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<tt><font size=+2>World Association for Online Education</font></tt> <br>
<b><tt><font size=+2>W E B</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt><font size=+1>WAOE Electronic Bulletin</font></tt> <br>
<tt>Volume 1, No. 10</tt> <br>
<tt>August 14 1999</tt>
<p><b><blink><font color="#FF0A1A"><font size=+1>IMPORTANT MESSAGE - MEMBERSHIP
FEES</font></font></blink></b>
<p> With some reluctance, the WAOE Board of Directors secured the approval
of the recent Annual General Meeting to introduce an annual membership fee from
July 1 1999. Receipts from new and renewing memberships - supplemented
by donations, sponsorships and grants wherever possible - are an essential source
of the small but regular and stable income we need in order to be able to sustain
our database management and other Web-based operations, and to extend our communications
systems, regional chapters, committee and OCREW networking and special project
activities in the interests of improving the quality and professionalism of
online education.
<p>Full information on the payment of fees is available as part of the Orientation
Course at <a href="http://www.waoe.org/orientation/fees.htm">http://www.waoe.org/orientation/fees.htm</a>.
The following is a summary of the main points: <br>
<ul>
<li> The membership fee for 1999/2000 is $US10.</li>
</ul>
<br>
1 unit = $10 = one year WAOE membership <br>
2 units = $20 = two year WAOE membership <br>
3 units = $30 = three year WAOE membership <br>
Any amount over $30 will be taken to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a donation
to WAOE. <br>
<ul>
<li> There are two main methods of payment:</li>
</ul>
<br>
(1) Enrol in the WAOE Orientation Course being set up - and still undergoing development
- on the LearnOnline site, <br>
<a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html">http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html</a>,
courtesy of WAOE member John Spiers, and pay by VISA or Mastercard.
<p>(2) Snail mail a cheque or money order enclosing a slip stating your name and
address (if that is not on the check) and your email address (which will <br>
be used to issue receipts)
<p>Please write "WAOE 99/00 Membership Registration fee " on the check or money
order at the bottom left or along the top.
<p>Cheques or money orders should be made out and forwarded according to one of
the following alternatives:
<p><u>World-wide</u>: Make out to <Jenna Seehafer, WAOE Treasurer> and send
to <br>
Jenna Seehafer <br>
432 K Street <br>
Rio Linda, CA 95673-3419 <br>
USA
<p><u>Within Australia</u>: Make out to <David Wyatt, WAOE> and send to <br>
David Wyatt, WAOE <br>
Box 1121, Blackwood Post Office <br>
Blackwood SA 5051 <br>
Currency equivalents - Australia: <br>
$AUS15 = one year WAOE membership <br>
$AUS30 = two year WAOE membership <br>
$AUS45 = three year WAOE membership <br>
Any amount over $AUS45 will be taken to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a donation
to WAOE.
<p><u>Within Brazil</u>: contact Roberto Andrea Mueller <rmueller@mail.ufv.br>
for assistance
<p><u>Within Japan</u>: follow the detailed instructions prepared by Steve McCarty
and posted under para 5 of the <a href="http://www.waoe.org/orientation/fees.htm">notice
about payment of dues</a> <br>
Currency equivalents - Japan: <br>
1250 yen = one year WAOE membership <br>
2500 yen = two year WAOE membership <br>
3750 yen = three year WAOE membership <br>
Any amount over 3750 yen will be taken to be a 3 year WAOE membership plus a
donation to WAOE <br>
<ul>
<li> Waiver of fees may be approved on the grounds that you are providing service
to WAOE, that the</li>
</ul>
<br>
costs of funds transfer or currency exchange would be excessive, and/or that you
are in a situation of <br>
severe financial hardship. Their is more information on the <a href="#Waiver1">policy</a>
and <a href="#Waiver2">procedure</a> in this issue of WEB.
<p>Application should be made to the Membership Officer. For convenience,
the advice about waiver <br>
of fees includes an email link and some standardised text you could use.
Or go direct from here to <br>
my address <dwyatt@camtech.net.au> <br>
<ul>
<li> There is no online form for renewal of membership, pending further development
of our</li>
</ul>
<br>
data-gathering procedures. If you have changed your email address since
initially registering to join <br>
WAOE, we will identify your current address from the LearnOnline order
form or on the slip <br>
accompanying your payment by mail. If you wish to advise other changed
details, you should go to <br>
the Membership page of the WAOE Website, <br>
<http://155.43.48.225:2020/cgi-bin/memprof5.pl> and submit a new registration
form. <br>
<ul>
<li> We request that renewing members pay their dues by September 1 1999.</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Please email <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">David Wyatt</a> for any
clarification or additional information you may need.
