<![CDATA[ <font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>World Association for Online Education</font></font>
<br>
<b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>W E B</font></font></b> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>WAOE Electronic Bulletin</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica">Volume 1, No. 9</font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica">July 20 1999</font>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF"><font size=+2>APOLOGY!!!</font></font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">We apologise for the very late
apearance of this issue of WEB. Publication was held over for a couple
of excellent reasons.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Partly, the delay made it possible
to link some of the content to the newly established online WAOE Orientation
Course (as well as to include an announcement about arrangements for paying
membership dues), and so - you'll be glad to know - reduce considerably the
size of the issue as originally drafted.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">The more significant reason for
the delay, however, was the unavailability of WEB designer/Web designer extraordinaire,
Robert Luke, for a couple of weeks while he finalised plans for getting married,
got married, and spent a short honeymoon in the Rockies. Congratulations,
Robert, to you and your wife. And now, enough frivolity - back to work,
please!</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">WEB will resume its twice per
month schedule from the first Monday or so in August.</font></font> <br>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A"><font size=+2>ANNOUNCEMENT
- MEMBERSHIP DUES</font></font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A">As already announced in several
forums, WAOE has established a membership fee of $US10 per annum, commencing
in July 1999. WAOE will count each year of membership on a July to June
basis. Please read carefully through the procedure which has been established
for the 1999/2000 membership period, and use whichever payment method is the
most appropriate for you:</font></font>
<blockquote><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">After the annual meetings,
it is time for members to pay their annual membership registration fee (WAOE
dues) to help support WAOE's services and activities over the following fiscal
year. This fee is due before September 1, 1999. There are several payment options
currently available and detailed below.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Thank you for supporting WAOE,</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Jenna Seehafer</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">WAOE Treasurer</font></font>
<br>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">1) You may pay your membership
fee online by VISA or Mastercard from any where in the world, courtesy of
WAOE member John Spiers and LearnOnline, by signing up for the WAOE Orientation
beginning from the following URL:</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF"><a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html">http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html</a></font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">NOTE: The WAOE Orientation is
still being developed, but there are already some materials available to members.
Signing up for this</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">orientation is the same as paying
the WAOE Annual Member's Registration Fee (whether you ever view the orientation
or not), and once you have registered for this "course," you will be invited
to use the orientation and its resources during the period of your membership.
All fees for the orientation go to WAOE.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Once you reach the pay station
at the LearnOnline site, you may select the number of $10 "units" you wish
to have deducted from your bank card.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">1 unit = $10 = one year
WAOE membership</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">2 units = $20 = two year WAOE
membership</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">3 units = $30 = three year WAOE
membership</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">any amount over $30 will be taken
to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a donation to WAOE.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">You will receive an automated
receipt after payment has been recorded.</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">____________________________________</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">2) You may send your WAOE 99/00
Annual Membership Registration fee* to the WAOE Treasurer:</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">--Members who live anywhere
in the world may send their WAOE Membership Registration as an international
money order (payable in US dollars).</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">--If you live in Australia,
Brazil, and Japan, you may wish to consider other payment options described
in #3, #4, & #5 below.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">--Those members living in the
US may send a personal check or money order.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">For payments in US dollars,</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$10 = one year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$20 = two year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$30 = three year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">any amount over $30 will be taken
to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a donation to WAOE</font></font> <br>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Write a check or money order
payable in US dollars to</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Jenna Seehafer, WAOE Treasurer</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Write "WAOE 99/00 Membership
Registration fee* " on the check at the bottom left or along the top.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">If you pay more than one year's
dues at a time, remember that you still must renew the registration
form each year (to gather changes in</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">address, email, associations,
and interests).</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Send your check or money order
by postal mail with a slip of paper containing</font></font>
<blockquote><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">your name</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">address (if that is not on the
check) and</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">your email address</font></font></blockquote>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">to</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Jenna Seehafer, WAOE Treasurer</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">432 K Street</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Rio Linda, CA 95673-3419</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">If you do not receive an email
receipt within two weeks after your fees should have arrived, please contact
me by email <seehafer@csus.edu>.</font></font> <br>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">*US members may want to call
the Annual WAOE Membership Registration Fees "dues" if they intend to claim
tax deductions for them. WAOE uses the terms "fees" and "dues" interchangeably.
Your email receipt will include the EIN number.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">____________________________________</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">3) If you live in Australia,
you may send your WAOE Membership Registration Fee payable in Australian
dollars to</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">David Wyatt, WAOE</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Box 1121, Blackwood Post Office</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Blackwood SA 5051</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Write your cheque or money order
to</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">David Wyatt, WAOE</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Please include a slip of paper
in the envelope containing</font></font>
<blockquote><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">your name</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">address (if that is not on the
cheque) and</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">your email address</font></font></blockquote>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">For payments in Australian dollars,</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$AUS15 = one year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$AUS30 = two year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">$AUS45 = three year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">any amount over $AUS45 will be
taken to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a donation to WAOE</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">You should receive a receipt
by email within two weeks after your fees should have arrived. If you
have not received a receipt within that</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">time, please contact David Wyatt
<dwyatt@camtech.net.au> or Jenna Seehafer <seehafer@csus.edu></font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">____________________________________</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">4) If you live in Brazil and
wish to pay your Waoe Membership Registration Fee in Reais, please contact</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Roberto Andrea Mueller <rmueller@mail.ufv.br></font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">to arrange payment.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">____________________________________</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">5) If you live in Japan and
wish to pay your WAOE Membership Registration Fee in yen, you may transfer
your fee to Steve McCarty's</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">postal account:</font></font>
<blockquote><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">"To send dues or donations
to WAOE in yen from within Japan, go to any</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">post office and get a postal
transfer form (furikae no haraikomisho). On</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">the top left write the account
number (koza bango) 01670-2-10300, and at</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">the top right fill in the amount
you are sending. On the left side of</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">the next line write Steve McCarty.
Then in the wide middle space write</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">the purpose (WAOE Membership
Registration Fee). In the bottom left</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">box write your name, address,
and telephone number. Then pay that</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">amount plus 60 yen at the window,
not for stamps but for banking</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">transactions, open only until
about 4 p.m."</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">Steve McCarty, President of
WAOE</font></font>
</blockquote>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">For WAOE Membership Registration
Fee in yen, pay the following amounts,</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">1250 yen = one year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">2500 yen = two year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">3750 yen = three year WAOE membership</font></font>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">any amount over 3750 yen will
be taken to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a</font></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">donation to WAOE</font></font>
</blockquote>
<p><br>
<b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A"><font size=+2>WAIVER OF MEMBERSHIP
FEES/DUES - POLICY</font></font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A">WAOE has adopted the following
policy on waiver of/exemption from payment of membership fees/dues for the 1999/2000
period. This statement is summarised from the official Minutes of the
Planning and Finance Committee for April 1999. If you wish to read the
original resolution as it was subsequently adopted by the Board of Directors,
go to <a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/read?558,24">http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/read?558,24</a>
(If you cannot get to this page, go to the <a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe">WAOE
WebBoard</a> and login by entering the first part of your email address (before
@), and enter the password "waoe," without the quotes. If you stil have
difficulty, contact the WebBoard Manager, <a href="mailto:mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us">Mike
Warner</a>.)</font></font>
<blockquote><font color="#0F3FFF">All members of WAOE are expected to pay the
$US10 membership fee or dues from July 1 1999, unless they have applied for
and received waiver. There are no provisions for waiver of fees or dues
to be applied automatically by or on behalf of the WAOE Board of Directors;
all waivers must be applied for by individual members.</font>
<p><font color="#0F3FFF">Members may initiate requests to the Membership Officer
for waiver of fees on one or more of the following grounds:</font>
<blockquote>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">They are providing service to the Association (eg
convening a Committee or OCREW or managing a project);</font></li>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">The costs of funds transfer or currency exchange
would be excessive in relation to the fee amount of $US10 *;</font></li>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">They are in a situation of severe financial hardship.</font></li>
</blockquote>
<font color="#0F3FFF">* As an alternative to seeking waiver of fees on the basis
of excessive funds transfer or currency exchange costs, members may apply to
have this expenditure applied to any future costs they might incur for participation
in WAOE activities over the next two years (eg the online professional development
course being developed by Nick Bowskill).</font>
<p><font color="#0F3FFF">Normally, applications will be considered by the Membership
Officer in terms of the policy as summarised here, and in consultation, if
necessary, with the Treasurer or with the full Board of Directors.</font>
<p><font color="#0F3FFF">WAOE will accept at face value any member's statement
of hardship or excessive transfer/conversion fees, and we will make a standardized
reply emphasizing that the service-in-lieu will be the sole recourse for any
future application for waiver of fees. All service-in-lieu requests
will be confirmed by the applicable Committee Chair or OCREW Convener or WAOE
Coordinating Ring member.</font>
<p><font color="#0F3FFF">In the event that a member's initial application for
waiver of fees or dues is not accepted, the member will have the right to
seek a review of his/her application by the full Board of Directors.
