2000 GDC Activity Report

GDC Purpose

The GDC will provide the only student-focused group system support facility in the Northern Plains (50% time committed to students). This system facilitates group problem solving in a meeting atmosphere characterized by open, collaborative, and criticism-free idea generation and objective evaluation. Central to the facility is the interactive computer-based environment provided by the GroupSystems software.

Summary:

August, 2000 marks the end the second very successful year of the NDSU Group Decision Center (GDC), a technology laboratory consisting of 24 participant PC workstations, a network server, lead station using the GroupSystem software for electronic meetings. The purpose of the GDC is primarily for student and faculty development and secondarily for research and service. The GDC provides the only student-focused facility using GroupSystems software in the Northern Plains. The activities of the GDC provide students with 1) an introduction to electronic discussion system; 2) training in the use of GroupSystems software, and 3) classroom discussions, program feedback for curriculum accreditation, clubs/organizations and research projects resulting in hands-on experience with state-of-the-art technology. In addition to the development of student skills, the GDC is used by faculty and administration for planning, evaluation, research, and community service. The research conducted in the GDC is closely tied to its service and outreach activities are enhanced by the Cargill Scholarship Program resulting from Cargill's role as a major contributor to the GDC. The GDC's FY00 Activities are profiled below and described more completely in the following Annual Report.

	FY00 Activities: User	Hours	# of Events
	Administration	85	50
	Facilitator	8	6
	Grant	3.5	4
	Outreach (Community)	191.5	91
	Partners	11	6
	Student Use - Classes/Org's	178.25	142
	Tri-College	9	7
	Total Hours	486.25	306
	FY99 Activity Totals	431	197

FY 2000 Project Evaluation

The GDC Activities continue to increase in all areas from nearly 200 events last year to over 300 events this year. The applications of the GDC continue to evolve. Demonstrations and short meetings are being replaced by longer and more complex meetings. Diverse groups are realizing the use of "electronic discussion" to maximize the meeting effectiveness by allowing everyone to share their ideas simultaneously and anonymously. Efficient polling and reporting enhance meetings where the intended outcomes are realized. At NDSU, the focus of the GDC applications enhances the land grant mission of the NDSU -- teaching, research, administration and outreach at the same time as it broadens Cargill visibility on campus and off campus.

Impacts on the GDC

The First Impact of GDC realized by Cargill is the on-campus activity: student, faculty and administration contacts on campus. For example, in GDC class sessions-MIS/CS class sessions and sessions across the curriculum afford Cargill visibility to many students who have not declared their major. Student research has increased as have the total number of classes. Student clubs and organizations also use the GDC, i.e., the GDC is being used by the Athletics Department to address the development of the Women's Soccer Program. As the first step, the students came in to their perspective in a simultaneous and anonymous environment and as the second step, they will return with the coaches and work on setting goals for the next season. "The electronic discussion is an innovative and creative way to focus on the team ideas and programmatic needs," according to the women's athletic director.

The Second Impact of the GDC realized by Cargill is the social impact. This impact is making the significant difference in the "electronic town hall meetings" which range from strategic planning of a community, to the discussion of youth and service providers addressing youth issues, concerns and unmet needs in a safe environment. For example, Fargo Youth Initiative (FYI) is a pilot project made possible by Cargill Scholarship Hours and the growing realization of the GDC as a valuable tool. The youth involved represented a cross section of public and private students and service providers ranging from Chief of Police to the Superintendent of the Public Schools to the juvenile court representative to public healthcare providers. This project has received a great deal of positive attention as a vehicle to empower youth to become engaged citizens involved in the development of solutions for their own concerns. Cargill is highlighted in all the meetings. The Mental Health Association has provided funds to expand this project. The project will be covered by the local newspaper which has state-wide distribution. Similar projects are underway in Valley City and Hettinger.

In fact, Hettinger has engaged the teens and adults in a problem solving session where they have moved on to developing and implementing an action plan and have secured a part-time coordinator to assist with the implementation of this plan.

The GDC is being used to administer a Tribal College/NDSU Collaborative 1.2 million dollar grant from the Office of Navy Research to increase the number of Native American students in Science/Math/Engineering. The GDC was used for the discussion and development of the grant as well as obtaining feedback from the students and administrators/faculty involved at all sites. The Ft. Berthold Community College used Cargill Scholarship hours to review and develop a new mission statement and operating plan for the College during eleven hours of meetings.

The following methods describe the on-going evaluation of the GDC Activities: 1) obtain and review comments and evaluations from all users; 2) compare meeting objectives to client's stated outcomes/benefits; 3) compare participants expectations at the start of the meeting with the level of realization of those expectations; 4) track all Center events; 5) monitor the status of the Cargill Scholarship Program; and 6) monitor the GDC's financial status. The Development Team reviews the GDC activity on a monthly basis, the NDSU Vice President for Academic Affairs receives a quarterly update and an annual report is made to the Advisory Board and the NDSU Vice President of Academic Affairs and Cargill.

OUTREACH: To directly impact decision making and consensus building efforts when addressing current local, state, and regional problems. The GDC is available to Cargill and other community partners. In addition, Cargill and NDSU initiated a Cargill Scholarship Program October, 1999. See "Cargill's Scholarship Program". This program directly enhances the NDSU land grant mission and provides GDC users a percentage of free time donated from Cargill hours. As a land grant institution we have an extensive outreach role to play state wide. The GDC is playing a key role in this mission.

A wireless network will be the first step to make the out-state meetings more effective and efficient. We have learned a necessary first step in rural meetings will be on site meetings using the GDC. The lap top lab could be greatly enhanced with the application of wireless technology for these meetings. With a wireless network, the GDC meetings would be able to accommodate various meeting formats, i.e. multiple focus groups, breaking the participants into small groups, or separating groups during the meetings for multiple activities. The wireless network will also improve the professional, high-tech image of the GDC which will reflect very positively on Cargill as well.

The second step will be researching the possibility of distributive meetings in communities where the GDC has already been used. The distributive format is key to developing a "sense of community" in a sparsely populated state where repeated travel is time consuming and costly.

Cargill's Scholarship Program

OUTREACH:

Comments

Off Campus Clients

Equality of Participants
Eye opener to differences within the group
Seeing expectations for others
Controls emotions during discussions of controversial issues
It only took us four hours and last year it took two days
This should be sold to all the business in the region
Allows all ideas to surface
No hurt feelings
Good use of time/No wasting time/No need to wait turns
I have never left a meeting feeling so good about what happened

On Campus Clients - Students

Easy to work with
Helped structure meeting
Need to plan meeting better next time
Makes decisions go faster
Liked focus so meetings went somewhere
Fun to use this tool
Discussions more open
Voting helped us move through issues

On Campus Clients - Faculty/Staff/Administration

Saw ideas/issues surface that we had not seen before
Liked anonymity
Surprised at the amount of information generated
Liked complete reports
Orderly/logical focus of the meeting process
Easy way to integrate ideas
Instant feedback on ideas
Honesty and quality of comments
Friendly environment/free to ask questions

Top of Page

E-Mail: ndsu.gdc@ndsu.edu
www.ndsu.edu/gdc
NDSU Group Decision Center
320 Family Life Center
Department 2030
P.O. Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050
Phone: 701.231.6414