<p>##############
<p><a name="Contents"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Contents</font></tt></b>
<p>The contents of this issue have been re-arranged, giving greater prominence
to items about or contributed by members. Please use <a href="#Feedback">Feedback</a>
to tell us what you think of the new look.
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#New">Welcome to New Members</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<tt><a href="#Orientation">Orientation Course</a></tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Profile">Memberâs Profile</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<tt><a href="#Karen">Chris Jesshope</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Audiograph">AudioGraph - A way forward in Net-based Teaching</a></tt>
<br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#About_Profile">About Member's Profile</a></tt></i></b>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Conference">Conference (Re)Call</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#Reports">Reports:</a></tt></i></b> <br>
<a href="#Reports1">New Education Discussion List/Web Board</a> <br>
<b><tt><a href="#Where">Where to Conference (Re)Call?</a></tt></b> <br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#Coming">Coming Events:</a></tt></i></b> <br>
<a href="#Event1">Online Teaching and Learning Experiences</a> <br>
<a href="#Event2">Call for Proposals - <tt>5th Annual TCC Online Conference</tt></a>
<br>
<a href="#Event3">Call for articles: Learning Technology Newsletter</a> <br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#Feature">About Conference (Re)Call</a></tt></i></b>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Ideas">WEB Ideas and Issues</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<a href="#Ideas1">The Library's Role in Distance Education</a> <br>
<tt><a href="#When">When is a school not a school</a> (follow-up)</tt> <br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#What">About Web Ideas and Issues</a></tt></i></b>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#News1">News Briefs</a></font></tt></b> <br>
<a href="#News1">WAOE Server and Database Development</a> <br>
<a href="#News2">Multilingual WAOE</a>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Policies">WAOE Policies and Procedures</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<tt><a href="#Respect">Respect and Support the Voluntary Effort</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#When">Release of Personal Information</a></tt> <br>
<tt>Waiver of Membership Fees/Dues - <a href="#Waiver1">Policy </a>and <a href="#Waiver2">Procedure</a></tt>
<br>
<tt><a href="#Change">Notifying Change of Email Address</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Resign">How to unsubscribe or resign</a></tt> <br>
<i><tt><a href="#About_Policies">About Waoe Policies and Procedures</a></tt></i>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Forth">Forthcoming Meetings</a></font></tt></b>
<br>
<tt><a href="/web/vol1no10/index.htm#AGM">Planning and Finance Committee Meeting</a></tt>
<br>
<i><tt><a href="#this">About this Section</a></tt></i> <br>
<i><tt><a href="#Time">Time Conversion Site</a></tt></i>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Your_Say">Your Say</a></font></tt></b> <br>
No items for this issue <br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#Say">About Your Say</a></tt></i></b>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Links">WAOE Links</a></font></tt></b> <br>
<b><i><tt><a href="#New_Links">New Links:</a></tt></i></b> <br>
<tt><a href="#Link1">The Internet and Self-Directed Learning</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Link2">Teacher submissions</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Link3">Novice Distance Educators Needed!</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Link4">Distance Learning Questionnaire</a></tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#Feedback">Feedback</a></font></tt></b> <br>
No items for this issue
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#About">About WEB</a></font></tt></b>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1><a href="#WAOE">About WAOE</a></font></tt></b> <br>
<tt><a href="#Aims">WAOE's Objectives</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#Meaning">The Meaning and Exercise of Membership in WAOE</a></tt>
<br>
<tt><a href="#System">WAOE's Communications and Discussion System</a></tt> <br>
<tt><a href="#WAOE_Committees">WAOE Committees and OCREWs</a></tt>
<p><tt>############</tt>
<p><a name="New"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Welcome to New Members</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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 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.</tt>
<p><tt>As with any unfamiliar organisation, there must be a lot of questions in
the minds of recent joiners. The first place new members should go to
for answers, of course is the WAOE </tt><a href="#Orientation">Orientation Course.</a><tt>
As well, mostly through links to the Orientation Course, 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.</tt>
<p><tt>New members - and existing members - might also explore the <a href="#Policies">WAOE
Policies and Procedures</a><b><font size=+1> </font></b>section of WEB and the
<a href="#WAOE">About WAOE</a> section.</tt>
<p><tt>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 in an appropriate section of WEB.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Orientation"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE Orientation Course</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>Thanks to generous support from long-standing member John Spiers and his<font color="#FF172A">
<a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/">LearnOnline </a></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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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 color="#FF172A"><a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/orient.htm">Orientation
Course</a></font>, or through the View Course link on the WAOE Orientation Course
<a href="http://noncredited.net/wileyccc/worasofonedo.html">enrolment page</a>.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Profile"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Memberâs Profile</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="Karen"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Chris Jesshope</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><i>When I heard about the launch ofthe Audiograph suite of free multimedia
educational software tools at Massey University in New Zealand, I chased up
more informationand a short bio piece from the leader of the development team,
old hand member</i><a href="mailto:C.R.Jesshope@massey.ac.nz">Chris Jesshope</a><i>.