Such members will be advised of this right and the process to be followed
as the occasion arises.</font> <br>
</blockquote>
<b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A"><font size=+2>WAIVER OF MEMBERSHIP
FEES/DUES - PROCEDURE</font></font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">To apply for waiver of fees/dues,
send an email message to the </font><font color="#FF172A"><a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Membership
Officer</a></font><font color="#0F3FFF">. For convenience, applicants
may copy/cut and paste the following text into their email message:</font></font>
<blockquote><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">I wish to apply for waiver
of the WAOE membership fee/dues for the 1999/2000 period.</font></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">My application is based on the
following ground(s):</font></font>
<blockquote>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">I am providing service to the Association;</font></li>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">The costs of funds transfer or currency exchange
would be excessive;</font></li>
<li> <font color="#0F3FFF">I am in a situation of severe financial hardship.</font></li>
</blockquote>
<b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF"><u>Please strike through whichever
ground(s) are NOT applicable</u>.</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF">In support of my application
I wish to present the following information:</font></font>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#0F3FFF"><u>Please insert an appropriate
statement here, keeping it as brief as possible</u>.</font></font></b>
</blockquote>
<p><br>
<a name="Contents"></a><b><font size=+2>Contents - WAOE Electronic Bulletin,
Volume 1, Number 9 (July 20 1999)</font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><b><a href="#New">Welcome to New Members</a></b>
New feature !!</font></font> <br>
<a href="#Orientation">Orientation Course</a> <br>
<a href="#Aims">WAOE's Objectives</a> <br>
<a href="#System">WAOE's Communications and Discussion System</a> <br>
<a href="#Directors">Who are WAOE's Directors?</a> <br>
<a href="#Ring">Who is on the WAOE's Coordinating Ring?</a>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Ideas">WEB Ideas and Issues</a>
</font></font></b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>Changed section !!</font></font>
<br>
<a href="#When">When is a school not a school (Australia)</a> <br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#What">About Web Ideas and Issues</a></font></i></b>
<p><b><font size=+1><a href="#Policies">WAOE Policies and Procedures</a> </font></b><font size=+1>New
section !!</font> <br>
<a href="#Respect">Respect and Support the Voluntary Effort</a> <br>
<a href="#Meaning">The Meaning and Exercise of Membership in WAOE</a> <br>
<a href="#When">Release of Personal Information</a> <br>
<a href="#WAOE_Committees">WAOE Committees and OCREWs</a> <br>
<a href="#Change">Notifying Change of Email Address</a> <br>
<a href="#Resign">How to unsubscribe or resign</a> <br>
<i><a href="#About_Policies">About Waoe Policies and Procedures</a></i>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Profile">Memberâs Profile</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<a href="#Karen">Karen O'Connor</a> <br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#About_Profile">About Member's Profile</a></font></i></b>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Conference">Conference (Re)Call</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Reports">Reports:</a></font></i></b>
<br>
<a href="#La_Trobe">La Trobe University Online Media Program</a> <br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Coming">Coming Events:</a></font></i></b>
<br>
<a href="#Forum">IFETS Forum - Preparing Teachers and Trainers</a> <br>
<b><font size=+1><a href="#Where">Where to Conference (Re)Call?</a></font></b>
<br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Feature">About Conference (Re)Call</a></font></i></b>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Briefs">News Briefs</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<a href="#AGM">AGM commits to action on building WAOE community</a>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Forth">Forthcoming Meetings</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<a href="#AGM">Planning and Finance Committee Meeting</a> <br>
<i><a href="#this">About this Section</a></i> <br>
<i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Time">Time Conversion Site</a></font></i>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Your_Say">Your Say</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<a href="#Voting">Mike Warner discusses voting membership</a> <br>
<a href="#Lurking">Reflections on "lurking"</a> <br>
<b><i><a href="#Say">About Your Say</a></i></b>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Links">WAOE Links</a></font></font></b>
<br>
<b><i><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#New_Links">New Links:</a></font></i></b>
<br>
<a href="#emTech">Emerging Technologies</a> One site leads to a multitude!
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1><a href="#Feedback">Feedback</a></font></font></b>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#About">About WEB</a></font></b>
<p><b><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#WAOE">About WAOE</a></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">############</font>
<p><a name="New"></a><b><font size=+2>Welcome to New Members</font></b>
<p>The addition of this regular feature to the columns of WEB was partly prompted
by Rick Reynolds' contributions to the Annual General Meeting in late June,
which were focused on ways to build community among the members of WAOE.
Thanks, Rick!
<p>On behalf of all the existing members, the Board of Directors and the members
of the Coordinating Ring (WAOE's management executive) extend a very warm welcome
to new members who have registered to join the Association in the past few weeks.
We look forward to your becoming active participants in WAOE discussions and
other activities.
<p>As with any unfamiliar organisation, there must be a lot of questions in the
minds of recent joiners. The firs place new members should go to for answers,
of course is the WAOE Orientation Course. As well, mostly through links
to the <font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A"><a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient.htm">Orientation
Course</a></font>,</font> this section of WEB will try to anticipate and answer
one or two of the questions new members might be pondering by providing some
<a href="#Meaning">fundamental information</a> in each issue.
<p>It's been quite a while since we said some of these things to our established
members, so we're providing links to this basic information under the <a href="#Policies">WAOE
Policies and Procedures</a> column. Of course, as with everything in WAOE,
the full engagement of members themselves is the vital key to the interest and
usefulness of these various columns in the bulletin. So if you have any
question at all about the Association, send it to the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Web
Editor</a> so we can respond to it here.
<p><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica">#############</font>
<p><a name="Orientation"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE Orientation Course</font></b>
<p>Thanks to generous support from long-standing member John Spiers and his<font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A">
<a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/">LearnOnline </a></font></font>organisation,
and to the hard conceptualising and drafting work of Treasurer, Jenna Seehafer,
WAOE has now established an Orientation Course which will provide essential
information on a continual basis about the organisation and how it operates.
Your membership subscription automatically entitles you to access this Course.
In fact, as explained in the advice re Membership Renewal, online enrolment
in the Course is the means by which membership of WAOE may be renewed for the
1999/2000 year, or new registrations may be effected.
<p>One of the important benefits of this development is that it will free WEB
to concentrate more of its content on helping the communication and community-bulding
among members, and on raising major issues of concern to online educators and
to the objectives and running of WAOE itself.
<p>Please note that the Web pages for the Orientation Course are still under construction.
Jenna and other WAOE Officers will add sections and items - including several
parts of WEB as it now looks - as time permits and opportunity presents.
You can go to the pages in progress either through <font face="Helvetica"><font color="#FF172A"><a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient.htm">Orientation
Course</a></font></font>, or through the View Course link on the WAOE Orientation
Course <a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html">enrolment
page</a>.
<p><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica">#############</font>
<p><a name="Aims"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE's Objectives</font></b>
<p>See the <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient2.htm">WAOE's
Objectives and Associated Documents</a> page of the WAOE Orientation Course
<p><font face="Helvetica"><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></font> <br>
<font face="Helvetica">#############</font>
<p><a name="System"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE's Communications and Discussion
System</font></b>
<p>The principal legal, structural and organisational way in which our objectives
are realised is through <a href="#Meaning">The Meaning and Exercise of Membership
in WAOE</a>.
<p>Less formally, perhaps, but no less crucially in their own ways, WAOE
maintains a system of listserves and discussion groups as our means of establishing
and maintaining communication between the management of the organisation and
the membership and between members themselves and encouraging active participation
in discussions, forums, projects and so on. This system is described in
the <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient3.htm">WAOE's
Communications </a>page of the Orientation Course.
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<p><a name="Directors"></a><b><font size=+2>Who are WAOE's Directors?</font></b>
<p>The following elected officers are the five designated Directors of WAOE.
They make up the Board of Directors which is accountable to the membership and
to the Californian authorities for the proper governance and good management
of the Association:
<p><a name="Steve"></a><b><font size=+1>President </font></b>(through June 2001):
<a href="mailto:steve_mc@kagawa-jc.ac.jp">Steve McCarty</a>, Kagawa Junior College,
Japan
<p><a name="Mihkel"></a><b><font size=+1>Vice-President</font></b> (through June
2000): <a href="mailto:info@miksike.ee">Mihkel Pilv</a>, Educational Consultant,
Estonia
<p><a name="Jenna"></a><b><font size=+1>Treasurer</font></b> (through June 2001):
<a href="mailto:seehafer@csus.edu">Jenna Seehafer</a>, California State University,
Sacramento <br>
Jenna is also, ex officio, the Chair of the Planning and Finance Committee,
and she convenes the Education Standards OCREW
<p><a name="David"></a><b><font size=+1>Membership Chair</font></b> (through June
2000): <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.ne.tau">David Wyatt</a>, Educational Consultant,
Australia
<p><a name="Brian"></a><b><font size=+1>Executive Secretary</font></b> (through
June 2000): <a href="mailto:qv_blynch@apollo.commnet.edu">Brian Donohue-Lynch</a>,
Quinebaug Valley Community-Technical College, Connecticut
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<p><a name="Ring"></a><b><font size=+2>Who is on WAOE's Coordinating Ring?</font></b>
<p>The Coordinating Ring is the Association's management executive group.
It is a collective made up of the five elected <a href="#Directors">Directors</a>
and several key appointed Officers and Chairs of Committees, and Representatives
(eg the Conveners) of the Online Course and Resource Evaluation Groups (OCREWs)
which are active, where these are persons other than a Director or an Appointed
Officer:
<p><a name="Mike"></a>"Cyber-Parliamentarian," and Online Parliamentary Procedures
Committee Chair: <a href="mailto:mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us">Michael (Mike)
Warner,</a> Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Arizona
<p><a name="Mary Ellen"></a>Publicity Coordinator, Public Information Committee
Officer: <a href="mailto:nourse@uidaho.edu">Mary Ellen Nourse</a>, University
of Idaho <br>
Mary Ellen also manages the WAOE-News listserve and coordinates our efforts
to secure major grants and sponsorships.
