Columbus, Ohio On Feb. 4-5, 2009 the MSP2 (Middle School Portal) Advisory Board met at at COSI. For a portal that is dedicated to making quality STEM resources widely available, and FUN for middle school instruction, the venue could not have been chosen better. COSI has thrilled nearly 19 million visitors with exhibits and hands-on activities from Poison Frogs and Rat Basketball to Extreme Screen Theatre and art that acts like science for over 40 years. It’s no wonder that COSI (Center of Science and Industry) Science Museum is Parents magazine’s number one pick for best science center in the country. Kim Lightle, PI, organized the MSP2 (Middle School Portal) Advisory Board Meeting to get advice on how to continue to leverage resources and staff to meet the needs of students and teachers nationwide. Over 30 teachers, administrators, education researchers, and education technology specialists met over two days to get to know one another, share lessons learned, and ultimately form a stronger network to meet expanded MSP2 teaching and learning goals based on leveraging Web 2.0 technologies. Launching a new NING community space is part of the MSP2 strategy to engage new middle school education audience groups.Lightle described interconnected project and program relationships that remind her of “nesting Russian dolls” in introducing an introductory panel discussion aimed at helping advisory board members understand the MSP2 operational context. Mary Henton, National Middle School Association, Sarita Pillai, FunWorks, Carol Minton Morris, and Eileen McIlvain NSDL, set the stage for describing MSP2 as an NSF NSDL-funded Pathways project that takes advantage of existing NSDL technical and social cyberinfrastructure in combination with significant long term educational associations and ongoing digital library project expertise.

Minton Morris began by describing NSDL’s Technical Network Services in support of a national educational technical cyberinfrastrucure. Currently the NCore suite of TNS technologies, standards are available for use by educational projects nationwide.

An open source release of a bundled “EduPack” consisting of the NSDL Data Repository (NDR) API based on Fedora, the NSDL Collection System (NCS), and the Digital Discovery Service will be released through Fedora Commons this spring. The EduPack will allow educational projects nationwide to jump start without having to reinvent the technical wheel. This public, open source release will signal a new kind of engagement with educational technical developers within NSDL Pathways like MSP2 to enable targeted hands-on technical innovation.

Economic Reality

Good ideas and the best of intentions cannot mask the fact that times are tough. Sustainability strategies for how to maintain significant educational initiatives such as MSP2 and many others were on the minds of most attendees. Marketing, audience, communication and engagement ideas were woven into most conversations and brainstorming sessions.

Marcia Mardis, Florida State University said, “We need to represent the hearts of the users and minds of the funders.” Her statement became the overall theme for sustainability discussions.

The Sustainability Group discussed multiple strategies and ideas to make this dual focus work:

1. Make a case for MSP2 as a workforce development tool that might fit well with the evolving economic and scientific agenda of the Obama administration. An example of a successful educational workforce partnership program is IBM Transition to Teaching.

2. Review the DLESE example of sustaining a core collection using NSDL systems and technology

3. Investigate new corporate, entrepreneurial partnerships that might evolce into development and stewardship models

4. More “Strategic librarianship.” The group defined this as a successful institutional school or university library program based on making sure the administrators understand your educational digital efforts, and that mutual goals are aligned.

5. Don’t ignore innovation. The NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure is interested in the K12 education space. Where does MSP2 fit in? How can ed tech innovation become a part of national cyberinfrastructure?

6. Keep track of emerging “products:” specialized webcasts with Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears materials and seminars; quarterly database of webinars exhibiting best practices

7. Create a solid, marketable “brand” for MSP2.

The sustainability group concluded that their vision is to make three promises to teachers regarding a new MSP2 online portal:

1. This is my kind of place; a place that you can make your own.
2. This is a place where I can find resources
3. This is a place where I can go further

Further the group decided that a rubric for identifying group (online) formation, use, engagement and trending translate user experience value into marketing strategy and strategic messaging around:

1. Content
2. Administration
3. Funders

Would enable MSP2 to deliver on these teacher promises.