Here's what Chris sent me.<a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Web Editor</a></i></tt>
<blockquote><tt>So, who am I and what do I do for my crust, for my employers at
Massey University in New Zealand? (Massey University has an established
history of distance ediucation and is a multi-campus institution as well as
having a large base of extramural students.) Well I used to be Head of
the Department of Computer Science but here, as with many institutions, we have
undergone a process of reorganisation, for better or for worse. So now
I have many hats but still only one chair! Thus I am:</tt>
<blockquote>
<li> <tt>Professor of Computer Science in the <a href="http://www-ist.massey.ac.nz/">Institute
of Information Sciences and Technology</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Leader of the <a href="http://www-ist.massey.ac.nz/ResearchGroups/DisplayGroup.asp?GroupID=11">Computer
Science Group</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Convenor of the <a href="http://cblmm.massey.ac.nz/">Computer-based
Learning and Multimedia Research Group</a></tt></li>
</blockquote>
<tt>And recently I have been appointed as Director of <a href="http://www.nzedsoft.com/">NZEdSoft</a>,
a newly formed commercial centre at Massey University, which was established
to market the research from the CBL & MM Group. This is a new venture for
Massey and the aim is to be able to support and innovate in the area of computer-based
learning.</tt>
<p><tt>My interests are in software systems to support teaching via the web.
Currently we are developing remote lecture delivery systems, which include
MPEG video streams, and our future plans are in the area of artificial tutors.
Our past work in the area of multi-media authoring for dummies (i.e. lecturers
like you and me) has recently been launched as a commercial product.
<a href="mailbox:/G3233MHz./System%20Folder/Preferences/Netscape%20Users/David%20Wyatt/Mail/WEB-CURRENT%20COPY?id=v04003a04b39cd7eb3aff%40%5B130.123.97.199%5D&number=68270&part=1.2">Pic</a></tt>
</blockquote>
<tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>##############</tt>
<p><a name="Audiograph"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>AudioGraph - A way forward in
Net-based Teaching (Media Release)</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="http://www.nzedsoft.com/">NZEdSoft</a> (New Zealand Educational
Software) is pleased to announce the launch of its AudioGraph tools, a suite
of multimedia educational software. These tools have the potential to make multimedia
authoring as simple as writing a word processor document and will make the world-wide
web and multimedia accessible to any teacher or lecturer who has acquired a
basic computer literacy.</tt>
<p><tt>Imagine being able record the material you would normally present to your
class and then automatically create web pages that students can view and hear
using a standard web browser. An experienced user can prepare a multi-media
web lecture with the use of the AudioGraph in not much more time than it would
take to deliver the material to a class. Once recorded however it can be put
on CD ROM or on a web server and can be viewed at any time and at any place
by your students.</tt>
<p><tt>The AudioGraph tools create a web site from a set of presentation graphics,
such as a PowerPoint presentation and allow the presenter to annotate those</tt>
<br>
<tt>slides with pen input, graphics and with voice. All this is compressed and
made into a web site automatically, where each link plays back one or more</tt>
<br>
<tt>slides. In the browser the student can interact with the presentation,
using hyperlinks and can start and stop the presentation with simple controls
just like a tape recorder. Because of the compression used, the presentations
can be downloaded across even relatively slow modem connections allowing access
to the material to almost any student who has a home computer.</tt>
<p><tt>Although the recorder makes use of the superior multimedia capabilities
of the Macintosh computer, it has been recognised that this is not the computer
of choice for most students, the majority of whom use Windows PCs of some variety.
Because of this, NZEdSoft has made players available for both Windows (95/98/NT)
and Macintosh computers. These players integrate painlessly into Netscape
or Internet Explorer Web browsers and provide the capability to read AudioGraph
presentations. Both players are being distributed absolutely free with
a licence allowing personal, non-commercial use.</tt>
<p><tt>NZEdSoft is a fully commercial unit associated with Massey University and
has been established to support, promote and sell the AudioGraph Tools.