<p><a name="Arun"></a>Multilingual Coordinator on the Public Information Committee:
<a href="mailto:tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de">Arun-Kumar Tripathi</a>,
statistics scholar presently in Germany
<p><a name="Julia"></a>Editor of the WWW Journal of Online Education (JOE) : <a href="mailto:jk12@is3.nyu.edu">Julia
Keefer</a>, New York University
<p><a name="Katherine"></a>Research and Publications Committee Chair: <a href="mailto:bizarrerie@hotmail.com">Katherine
Watson</a>, Coastline Community College, California
<p><a name="Terry"></a>Affiliate Liaison Committee Chair: <a href="mailto:splendid@umich.edu">Terry
Calhoun</a>, University of Michigan; Internet Editor: Society for College and
University Planning (SCUP)
<p><a name="Robert"></a>Educational Software and Courseware OCREW Representative:
<a href="mailto:robert.luke@uleth.ca">Robert Luke</a>, Courseware Specialist:
Office of the Vice President-Academic, University of Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada)
<p><a name="Nick"></a>Online Academic Conference Committee Chair: <a href="mailto:N.Bowskill@sheffield.ac.uk">Nicholas
(Nick) Bowskill</a>, Computer Based Collaborative Group Work Project & Centre
for the Study of Networked Learning (CSNL), University of Sheffield, England
<p><a name="Kinshuk"></a>Online Educator Development Committee Chair: <a href="mailto:kinshuk@ieee.org">Kinshuk</a>,
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; Primary Contact: International
Forum of Educational Technology and Society (IFETS)
<p><a name="Seehafer"></a>Education Standards OCREW Representative: <a href="#Jenna">Jenna
Seehafer</a>, California State University; Treasurer and Incorporation Liaison
Officer: WAOE
<p><a name="Roberto"></a>Online Educator Development Committee Officer: <a href="mailto:rmueller@mail.ufv.br">Roberto
Mueller</a>, Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Brazil
<p><a name="Kate"></a>Industry and Academia OCREW Representative: <a href="mailto:kate.hand@cgi.ca">Kate
Hand</a>, CGI Corporation, Toronto
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<p><a name="Ideas"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>WEB Ideas and Issues</font></font></b>
<p><a name="When"></a><b><font size=+2>When is a school not a school? (Australia)</font></b>
<p>This curious item was spotted a month or so back on the <a href="http://www.onelist.com/listcenter.cgi?listname=distancelearning&yy=17201">distancelearning</a>
discussion group managed by Arun Tripathi, although its origin is the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/education/">News
- Education</a> page of the BBC Online Network , via the <a href="http://www.bestnet.org/~jwalker/">CSS
Internet News</a> site managed by <a href="mailto:jwalker@hwcn.org">John Walker</a>.
It underlines how far online education has yet to travel before it will be able
to stand alongside conventional face to face teaching and learning, and take
its due share of the resources available.
<blockquote><b><font size=+1>The courts will have to decide if a school needs
to have classrooms</font></b>
<p>An online education company in Australia is in dispute with a local authority
which is refusing to allow it to officially register as a school.
<p>The "school" wants to use the Internet to teach the two-year Higher School
Certificate to students in Australia and elsewhere in the world, but the New
South Wales Board of Studies says that without classrooms it does not count
as a school.
<p>As online education grows, regulatory disputes are likely to grow alongside.
The company behind the online project, Net Grammar, wants to provide fee-paying
courses, using Websites and e-mail to allow pupils and teachers to communicate.
<p>Net Grammar says it meets the criteria for starting a school, including an
approved curriculum and qualified teachers, but the school registration authority
says it is not enough.
<p>The question as to what constitutes a school will be put under legal scrutiny
this week [May 18 - Web Editor], when an appeal court will decide whether
Net Grammar qualifies.
<p>"One of the criteria for registering a school is that you have school buildings
and premises that are suitable. The board has interpreted those words as meaning
you must have buildings," says the chair of Net Grammar, Chris Birtinshaw.
<p>"We have said we don't have buildings because our mode of communication doesn't
require them. So there's a bit of a legal argy bargy going on."
<p>The growth in the use of the Internet as a teaching medium could raise further
regulatory disputes. While conventional education has been regulated and accredited,
the move into cyberspace raises the prospect of institutions working outside
local or national education systems.
<p>Universities in the United States and in Europe have already begun to use
the Internet to deliver courses, with colleges developing teaching materials
specifically for use by students online.
<p>The US-based Virtual Online University Services International offers purely
online courses for companies, undergraduates and school pupils.
<p>Although the lack of classrooms is part of the disagreement in the Australian
dispute, the expansion of Internet teaching is in part being driven by the
economic advantages of selling courses without the overheads of university
buildings and student accommodation.
</blockquote>
Have any WAOE members encountered issues like this in your own part of the world?
If you have, or if you would just like to comment on this article, use the <a href="#Say">Your
Say</a> section of WEB to ... well, have your say!
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<p><a name="What"></a><b><i><font size=+1>About WEB Ideas and Issues</font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">The issues and other matters raised in this section
of WEB are intended to derive from membersâ concerns and suggestions.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">Input to WAOE-Views during the recent Annual General
Meeting showed us that members are looking for opportunities to engage with
important issues and ideas affecting the Web-based delivery of teaching and
learning, but also that we need to do more to spell out to our members details
of the organisational procedures through which they will get to know more frequently
and reliably what goals the Association is pursuing, what action is being taken
to realise these goals, and - most importantly - how members may make the most
effective contributions to WAOE.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">As a result, a new column, <a href="#Policies">WAOE
Policies and Procedures</a>, has been split off from WEB Ideas and Issues.
This will free the WEB Ideas and Issues column to be taken up more and more
by topics of interest arising from the thinking of the members at large about
their own professional practice in online education, and the role that WAOE
as a whole and the sub-groups in which members are most actively engaged might
play in lifting the standards and quality of Web-based teaching and learning.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">If you have a concern to express, an idea to suggest,
a question to raise, a point to make about online education in general and about
WAOE's work in relation to online education in particular, write a short item
for the WEB Ideas and Issues column and send it to the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">WEB
Editor</a>. On a smaller, less formal scale, you might prefer to
air your views first of all in the <a href="#Say">Your Say</a> section of WEB.
Depending on the nature and volume of early responses to the Your Say item,
matters raised may spark an article in the Web Ideas and Issues section of WEB,
a free-ranging discussion on WAOE-Views, or a structured debate or online chat
via the WAOE WebBoard.</font>
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<p><a name="Policies"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE Policies and Procedures</font></b>
<p><a name="Respect"></a><b><font size=+2>Respect and Support the Voluntary Effort</font></b>
<p>It is most important for all members to appreciate that the often very time-consuming
and technologically challenging work of WAOE Officers is undertaken on a completely
voluntary basis. Behind what we hope presents to you - perhaps not always
convincingly! - as a smooth-running and efficient system of electronic communications
lies a huge and continuing effort to find simple and low- or no-cost ways of
maintaining good communication links and discussion methods across a far flung
and very loose cluster of some 900 computers which use a wide variety of not-always-compatible
operating systems and browsers and other software. The processing of registrations
and applications for voting membership, for example, takes place mostly by email,
for lack of resources and time to put automated systems in place.
<p><b><font size=+1>How Members Can Help</font></b> <br>
Members can help reduce this effort significantly by falling in with WAOE's
communication and discussion arrangements. If we can be confident that
all members are linked to WAOE-News, for example, we won't feel that we have
to send copies of important announcements to WAOE-Views, the WAOE WebBoard
and perhaps even individual email addresses in order to be sure that we've covered
everyone. A lot of extra typing work and computer time gets used up in
such a scatter-gun approach. So, we'd like to direct you to the summary
of the <a href="#System">communication and discussion arrangements</a> we have
provided for new members, to assist them to participate fully and rewardingly
in WAOE, and to urge all members to use each component of the communication
system for its intended purposes.
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<p><a name="Meaning"></a><b><font size=+2>The Meaning and Exercise of Membership
in WAOE</font></b>
<p>WAOE is incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit and public
benefit membersâ organisation. The membership owns it. We want all
members to be active in the Association in all the ways and to the greatest
extent that they wish to or can manage to be involved.
<p>And because we are an incorporated professional <u>organisation</u> - as well
as a globally spread association of professionals - there are various policies,
rules and procedures that we are obliged to follow in order to maintain our
official standing under Californian law. Observance of these requirements
is an all the more sensitive matter for us because we are engaged in the delicate
process of securing recognition as a tax-exempt organisation for the purposes
of receiving grants, sponsorships and donations. Some of the most important
expectations of and obligations on our members are summarised below.
<p>No doubt, many members will not be especially interested in the details of
the conduct of WAOE's affairs according to our legal obligations, and certainly
our hope is that this bulletin and other WAOE elements and activies will always,
ultimately, strike the balance of focus in favour of matters concerning the
best professional practice of online education rather than somewhat dry questions
of organisational policy and procedure. However, WAOE <u>is</u> an organisation,
a legal entity - and necessarily so in order to be able to fulfil its objectives.
