly, East Texas students were accessing a new world of opportunity. The vision Senator Ratliff and the charter committee articulated had worked. |
The Northeast Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities / 11937 Hwy 155 at Hwy 271 / Tyler, Texas 75708