It is quite appropriate that initially these sales will be made through the
Internet. It will be possible to download and evaluate the AudioGraph
Recorder from NZEdSoft's web sites and from most Macintosh shareware libraries.
This software is fully functional with the exception that presentations produced
can not be compressed and exported as web sites. To do this a licence
must be purchased, which will unlock the software's full potential. A single-user
licence can be purchased for $499 NZ with substantial discounts for educational
use. For further information concerning licences, including site licence
negotiations, contact: <a href="mailto:sales@nzedsoft.com">sales@nzedsoft.com</a>
or <a href="mailto:sales@nzedsoft.co.nz">sales@nzedsoft.co.nz</a></tt>
<p><tt>The software can be downloaded from: <a href="http://www.nzedsoft.com">http://www.nzedsoft.com</a>
or http://www.nzedsoft.co.nz</tt>
<p><tt>Chris Jesshope, director of <a href="http://www.nzedsoft.com/">NZEdSoft</a>
says that the AudioGraph tools will revolutionise way in which educational and
training material can be presented to students and with NZEdSoft hopes to surf
the wave of net-based teaching, which is one of the fastest growing market sectors
world-wide.</tt>
<p><tt>The creation of NZEdSoft has been supported by New Technology Developments
at Massey University. New Technology Manager, Dr Josephine Serrallach, says
that the AudioGraph falls between presentation software and multi-media authoring
tools. The ease of use of the AudioGraph interface opens the market to non-professional
users in the areas of online education, product documentation and training,
and web page design.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>##############</tt>
<p><a name="About_Profile"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+1>About Member's Profile</font></tt></i></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><b><tt><u>But why wait to be asked?</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.</tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Conference"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Conference (Re)Call</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="Reports"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+2>Reports</font></tt></i></b>
<p><a name="Reports1"></a><b><font size=+2>New Education Discussion List/Web Board</font></b>
<p><i>Janet Young sent across the following announcement of a new online discussion
group</i>.
<blockquote>If you are serious about your career as a teacher, you will be very
interested in joining a brand new discussion list. The Education Companion
Newsletter now has a FREE opt-in Discussion Board for Educators. You will network
with colleagues from across the country and around the world. Share lesson
plans, solve classroom management issues, get advice on paper ideas, spike your
own professional learning curve- keep current with today's critical issues.
Chat will colleagues from all over. Make chat arrangements for group conferences.
This is for professional educators. Spammers will be blocked out.
If you are interested in becoming one of the first to join use the links below
now!
<p>Anyone "honestly" interested in education today is welcome to join.
<p>The Education Companion Web Board & Professional Chat: <a href="http://www.egroups.com/list/the-education-companion/">http://www.egroups.com/list/the-education-companion/</a>
<br>
Subscribe to Web Board: <a href="mailto:the-education-companion-subscribe@egroups.com">the-education-companion-subscribe@egroups.com</a>
<p>Your colleagues look forward to joining your discussion.
</blockquote>
It would be good to get feedback from any WAOE member who is participating in
this group.
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Where"></a><b><font size=+2>Where to Conference (Re)Call?</font></b>
<p>This is a re-run of an item from Web <sup>#</sup>9. There were virtually
no responses - perhaps because so many members were on either summer or winter
vacations when the last issue of WEB appeared - so we are still in two minds
whether to dump this section or change it. But change it to what???
And while we wait on the decision, the Reports section, in particular, looks
decidedly thin for lack of input from any member who has done anything online
that he or she thinks is worth telling others about. Please advise!