In this still very early period in our establishment and growth, we are inevitably
pre-occupied with such questions - which are not necessarily dry to every intellectual
taste, of course, nor lacking in their own intrinsic interest. Please
bear with us and look to where we are headed, and not just at the sometimes
painstaking and tedious little steps we have to take along the road!
<p><b><font size=+1>Becoming a Member</font></b> <br>
If you're reading this article, you've already joined, of course. This
means you have filled out and submitted the registration form found through
the Membership link on the home page of the <a href="http://www.waoe.org">WAOE
Website</a>. And, from this month on, it will also mean that you have
paid the annual subscription fee of $US10. We're still finalising the
procedure we will use to collect the fee as efficiently and conveniently as
possible, but we'll be advising everybody of the arrangements by email very
soon . We'll also tell you then about current policy on waiver of fees
and how to apply for this exemption.
<p>At this stage, there are only two categories of membership of WAOE: associate
members and voting members. Have a look at <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm#a12">Article
12</a> of the <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm">Bylaws</a>
for more information. Also, our <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/corpfaq.htm">Incorporation
FAQ</a> page maintained by Treasurer, <a href="#Jenna">Jenna Seehafer</a>, sets
the rights and responsibilities of members within the context of Californian
law. (Jenna is responsible, with help from Parliamentarian Mike Warner
on the organisation and conduct of meetings in particular, for liaison with
Californian authorities and for ensuring we observe all legal requirements in
our policies and procedures.)
<p><b><font size=+1>Associate Membership</font></b> <br>
Registration and payment of the fee automatically makes you an associate member
of WAOE. This basically means you can do or read or join anything and
everything that WAOE has to offer, except stand for office, nominate other eligible
members for office, or vote in our constitutional forums or occasional ballots
on issues of policy. As an associate member, you will receive an email
notice when the WAOE Electronic Bulletin (WEB) appears on its Web site every
two weeks or so, along with a list of the contents of the current issue.
You'll have access to JOE, our refereed Journal of Online Education, and you'll
be able to join any of the Committees or one or other or more of the Online
Course and Resource Evaluation Workgroups (OCREWs) that are currently active.
<p>In fact, as we become more established in our ways of operating - we have to
remind ourselves sometimes that we're less than one year old, for all the amount
we've grown and distance we've travelled - we'll push our constitutional expectation
that every associate member should belong to at least one OCREW or similar group
as a minimum commitment to active participation in the Association's affairs.
<p>All associate members are expected to subscribe to the announcement listserve,
WAOE-News, as a matter of course.
<p><b><font size=+1>Voting Membership</font></b> <br>
Voting members are those associate members who have formally identified themselves
as people who wish to participate in the governance of the Association.
They would attend formal meetings of the Association, make nominations and cast
votes in general elections for WAOE, and participate in the ballots through
which key decisions affecting WAOE are taken. Voting members are the "members"
referred to in the WAOE Bylaws in compliance with the requirements of Californian
incorporation law, which recognises voting members only, as we define them.
Thus, only voting members may be included in the quorum for formal meetings
of WAOE such as the recent Annual General Meeting, and have their votes counted
on motions proposed or in ballots conducted during such meetings or other official
events.
<p>An associate member may become a voting member by the simple act of sending
an email message to the <a href="#David">Membership Officer</a> (officially
titled the Chair of the Membership Committee) - stating that he/she wishes to
be recognised as a voting member. Fo convenience, you could just copy/paste
the following text into that message: "I wish to be recognised as a voting member
of WAOE" (without the quotes). No additional fee payment is required.
<p>Conversion of membership becomes effective within 10 days after the request
is received. Under this rule, the eligibility of voting members to be
included in the quorum count for any formal meeting or ballot is declared and
announced 10 days prior to the notified starting time for that meeting or ballot.
<p>Once conferred, voting-member status will continue for as long as each designated
voting member wishes to retain that level of participation in WAOE.
<p><b><font size=+1>Relinquishing Voting Membership</font></b> <br>
Voting members may revert to non-voting status (ie associate members) simply
by writing a letter or email to WAOE's <a href="#Steve">President </a>or <a href="#Brian">Executive
Secretary </a>explaining their intention to become less active in WAOE and their
wish to end their membership or to convert it to an associate membership.
<p><b><font size=+1>Annual Renewal of Membership</font></b> <br>
Both associate and voting members are required to fill out a membership renewal
form between July 1 and July 30 of each year, commencing in 1999. Failing to
submit this form will be understood as resignation from WAOE membership (WAOE
Bylaws, Article 12, Section 9).
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<p><a name="Release"></a><b><font size=+2>Release of Personal Information</font></b>
<p>You might recall that the top of the registration form in the Membership pages
of the <a href="http://www.waoe.org">WAOE Website</a> contains the statement,
"This information will be stored in the WAOE database, and will not be made
publically available without your prior consent." This gives a clear
indication of our commitment to respect members' privacy and to maintain strictly
the confidentiality of personal details provided through the registration process.
Unfortunately, however, it would be a nearly imposible task to apply the statement
literally at the individual level of membership.
<p>No addresses or other personal information about members will be released to
persons or organisations outside WAOE. However, to make the various parts
of WAOE functional, it is essential that Officers are able to communicate freely
with members, and members are able to contact each other. This necessitates
the distribution of personal information within the organisation, but normally
only names and email addresses will be required. It would obviously be
a wasteful and unmanageable burden for the members of WAOE's <a href="#Ring">Coordinating
Ring</a> to have to seek permission on an individual basis for the release of
some 900 members' names and email addresses. Therefore, we need to obtain
permission in a more efficient way for lists containing your first and last
names and your email address to be distributed to members of the Ring, in the
first instance, and thereafter to the Committees or OCREWs in which you have
expressed an interest; to project, discussion and other groups that are started
from time to time; and to members of WAOE at large. All other information
in the membership database will be kept confidential, accessible only by the
<a href="#Ring">Coordinating Ring</a>, as WAOE's executive management body.
<p>We are (still) in the process of finalising a new registration form which will
automatically authorise the release of names and email addresses according to
the policy described above. Until that form comes into use as part of
our totally re-organised registration, database management and fee-payment procedures
for the new 1999/2000 financial year and beyond, we need to take a simple collective
approach to securing the authorised release of limited personal information
within the Association.
<p>This article constitutes a notice to all members of WAOE requesting the release
of personal information within the Association, normally limited to members'
names and email addresses. If, after reading the notice, you have an objection
to these details being made known or distributed to other officers and members
of WAOE than the Directors and the Coordinating Ring, please advise the <a href="#David">Membership
Officer</a> immediately. If you do so object, the Membership Officer
will need to discuss with you some other appropriate way or ways in which you
will be able to participate fully in the main activities of WAOE. Any
suggestion you can make when sending your message of objection would be very
welcome.
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<p><a name="WAOE_Committees"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE Committees and OCREWs</font></b>
<p>When you filled in the membership registration form, you identified which of
the various Committees and Online Course and Resource Evaluation Workgroups
(OCREWs) you are interested in. This article is concerned with providing
members with more information about these major components of the structure
and organisation of WAOE, but it will concentrate mainly on OCREWs. The
article is based to some extent on an item about OCREWs originally included
in WEB Volume 1, Number 2 (March 28 1999).
<p><b><font size=+1>Committees</font></b> <br>
The purposes of the various Committees and how these might work towards the
fulfilment of WAOE's <a href="#Aims">objectives</a> is perhaps fairly readily
understood from their titles and composition, as they appear on the membership
registration form:
<blockquote>Membership Committee <br>
Finance Committee (now the Planning and Finance Committee) <br>
Dissemination Committee <br>
Records Committee <br>
Web Design Committee <br>
Online Educator Development Committee <br>
Affiliate Liaison Committee <br>
Research & Publication Committee <br>
Online Academic Conferences Committee <br>
Online Parliamentary Procedures Committee</blockquote>
At this stage, with the notable exception of the Planning and Finance Committee
(which meets monthly) and the Online Educator Development Committee, none of these
bodies is active, and not even the exceptions are in fact completely established
and operational as yet, with a full complement of members networking to discuss
issues and proposals relevant to each Committee's brief, and making recommendations
to the Coordinating Ring and the Board of Directors. There are several probable
reasons for this: <br>
<ul>
<li> The list of Committees derives from a constitution drafted before WAOE
become incorporated and held its inaugural elections. Now that we are
learning from experience what kind of internal structure and organisation
will best suit the Association's needs, some aspects of the putative committee
system may well be adapted, coalesced or even abandoned. We think it
would be wise not to consolidate too soon a mode of operation that in the
long run may not prove the best for us.</li>
</ul>
<br>
<ul>
<li> To make WAOE's structure and organisation operationally effective requires
the development of a quite sophisticated database of the names and addresses
of the members who expressed interest in different Committees and OCREWs at
the time of registration, and a system for generating mailing lists and searching
connection among sub-group members and between different components WAOE that
will facilitate communication, discussion, networking, conferencing, voting
and all other activities required to make the Association work. Database
development has long been a major priority for management action, but
it has also been thwarted by inadequate resources and by a variety of practical
difficulties in the way of coming up with the most appropriate combination
of server facilities, database design, technology services, hardware and software
compatibility among different operating systems and software. However,
it seems likely that significant headway will soon be made through the Board
of Directors' Meeting.</li>
</ul>
<br>
<ul>
<li> WAOE has barely got off the ground. We have only just conducted our
first Annual General Meeting and our second meeting of the Board of Directors,
and our first global celebration of cultural differences was held just in
February (the second of these members' events is proceeding now, as a follow-on
from the AGM). Partly because of the sheer organisational challenge
of making these things happen according both to constitutional requirements
and as smoothly as we can, the energies of the Board of Directors and the
Coordinating Ring have been highly focused in those directions. It will be
time to turn our full attention to other more specific aspects of WAOE's operations
when we begin to distinguish the forest from the trees!</li>
</ul>
<br>
<p> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p><b><font size=+1>Online Course and Resource Evaluation Workgroups (OCREWs)</font></b>
<br>
According to the <a href="http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html">Archive
of Founding Documents</a>, OCREWs could be described, at least in intention,
as the heart and soul of the Association. (Extending the metaphor, Committees
might be thought of as the bones and sinews.) OCREWs provide the main
locations and focal points for members to contribute in practical ways to the
enhancement of online education as a professional discipline. And that's
WAOE's core business.
