Alan is a long-standing member making his debut in WEB. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Basic Humanities Program, at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia (USA).
Just a few years ago I was embarrassed to admit that I did not know how to send an email message. After all, why did I even need a computer, except for work processing? I taught religious studies and humanities. Well, now I may use educational telecomputing as much as or more than any faculty at my university. I have also developed MA & PhD programs for a virtual university, Greenwich University, recently accredited in Australia <http://greenwich.edu/aah/rclma.htm>, and mentor for another virtual school, Honolulu University.I also offer online, noncredit courses for a virtual school, Omega College, at http://www.NonCreditEd.net/wileyccc/religion.html. I have taught online for my residential university and am in the process of transforming my religious studies courses into online ones.
Whether enhancing classroom courses or in online ones, I have abandoned being a teacher in favor of being a mentor, a guide and director of resources for my learners/students. My hope is to continue to experience and experiment with the best ways to mentor online and to become an online resource for discussions and learning in my fields.
My intuition is that online learning, including the idea of learning being life-long, is transforming concepts and perceptions of the world and of learning. I often have students engage in intercultural discussions with other students at colleges around the world, as well as have guest scholars and others as online, virtual guests with whom the students can ask, comment and respond.
Perhaps my story can encourage those who begin with almost a cyberphobia about computers and the technologies for the World-Wide Web. I am not now in a state of cyberphilia, but I am experimenting with online possibilities as a way to have a present memory of the future regarding learning in all its forms, including online.
Organization such as WAOE can help us escape from any isolation as teachers or mentors by slowly developing a deeper sense of a world wide community of learning and learners. I seek to have online mentoring and learning be a vehicle for helping learners discover what Bankei said long ago: "The farther you enter into the truth, the deeper it is.
Web sites:
Home Page: http://webpages.marshall.edu/~altany/
Vita: http://webpages.marshall.edu/~altany/vita.htm
Courses: http://webpages.marshall.edu/~altany/courses.htm
Departmental Page I developed: http://www.marshall.edu/rst/