Transitioning NSDL
Updates...
- June 6, 2011:
- Building on April-May 2011 activities (April 22 Planning Meeting; the April 28 Reverse Site Visit to NSF; a briefing at NSF on Dept of Defense and Dept of Education Learning Registry work; and the May 11-12 Learning Application Readiness Workshop), the Resource Center and Technical Network Services are working on a specific set of tasks to be accomplished in this transition period for NSDL, as requested by NSF. These tasks converge on existing work with LAR, STEM Exchange, Common Core alignments, a current large-scale evaluation of the Curriculum Customization Service, and further definition of technical infrastructure and services for NSDL.
- The convergence of these areas of work, and the discussions engaged in with community over recent months capitalize on NDSL's network, content, and experience in effective use of digital resources, and the opportunities emerging from the convergence of these areas of work, to create a coherent plan for NSDL's future over the next months. More to come....
- April 6, 2011:
- A small planning meeting to draft approaches to NSDL's future takes place on April 21-22 (in Boulder, CO). The meeting will focus on
developing a coherent statement of NSDL assets serving as the basis
for a continuing NSDL organization and entity (its features and
partnerships), that would demonstrate value to a variety of
possible funders, and serve as an evolving rough draft proposal. The draft will be circulated for discussion and amendment to the
community of active NSDL grantees, as well as friends and legacy
partners of NSDL whom the active community may recommend.
- A Learning Application Readiness (LAR) Workshop takes place May 11-12
- A reverse site visit to the National Science Foundation by Resource Center and Technical Network Services PIs is planned for April 28-29.
- A small planning meeting to draft approaches to NSDL's future takes place on April 21-22 (in Boulder, CO). The meeting will focus on
developing a coherent statement of NSDL assets serving as the basis
for a continuing NSDL organization and entity (its features and
partnerships), that would demonstrate value to a variety of
possible funders, and serve as an evolving rough draft proposal. The draft will be circulated for discussion and amendment to the
community of active NSDL grantees, as well as friends and legacy
partners of NSDL whom the active community may recommend.
In mid-February 2011, the National Science Foundation confirmed that it will no longer continue to support the National STEM Distributed Learning funding program (as of September 30, 2011), within the Division of Undergraduate Education, Directorate for Education and Human Resources.
NSDL, however, continues to move forward. We are vastly appreciative of NSF's generous support over the past 10 years, and look forward to NSDL's next iteration. The NSDL Resource Center, NSDL Technical Network Services, Pathways, Services, Targeted Research, and small grant project PIs are engaging in community discussion of existing additional opportunities within and beyond NSF. NSDL has the opportunity to leverage its expertise as a distributed collaborative for digital library development, and technology-enabled delivery of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) resources, collections, tools and services.
You can follow and participate in these discussions via the Future Directions Forum: Transitioning NSDL. NSDL continues all normal operations: technological infrastructure and support, search, collections harvest, partnership activities, outreach, and professional development. Stay tuned to this discussion for updates as they develop....
FYI - here's some links to Office of Cyberinfrastructure info, and potential RFPs of interest:
- Dear Colleague Letter: Expanded Directions in Cyberinfrastructure
- Cyberinfrastructure: Transforming Education - NSF 10-620; Letter of Intent due date: May 14, 2011; Full proposal due date: July 14, 2011
- Math and Science Partnership program (DUE) - NSF 10-556 (2011 RFP not yet available)
Just to confirm: NSDL is not planning on hosting an annual meeting for the NSDL community (typically held in November), nor are we currently planning on a Pathways meeting (typically held in August). Instead, NSDL is providing modest support for an April Planning meeting, and for a May workshop on Learning Application Readiness (see April 6 post, this forum), as important elements to transition NSDL to a sustainable future.