<p>In conception, OCREWs comprise groups of members interested in particular aspects
of online education and training who meet and work together online - sharing
ideas and information, discussing issues, making representations to relevant
agencies and other forums, pooling resources, and so on. And in doing
all this, such groups will make the strongest possible and most useful contribution
to realising the central purpose of WAOE. This is because the contribution
will be coming from professionals across the complex and rapidly developing
field of online education and training who are directly testing and extending
the possibilities of the field as they confront the problems posed by their
online students and clients, experiment with workable solutions to them, and
share what they learn with colleagues around the world.
<p>Although OCREWs are given a defined place in WAOEâs structure and organisation,
and a list of them appears on the memberâs registration form, there are no set
ways by which their role can be carried out. The groups are being set
up which are not listed on the registration form (though they may cover some
of the territory) - the <a href="#Jenna">Education Standards OCREW</a>, and
the <a href="#Robert">Educational Software and Courseware OCREW</a>, the <a href="#Kate">Industry
and Academia OCREW</a> - and an invitation by Mihkel Pilv for members to join
a "learning by teaching OCREW initiative" stands on the home page of the
<a href="http://www.waoe.org/">WAOE Website</a>.
<p>You could use the lists of the <a href="#Directors">Directors </a>and the members
of the <a href="#Ring">Coordinating Ring</a> to find out more about a particular
structural group or an initiative which interests you - better still, to make
contact with a view to joining an OCREW or other body - or perhaps to suss out
how members who have started groups went about it and what agenda and processes
they are establishing. Vice-President <a href="#Mihkel">Mihkel Pilv </a>carries
particular responsiblity for encouraging and supporting OCREWs and other action
groups. He will be glad to answer any queries you may have.
<p>Members of the Coordinating Ring, WAOE's elected management executive, are
looking at ways of revising the registration form to better reflect the flexibility
that actually exists in the formation and operation of these vital groups.
As a result, the current request to check an OCREW box will be replaced by a
more open-ended invitation to identify interest in various aspects of online
education and training, perhaps using a checklist with scope for members to
add their own topics.
<p>Although we plan to improve the information-gathering mechanism, notional commitments
to particular OCREWs already suggested through the registration process already
provide a useful basis for clustering members into potential participants for
WAOE officers and others starting up new groups to contact in exploratory ways.
In a still broader approach, personal contact with members could be used, as
time permits, to tease out more specific information about what they are interested
in, as well as what they hope to gain from joining WAOE, and how they would
like the organisation to run.
<p>To an extent, the same organisational priorities and difficulties that have
slowed implementation of the committee system have inhibited the formation of
OCREWs, particularly the delays in setting up electronic communications among
members linked to a comprehensive and relational database. However, OCREWs
by their nature and intent are not so constrained, in structural and organisational
terms, as designated Committees. The W in the acronym stands for Workgroup,
after all, and there is great flexibility in the number and kind of OCREWs that
could be set up, as the presently active groups amply illustrate. In fact,
working groups of members that get established need not necessarily be called
OCREWs at all. They might be project teams, for example, or action research
groups, or discussion forums with specialised agenda like Web access for people
with disabilities.
<p>The most important point to make about the specific action and discussion groups
that come into operation - whatever they may be called - is that, like everything
else in WAOE, they both belong to and depend on the membership. The field of
online education and training is wide open for effecting vital changes and improvements,
and WAOE needs the active participation and thoughtful contributions of its
members in order to carry out its part in this vital work.
<p>All that is required to get an OCREW or other group started is for a member
to devise and promote a specific purpose for having a group and then to enlist
at least three other members to join him or her in the enterprise. That's
exactly how both the Education Standards and Industry and Academia OCREWs began.
<a href="#Views">WAOE-Views</a> or the <a href="#Say">Your Say</a> section of
WEB could be used to canvass interest and recruit like-minded colleagues.
The next step is to announce the formation of the group to the Vice-President,
<a href="#Mihkel">Mihkel Pilv</a>, who will give all the advice and assistance
he can.
<p>So, itâs over to you. The agenda is yours. Its your Association.
Go to it!
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<p><a name="Change"></a><b><font size=+2>Notifying Change of Email Address</font></b>
<p>It can sometimes be a real headache keeping track of members who change their
email addresses, or who occasionally use a different email address for corresponding
with us than the one through which they registered and which therefore is listed
on the official database. Such changes or differences of address account
for at least some of the "permanent fatal errors" that get reported with each
large-scale mailing that goes out to members. No doubt time wasted in
contact the members concerned double-checking WAOE's membership records and
various mailing lists is greater now - while such details are captured and maintained
on an essentially manual basis - than they will be once our systems become fully
automated. However, it seem very probable that effective communication
within WAOE will <u>always</u> be reliant to a significant extent on the willingness
of members themselves to keep us informed of their whereabouts.
<p>As soon as we are able to attend to this matter among the various priorities
for action to improve the database and query system, an electronic form for
notifying changes of email address will be provided on the WAOE Website and
in each issue of WEB. In the meantime, we request members who change their
contact details to take the initiative and trouble to notify us as soon as possible.
<p><b><u>Procedure</u></b>: Send an untitled email message to the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Membership
Officer</a> containing the text (without the quotes): "I wish to advise that
I have changed by email address. My new email address is < insert details
>."
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<p><a name="Resign"></a><b><font size=+2>How to Unsubscribe from Listserves or
Resign from WAOE</font></b>
<p>For a quick check-list of the procedures for getting off WAOE's listserves
or the mailing list for WEB, or for resigning from the Association altogether,
go to the <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient3.htm">WAOE's
Communications page</a> of the WAOE Orientation Course. Scroll down to
the heading "How to Unsubscribe from Listserves or Resign from WAOE," or use
the link in the frame on the left hand side of the page.
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<p><a name="About_Policies"></a><b><i><font size=+1>About WAOE Policies and Procedures</font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">In this still early formative period for WAOE, it is
probably inevitable that items for information and discussion put out by WAOE's
elected and appointed Officers will predominate in our information venues and
discussion forums, because we are all very keen to help members to understand
and reflect on what the Association is about and to encourage them to be active
in its work. In past issues of the bulletin, there has been a tendency
- in the absence of another column better suited to that purpose - for managerial
matters to take up a larger share of the space under the WEB Ideas and Issues
heading than they should. This has tended to squeeze out other topics
of broader interest to online educators which might have appeared there, and
perhaps even discouraged members from contributing to discussion of those topics,
or raising topics of their own.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">From this issue onwards, we will dedicate space in the
WAOE Policies and Procedrues column to updating information about WAOE as an
organisation, and encouraging the active involvement of members in our online
meetings, Committees and OCREWs, discussion forums, projects, special events
etc and to take all other opportunities that present themselves for making a
contribution to WAOE.</font>
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<p><a name="Profile"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Memberâs Profile</font></font></b>
<p><a name="Karen"></a><b><font size=+2>Karen O'Connor</font></b>
<p><a href="http://www.wkpowerlink.com/~karjohns">Karen O'Connor</a> (then Karen
Johnson) was an active participant in the Tertiary Community Colleges Online
Conference in April 1998 who responded warmly to Steve McCarty's keynote address
call to to turn online education into a new professional discipline, and so
joined the discussion group which shaped the original objectives and structure
of WAOE and held its first election of Directors.
<p>In fact, Karen holds a special place in the annals of WAOE. The synchronous
chat and message board Mihkel Pilv (now Vice-President) organised to allow discussion
group colleagues to offer their congratulations and share in the celebration
of Karen's marriage on a global scale at the very early teething stage of the
Association constituted our first online event .
<p>Karen teaches in the Department of Applied Business Technology at <a href="http://www.Selkirk.bc.ca">Selkirk
College</a> in Trail, British Columbia (Canada), and has done so for more than
15 years. By the time she first became involved in WAOE, Karen already
held a training certificate in Microsoft Access95 and the developers toolkit,
had several innovative computer courses under her belt, and was busy putting
her Department's core courses online, using FrontPage98. One of her courses,
Database Design With Access97, was inspired by an educational partnership between
Microsoft and the National Business Educator's Association.
<p>Presently, Karen carries key responsibility for the Department of Applied Business
Technology's (DABT) On-line Classrooms, through which the entire Office Administration
Program is available by distance education. This role is focused intensively
on providing information services and support to students, including Webmastery
and management of the <a href="http://www.selkirk.bc.ca/DABTCourseHome/index.htm">DABT
Online Classrooms</a> home page, and conduct of the <a href="http://www.selkirk.bc.ca/DABTCourseHome/discDABT_toc.htm#0000000b">DABT
Course Home Web</a>, a message board and discussion group handling students'
queries.
<p>As at October last year, Karen had 13 courses on-line and 13 other courses
being offered face to face but being developed for online delivery. There
were 51 people registered in the on-line program who were enrolled between them
in 220 individual courses covering 19 subjects. Enrolment in the program
has now grown to over 320 students taking 25 subjects. This massive increase
has occurred within a very short time and with minimal use of advertising, which
attests both to the rapidly expanding demand for access to online distance education
and the enviable reputation which Karen's own program has established for itself,
largely through word of mouth by its student participants.
<p>Even with that degree of recent growth, the DABT online program may seem relatively
small, at least in terms of raw student enrolments, But it is a complex
and demanding progtram in terms of the number and variety of courses and subjects
it offers and also, of course, the additional managerial and student support
loads that effective online education methods demand. Karen's success
in developing and managing the program is a prime example of what can be achieved
in online education through the skill, dedication and drive of a single individual.
Her efforts and achievements are warmly acknowledged by her Department and College
on their Web pages. A more striking accolade is the honour recently conferred
on Karen by the British Columbia Educational Technology User Group and the Centre
for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology among its inaugural <a href="http://www.ctt.bc.ca/edtech/awards/99press.html">Innovation
Awards in Educational Technology</a> (1999).
<p>These annual awards are designed to distinguish educational technology innovators
in the British Columbia public post-secondary system. They recognize individuals,
teams, departments or an institution or institutions that have clearly demonstrated
achievement in the use of educational technology to improve the teaching and
learning process for students. Karen's particular honour - the Bright
Shiny Object award - goes to the nominee who demonstrates high risk and ground
breaking use of educational technology. The citation reads, in part:
<blockquote>Karen O'Connor's determination and leadership has made this program
the first in Canada to offer all ABT courses online via the Internet. Selkirk
College in its support of Karen and her department, have certainly broken new
ground in its sophisticated use of this <br>
technology to expand access to its program.</blockquote>
Congratulations, Karen, from us all!
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<p><a name="About_Profile"></a><b><i><font size=+1>About Member's Profile</font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">In each issue of WEB a different member introduces him-
or herself and talks about experiences and interests in online education and
training. Drawing on the information and URLs provided on their registration
forms, the WEB Editor is targetting individual members who are doing especially
innovative and exciting things in online education with requests to provide
a brief profile.</font>
<p><b><u><font face="Helvetica">But why wait to be asked?</font></u> All WEB readers
are urged to use the Memberâs Profile to help flesh out the person behind the
impersonal email address youâre known by in WAOE. We are a member's organisation
- reMEMBER!! Just a short piece will do. As well as giving us some background
information, weâd like you to tell colleagues why you joined WAOE, what you
hope to gain from your involvement, and what you would like to contribute.</b>
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<p><a name="Conference"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Conference
(Re)Call</font></font></b>
<p><a name="Reports"></a><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Reports</font></font></i></b>
<p><a name="La_Trobe"></a><b><font size=+1>La Trobe University Online Media Program</font></b>
<br>
A fairly quick scan of this Web site, picked up from the <a href="http://www.egroups.com/group/dldc/fullinfo.html">Distance
Learning and Developing Countries </a>discussion group, courtesy of Georges
Lessard, suggests that it will hold interest of a perhaps more specialised kind
to WAOE members who are already engaged in researching the social, commercial,
legal, educational or other implications of the new electronic communications
and multimedia. The URL is included under Conference (Re)Call as an encouragement
to interest members to make contact with the Program, discuss issues of common
interest and maybe participate in research initiatives.
<p>La Trobe University is located in a northern suburb of Melbourne, the capital
of the State of Victoria, in south-eastern Australia. The primary aim
of the <a href="http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/">La Trobe University Online Media
Program</a> is to undertake social and policy research related to the development
and regulation of online media services. There are three strands of research:
<p><b><i>Research Strand 1: New Media and Communication Environments</i></b> <br>
Organisational, regulatory and technological change is occurring at such a rapid
pace that it is difficult predict what the future new media landscape will look
like. Service providers are uncertain about the potential markets for rapidly
evolving and new services. This strand of research examines the development
and adoption of new services.
<p><b><i>Research Strand 2: Emerging industry structures</i></b> <br>
The shape of the media, communication, publishing and computing industries is
rapidly changing. Most of those changes are being brought about through strategic
alliances between discrete elements of multi-functional and often competing
organisations, and linkages with smaller start-up companies which have developed
innovative products and services. For the first time "carriers" are having
to pay attention to "content", software-based services and consumer electronics.
These industry changes are occurring as the various industries "internationalise"
and as governments remove layers of regulatory control. This strand of
the research program examines the restructuring of media, communication, publishing
and computing industries and considers the implications of those changes for
industry participants and government policy.
<p><b><i>Research Strand 3: The challenge to regulation</i></b> <br>
Online services cut across national boundaries and place strains on traditional
regulatory mechanisms. Taxation, content regulation, censorship, and the control
of commercial entities using online services are creating new challenges for
national and international regulation. This strand of research examines
the emergence of new regulatory mechanisms.
<p><b><i>Research Reports</i></b> <br>
Copies of the following reports are available at <a href="http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/reports/">http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/reports/</a>.
The abstracts are presented in HTML format. and the reports are presented in
Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader v3 software, which
can be downloaded free of charge from the reports page.
<ul>
<li> Sandy Kyrish. From Videotex to the Internet: Lessons from Online Services
1981-1996. August 1996</li>
<li> Sue Turnbull. Getting Connected: Gender and the future of online services
in the home. December 1996</li>
<li> Colin Richardson. Australia's Peak Demand for Internet Bandwidth: A modelling
and forecasting methodology. December 1996</li>
<li> Christopher Arup. Capturing the Value of Australian Online Content: Mapping
the regulatory domain. June 1997</li>
<li> Caroline Kruger. Censoring the Internet with PICS: An Australian stakeholder
analysis. September 1998</li>
<li> Sam Hinton. Portal sites: Emerging structures for Internet control. January
1999</li>
</ul>
<br>
<p> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<p><a name="Coming"></a><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Coming Events</font></font></i></b>
<p><a name="Forum"></a><b><font size=+1>IFETS Forum - Preparing Teachers and Trainers</font></b>
<p>The next formal discussion of the International Forum of Educational Technology
& Society is scheduled to start on July 12. The topic is "Preparing
teachers and trainers for the 21st Century." The discussion will be moderated
by Martin Owen, University of Wales, UK and summarised by Bruce Homer, <br>
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Canada.
<p>To join the discussion, first subscribe to IFETS at <a href="http://ifets.gmd.de/">http://ifets.gmd.de/</a>
then follow the Discussion schedule link on the home page. Subscription
is free and there are other benefits, including the Educational Technology and
Society Journal.
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<p><a name="Where"></a><b><font size=+2>Where to Conference (Re)Call?</font></b>
<p>As the deadline for each issue of WEB comes around, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to fill the Conference (Re)Call column with events that meet
the criteria we have set. And it's probably showing. The main focus
of the Reports section of this column is intended to be on reviews by members
of WAOE of any conferences, seminars, workshops or other events which they have
attended recently where they picked up information which they found useful in
their own practice of online education and which they therefore feel is worth
passing on to colleagues in the Association. There is no restriction on
the nature of the events themselves, other than the essential points that they
should be relevant to the objectives of WAOE, and they should hold some likely
interest for members at large. The Coming Events section, on the other
hand, is intended to present opportunities for members to participate in conferences,
seminars, workshops discussion groups coming up in the next few weeks.
These events would preferably be conducted online, at least in part, and at
little or no cost, so as to offer as few restrictions as possible to WAOE members
who may wish to take part in them.
<p>There have been only one or two items submitted by members for the Reports
section since it started. It is hard to believe that, out of some 900
members, there is not even one or two in any given month who have participated
in some event or other which would be worth making a brief summary about to
pass on to other members. But unless this kind and level of input
comes through to the column from members, it will not be possible to maintain
the Reports section at all. It cannot survive on the capacity of the WEB
Editor alone (which basically it has been doing for the past several issues)
to check out what is happening around the world, let alone attend and report
on at least one event every couple of weeks. Likewise, it is becoming
too demanding a task for this single individual to search the World Wide Web
week-in and week-out for appropriate happenings to include in the Coming Events
section, however much assisted by judicious subscriptions to various listserves
and discussion groups.
<p>We would like to ask, then, what value members place on both the Reports and
the Coming Events sections of the Conference (Re)Call column? Should they
be retained in their present form? In particular, should we broaden the
scope of the Coming Events section to promote conferences etc which take place
in real time, or which require registration fees? How willing are members
to contribute to the column with reviews of events they have attended, or with
news about events coming up? Are there items other than conferneces
and the like which members would like to see reviewed and reported - books or
journal articles, for example, or professional development courses?
<p>Please email the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">WEB Editor</a> to give
your answers to these questions, or to offer comments of your own, or to contribute
reviews or news items. And keep them coming in!
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<h2> <a name="Feature"></a><i><font size=+1>About Conference (Re)Call</font></i></h2>
<font face="Helvetica">The Conference (Re)Call column aims mainly to provide feedback
from members on the new knowledge or other value they gained from attending a
recent conference or other event to do with one aspect or another of online education.
It also includes a Coming Events section, advertising relevant conferences, seminars,
workshops or other forums which members will be able to attend at little or no
cost. This section will concentrate mainly on online events, because that is WAOEâs
special interest, and because the idea is to promote opportunities which are more
or less equally available to WAOE members no matter what part of the world they
live in.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">The success of Conference (Re)Call therefore depends
very heavily on input from members. WAOE officers are already out there reporting
on events theyâve attended and spotting others to come. Weâd like to see all
other members doing likewise. You will see from the items in this issue that
reports donât need to be lengthy or detailed, let alone polished. We think the
segment will work best on the simple premise that whatever any one member found
worthwhile in attending an online education event, or attractive about an event
in the offing is likely to benefit and interest other members. So, letâs keep
those reports and notices coming in to the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">WEB
Editor</a>.</font>
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<p><a name="Briefs"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>News Briefs</font></font></b>
<p><a name="AGM"></a><b><font size=+2>AGM Commits to Action on Building WAOE Community</font></b>
<p>A highlight of the recently concluded Annual General Meeting was the adoption
of a resolution proposed by one of the participating voting members, <a href="mailto:hcreynolds@eltasia.com">Rick
Reynolds</a>. For the benefit of those who did not attend the meeting,
or who have not seen the item on WAOE-Views. the full text of Rick's motion
is as follows:
<blockquote>Whereas we owe a debt of gratitude to those who have helped found
WAOE; <br>
Whereas we owe a statement of appreciation to those who have selflessly carried
on the beginning work of WAOE; <br>
Whereas communication is an advantage in establishing community for an online
organization like WAOE; <br>
Whereas recognition, appreciation, introduction and involvement are factors
in building community in WAOE, <br>
Therefore; be it resolved that the President and Directors be encouraged to
take steps of appreciation, recognition, introduction, and involvement for all
those who have collaborated in support of WAOE through associate or voting membership
with a letter in the WAOE Electronic Bulletin with appreciation to them as WAOE
Founders. <br>
Nothing in this statement shall be construed as a change of member status in
the Bylaws as either associate or voting member. <br>
Be it further resolved that the President and Directors be encouraged to establish
mentors, community leaders, or cross-discipline pairing of members in standing
committees and OCREWS with the purpose of developing member involvement through
the communication channels of WAOE.</blockquote>
The statement of appreciation called for in the motion will be published in the
next issue of WEB, along with a report of the Annual General Meeting, a review
of the associated multicultural celebration of summer/winter festivals, and a
report of the Board of Directors Meeting which is still proceeding at the time
of writing.
<p>Not so much the letter of Rick's motion, perhaps, but the spirit behind it
and the encouraging support it received during the AGM have inspired much of
the content of this issue of WEB, which has tried very hard to emphasise - once
more - that WAOE belongs to its members, and to underline the various ways in
which members can participate in the affairs of WAOE and contribute to its various
forums.
<p>Now that the words of the resolution on building community in WAOE are going
out to all members via WEB, it would be great to hear comments on it, especially
on the approaches to the task suggested in the concluding sentence. Please
use the <a href="#Your_Say">Your Say</a> column to tell your colleagues what
you think.
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<p><a name="Forth"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Forthcoming Meetings</font></font></b>
<p><a name="PFC"></a><b><font size=+2>Planning and Finance Committee</font></b>
<p>The Planning and Finance Committee (PFC) is an advisory committee whose purpose
is to make recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding <br>
issues concerning incorporation, bookkeeping, accounting, banking, currency
exchange, tax status, and financial planning for WAOE.Ê PFC meetings are held
entirely online over a 48 hour period on the third Friday and Saturday GMT of
every month in which a special or annual meeting is not held.
<p>The next PFC meeting will begin at 1500 GMT on the 20th of August and end at
1500 GMT on the 22nd of August.Ê The agenda will be posted and <br>
meetings will take place at the <a href="#Board">WAOE WebBoard</a> (contact
<a href="#Mike">Michael Warner</a> if you need a password for the WAOE WebBoard).Ê
Meetings will be held by <br>
email addressed to all members of the committee if the Web-board is not available.
<p>If you are interested in participating on this committee, please send an email
to the Treasurer, <a href="#Jenna">Jenna Seehafer</a>.
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<p><a name="this"></a><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>About this Section</font></font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">Each issue, this section of WEB will include information
about meetings of WAOE committees, OCREWs and other groups that are coming up
within the ensuing fortnight. All members of WAOE - both associate and voting
members - are welcome to attend these meetings and contribute to discussion.
Of course, only the duly elected or otherwise designated members of WAOE's organisational
committees may take part in any formal voting on matters for decision.</font>
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<p><a name="Time"></a><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>Time conversion
site</font></font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">To help arrange synchronous meetings, WAOE uses <a href="http://155.43.48.225:2020/timew.html">World
Time Zone in JavaScript</a>.</font>
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<p><a name="Your_Say"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Your Say</font></font></b>
<p><a name="Voting"></a><b><font size=+2>Mike Warner discusses voting membership</font></b>
<p>During the recent Annual General Meeting, Ron Friesen wrote to Mike Warner,
our "Cyber-Parliamentarian":
<blockquote>I too was surprised that I did not have a right to vote in the election.
I considered myself a member and must not have seen the email requiring people
to register to vote. I'm not concerned so much about voting in this election
as I am about retaining my membership and ensuring I have a right to vote in
the next election.</blockquote>
Here's Mike's response, which expands helpfully on the bare bones of information
about <a href="#Meaning">The Meaning and Exercise of Membership in WAOE</a> earlier
in this issue of WEB:
<blockquote>The relevant information about procedures for becoming a member (identified
as Associate Member) is contained at <a href="http://waoe.org/membshp.html">http://waoe.org/membshp.html</a>.
This page also identifies the procedures for becoming a Voting Member, as well
as highlighting the responsibilities/involvement that go along with that recognized
category. Once recognized as a Voting Member, the categorization is retained
by the member until such time as the individual requests to resign membership
or to revert to Associate Member (providing that the member completes the necessary
annual reregistration process).
<p>While the subtleties defining these distinctions between Associate and Voting
Member may seem innocuous, I assure you they are not. Under corporate
law, <br>
which we must follow, in order to conduct business for this NPO Membership
Corporation there must be quorated participation by the "membership."
With <br>
close to 900 internationally distributed members, all of which tend to be
overcommitted, multitasked individuals with both family, work, and education
<br>
competing for time, participation becomes a critical issue. By creating
a Voter Member subgroup of the whole who have self-selected an intention to
actively participate in the operation of the corporation, to include voting
as a minimum, we stand a manageable chance of meeting quorum requirements.
<p>Without that distinction, we could not operate under the law. We must
have a one-third representation of members as recognised by Californian authorities
(ie Voting Members, in our terminology) to constitute the quorum for
any formal meeting or ballot. If quorum computation was based on the
900 Associate Members, WAOE would fold (at least if our previous history of
broad participation is any guide). With 130+ currently identified voting
members, however, the quorum becomes realizable. That's not to say that there
aren't many members and nonmembers who might "pop-in" at some point(s) in
a meeting, but the vast majority don't have the time and/or inclination to
follow the proceedings with detail and involvement. The Associate Member
classification fits the circumstances and level of desired participation by
the larger percentage of our members and that's OK. But we need Voting
Members to enable us to function according to our legal obligations.
</blockquote>
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<p><a name="Lurking"></a><b><font size=+2>Reflections on "lurking"</font></b>
<p>In the same message to Mike, Ron Friesen wrote
<blockquote>By the way, I find it concerning that I sometimes read what I perceive
as "critical" comments about those of us who choose to participate by listening
as opposed to speaking. I personally find the term "lurking" to be a disparaging
term. And when used by those who participate by speaking when referring
to those who participate by listening, the term as a "holier than thou quality"
that I don't think always contributes to the positive environment.
<p>Anyway, those are just my rants. I really appreciate the efforts of
those who do speak - that is their very positive contribution - and I also
appreciate being able to listen.
</blockquote>
Mikes' response to this comment underlines the importance of active involvement
to the health of WAOE and the value that members will draw from their participation
in the organisation:
<blockquote>There will always be people looking for "more bag for the buck" and
who see active participation as a synergistic force that extracts more than
the sum of its parts and enriches both the sender and the recipient(s).
It's what makes active dialogue so compellingly interesting and fuels the intellectual
libido. Exchange of ideas is the core of education and learning.
If there are no senders there can be no receipt and Hoffler's prediction comes
true: "the learned inherit a world that has passed them by."
<p>Learning by its very nature must include input. In this cyber world
we have chosen to be involved with, input comes in many forms. The terminology
of lurking may find familiarity or contempt but boils down to input or information
gathering which is an integral component of <br>
learning. An open society supports this component with zeal but would
be doing its membership a disservice if it did not continually encourage a
greater participation that could build on its collective brain trust.
Each of us comes to this moment in time with our individual experiences, knowledge,
questions and commitments. To be willing to share takes more than access or
courage. The medium must be both hospitable and supportive. A
sense of community will bring out the timid and adventuresome alike, but only
when individual priorities of commitment can be satisfied in this complex
world we find ourselves. Your participation, at whatever level, is important
to the success of WAOE and the growth of its members.
</blockquote>
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<p><a name="Say"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>About Your Say</font></font></b>
<br>
<font face="Helvetica">The idea of this section of WEB is to offer a specific
forum where members can ask questions or raise concerns or make comments about
any aspect of the organisation and running of WAOE itself. So, if anything
is bothering you - or even if you'd like to pay us a compliment! - send an email
to the <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">WEB Editor</a>. If the message
is printable ;-)), it will appear in the next available number. And, depending
upon the responses generated, it may help to start up a thread of discussion
on the WAOE WebBoard.</font>
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<p><a name="Links"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>WAOE Links</font></font></b>
<p><b>This section lists URLs for key Websites within WAOE itself, and other URLs
related to online education which have been identified by members.</b>
<p><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>WAOE Organisation and Communication
Sites</font></font></i></b> <br>
<ul>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">WAOE Home Page: <a href="http://www.waoe.org/default.htm">http://www.waoe.org/default.htm</a></font></li>
<li> <a name="News"></a><font face="Helvetica">WAOE-News: To subscribe, go to
<a href="mailto:majordomo@uidaho.edu">majordomo@uidaho.edu</a>. Without a
subject heading, send the text <subscribe waoe-news></font></li>
<li> <a name="Views"></a><font face="Helvetica">WAOE-Views:</font> <font face="Helvetica">To
subscribe, go to <a href="mailto:majordomo@waoe.org">majordomo@waoe.org</a>.
Without a subject heading, send the text <subscribe waoe-views>. To contribute,
send email to <a href="mailto:waoe-views@waoe.org">waoe-views@waoe.org</a></font></li>
<li> <a name="Board"></a><font face="Helvetica">WAOE WebBoard: <a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe">http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe</a>
L</font>og-in by using the first part of your email address (before @) and
the password <waoe>. If you have difficulty getting onto the Board, write
to Mike Warner <font face="Helvetica"><a href="mailto:mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us">mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us</a>.</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">WAOE Journal: <a href="http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/waoej.html">http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/waoej.html</a></font></li>
</ul>
<br>
<p> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p>*********************************************************************
<p><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>WAOE Committees, OCREWs and Other
Groups</font></font></i></b> <br>
<ul>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Online Educator Development Committee: <a href="http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/">http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/</a></font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Planning and Finance Committee: <a href="http://www.waoe.org/pl-fin-committee.htm">http://www.waoe.org/pl-fin-committee.htm</a></font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Web Design Committee: email Robert Luke (Chairperson)
<a href="mailto: robert.luke@uleth.ca">robert.luke@uleth.ca</a></font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Academic Outcomes Assessment Online Course and Resource
Evaluation Workgroup (OCREW): email Jenna Seehafer at <a href="mailto: seehafer@csus.edu">seehafer@csus.edu</a></font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Educational Standards Online Course and Resource
Evaluation Workgroup (OCREW): <a href="http://www.waoe.org/edst_ocrew.htm">http://www.waoe.org/edst_ocrew.htm</a></font></li>
<li> Industry and Academia <font face="Helvetica">Online Course and Resource
Evaluation Workgroup (OCREW): <a href="http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/academic_non_academic.html">http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/academic_non_academic.html</a></font></li>
</ul>
<br>
<p> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p>**************************************************************************
<p><b><i><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>Online Education Development and
Discussion Sites</font></font></i></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">Links-Sharing Page: <a href="http://155.43.48.225:2020/walnklst.html">http://155.43.48.225:2020/walnklst.html</a></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">This is an organised set of links relevant to online
education which various members of WAOE have provided. If you know of other
useful links that you would like to share with other members, please comment
on them via WAOE-Views or send them directly to <a href="mailto:waoe@waoe.org">waoe@waoe.org</a>
for inclusion on the <a href="http://155.43.48.225:2020/walnklst.html">Links
Sharing Page</a>.</font>
<p>**********************
<p><a name="New_Links"></a><b><u><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+1>NEW LINKS</font></font>:</u></b>
<p><a name="emTech"></a><b><font size=+1>Emerging Technologies Sites</font></b>
<p>Emerging Technologies (<a href="http://www.emTech.net/">emTech</a>) provides
a comprehensive list of web sites billed as "useful for teachers, students,
parents, administrators, and other professional educators." As at the
most recent update (June 20) more than 80 topics are listed on the home
page. These cover a very mixed bag of broad interests - Action Research,
Assessment, Home Schooling, Online Class Projects, Professional Development
and Teaching Resources are a small sample of topics directly relevant to online
education practice, but emTech also offers information on Bookstores Online,
Creative Crafts, Foreign Languages, Holidays, Languages and Cultures, and Travel
Sites, to illustrate just some of the more wide-ranging topics.
<p>Each of the topic headings is a link to at least one relevant site or a plethora
of links or a discussion forum or a location for downloading software, and so
on. Exploring all that the site has to offer takes a lot of time - and
users will lament the lack of a search facility - but there are treasures within.
For example, salted away under the topic Student Research Online, you'll find
the link, Enhance Student Learning - The Internet as a Research and Information
Tool, which opens out to a wealth of practical online teaching and learning
opportunities, such as
<ul>
<li> Explore Online Simulations: Virtual Fly Lab; Virtual Frog Dissection; Online
Exploration of the Heart</li>
<li> Join an Existing Project or Create Your Own Collaborative Projects</li>
<li> Student Publications and Curriculum Projects</li>
<li> Use the Internet to Create a Syllabi Web Site: The Crucible Project (based
on Arthur Millers's play); Volcanoes; Rain Forest</li>
</ul>
<br>
<p> <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p>And that's just one of the links under one of the topics! The site's
really worth a good look, but take a long drink to your computer, or a strong
mug of coffee.
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<p><a name="Feedback"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>Feedback</font></font></b>
<p>No items in this issue.
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<p><a name="About"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>About WEB</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">The WAOE Electronic Bulletin (WEB) is the official newsletter
of the World Association for Online Education. WEB will raise issues relevant
to the conduct and development of the Association, convey important information
to WAOE members, encourage active participation in the affairs of the Association,
and provide a forum for members to make a contribution.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">WEB will be posted every two weeks or so to a mirror
Website - URL <a href="http://www.waoe.org/web/index.htm">http://www.waoe.org/web/index.htm</a>
(although the address or the links to the site may cane from time to time).
At the time of publication each member will be sent an email message stating
the URL and listing the contents of the current issue. Those few members
who are unable to access WEB via the Website, or who prefer to receive the bulletin
via email, will be sent each issue both as an email message and as an attached
file in html format.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">If you missed an issue and would like to look back,
WEB is now <a href="http://waoe.org/webvol1/htm">archived</a> on the WAOE Website.</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">Members are still expected to subscribe to WAOE-News
(see <a href="#Links">WAOE Links</a>), because that listserve will continue
to operate as the medium for official announcements, which you may expect to
become more frequent as WAOE develops. WEB will adopt a more comprehensive,
detailed and newsy approach to providing items of useful and interesting information
to members than is appropriate via WAOE-News. In particular, it will act
as a gateway to the various and growing number of sites and locations within
WAOE where exciting things are happening.</font>
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<p><a name="WAOE"></a><b><font face="Helvetica"><font size=+2>About WAOE</font></font></b>
<p><font face="Helvetica">The World Association for Online Education (WAOE) is
a nonprofit public benefit corporation, incorporated in the State of California,
USA. WAOE is organised for charitable purposes and not for the private gain
of any person. The specific purposes for which this members' association is
organised are described in detail in the WAOE <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm">Bylaws</a>.
These include WAOE's <a name="Objectives"></a>objectives to:</font>
<ul>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">develop computer-assisted online education as a
professional discipline, based upon voluntary efforts of educators so involved
throughout the world</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">evaluate educational content presented over online
media, basing these activities upon sound pedagogical principles, humanistic
ethics, and the support of educators so involved</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">assist educators and administrators in the conceptualisation,
planning, construction, administration, and evaluation of online instruction,
as well as in the selection and use of academically reliable online resources
in face-to-face courses</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">create an international community of online educators
for mutual support</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">provide scholarly information to all those concerned
with the quality of online education</font></li>
</ul>
<font face="Helvetica">For more information about the way WAOE has been taking
shape, go to the <a href="http://www.waoe.org/communication.htm">Communication</a>
page of the <a href="http://www.waoe.org/">WAOE Website </a>and look up the <a href="http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html">Archive
of Founding Documents</a>. This archive includes:</font>
<ul>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">Details of WAOE Officers/Directors and Appointed
Officers</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">A copy of the November 1998 NEWS RELEASE: World
Association for Online Education</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">An outline of the Proposed WAOE Committee System</font></li>
<li> <font face="Helvetica">The Founding Propositions of WAOE (August 1998)</font></li>
</ul>
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<font face="Helvetica">##############</font>
<p><b>Copyright © World Association for Online Education</b> <br>
Copyright in the contents of this Bulletin is held by the World Association
for Online Education (WAOE), incorporated in the State of California, United
States of America, as a non-profit, public-benefit organisation. For enquiries,
contact WAOE at <font face="Helvetica"><a href="mailto:waoe@waoe.org">waoe@waoe.org</a></font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">#######################################################################</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica">End of WEB Vol 1, No 9, July 20 1999.</font> <br>
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