<a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Web Editor</a>
<blockquote>As the deadline for each issue of WEB comes around, it is becoming
increasingly difficult to fill the Conference <br>
(Re)Call column with events that meet the criteria we have set. And it's
probably showing. The main focus of the <br>
Reports section of this column is intended to be on reviews by members of WAOE
of any conferences, seminars, <br>
workshops or other events which they have attended recently where they picked
up information which they found <br>
useful in their own practice of online education and which they therefore feel
is worth passing on to colleagues in <br>
the Association. There is no restriction on the nature of the events themselves,
other than the essential points that <br>
they should be relevant to the objectives of WAOE, and they should hold some
likely interest for members at <br>
large. The Coming Events section, on the other hand, is intended to present
opportunities for members to <br>
participate in conferences, seminars, workshops discussion groups coming up
in the next few weeks. These events <br>
would preferably be conducted online, at least in part, and at little or no
cost, so as to offer as few restrictions as <br>
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 <br>
believe that, out of some 900 members, there is not even one or two in any
given month who have participated in <br>
some event or other which would be worth making a brief summary about to pass
on to other members. But <br>
unless this kind and level of input comes through to the column from members,
it will not be possible to maintain <br>
the Reports section at all. It cannot survive on the capacity of the
WEB Editor alone (which basically it has been <br>
doing for the past several issues) to check out what is happening around the
world, let alone attend and report on <br>
at least one event every couple of weeks. Likewise, it is becoming too
demanding a task for this single individual <br>
to search the World Wide Web week-in and week-out for appropriate happenings
to include in the Coming Events <br>
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 <br>
Conference (Re)Call column? Should they be retained in their present
form? In particular, should we broaden <br>
the scope of the Coming Events section to promote conferences etc which take
place in real time, or which <br>
require registration fees? How willing are members to contribute to
the column with reviews of events they have <br>
attended, or with news about events coming up? Are there items
other than conferneces and the like which <br>
members would like to see reviewed and reported - books or journal articles,
for example, or professional <br>
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 <br>
contribute reviews or news items. And keep them coming in!
</blockquote>
<tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Coming"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+2>Coming Events</font></tt></i></b>
<p><a name="Event1"></a><b><font size=+2>Online Teaching and Learning Experiences</font></b>
<p>Online Teaching and Learning Experiences is the title of 1999 Conference of
the International Online Conference on Teaching Online in Higher Education.
This event will be held (online) on November 8 - 9 1999. Suggested topics
include (but are not limited to):
<p>Applications of web-based tools in instruction
<ul>
<li> Evolution of course content on the web: adapting, expanding, deleting</li>
<li> Using off-the-shelf tools for online presentation of information</li>
<li> New learning opportunites</li>
<li> Course management tools</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Training faculty for web-based teaching
<ul>
<li> Training programs</li>
<li> Strategies for stimulating development of online courses</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Managing interaction (email, chat, forum, etc.)
<ul>
<li> Dealing with interaction overload</li>
<li> Email civility</li>
<li> Maintaining order in a chat room</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Instructional design of Web-based learning environments
<ul>
<li> Principles of good course web site design</li>
<li> Student-centered design</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Online student performance assessment
<ul>
<li> Online assessment tools</li>
<li> Dealing with cheating online</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Assessing online courses
<ul>
<li> Student outcomes</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
Further details are available at <a href="http://www.ipfw.edu/as/99tohe/">http://www.ipfw.edu/as/99tohe/</a>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Event2"></a><b><font size=+2>Call for Proposals - <tt>5th Annual TCC
Online Conference</tt></font></b>
<p><tt>The call is out for presentations to WAOE's alma mater online conference,
the annual Teaching in the Community Colleges event which sparked the formation
of our Association in 1998. The next Conference, to be held April
12-14, 2000, is titled: "A VIRTUAL ODYSSEY: What's Ahead for New Technologies
in Learning?" Here is the notice being sent to a variey of online
education forums.</tt>
<blockquote><tt>You are invited to sign on as a presenter--a navigator on an exploration
into the uncharted waters of the next millennium. Join our quest to determine
exactly where 2- and 4-year colleges are and to discover what's ahead for new
technologies in learning. What is our bearing, our present position?
What are we doing right--or wrong? Help us chart the best possible course
for the 21st century: What are the salient trends and issues facing us? Where
will we be or where do we want to be in the next 10 to 20 years?</tt>
<p><tt>For further information re guidelines for proposals, possible topics,
the role of a presenter, registration procedures, key dates, etc., please
go to <a href="http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2000">http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2000</a>
or write to Jim Shimabukuro <a href="mailto:jamess@hawaii.edu">jamess@hawaii.edu</a>
or Bert Kimura <a href="mailto:bert@hawaii.edu">bert@hawaii.edu</a>.</tt>
<p><tt>We won't be changing the basic foundation of presentations, keynotes,
and forums established over the past few years; however, we're adding a new
way for participants to become actively involved. We're positioning this conference
as a staging area, a construction site for a number of reports that will help
colleges set a meaningful course for the use of technology in the next century.
We'll be forming teams of writers from among the participants to tap the presentations
and forums for building material, and the resulting reports will be made available
to all participants and to all who are interested. For more information on
joining or leading one of the writing teams, please contact Jim Shimabukuro
<a href="mailto:jamess@hawaii.edu">jamess@hawaii.edu</a>.</tt>
<p><tt>[The TCC Online Conference is sponsored by the Teaching in the Community
Colleges Electronic Journal and the University of Hawaii-Kapiolani Community
College.]</tt>
</blockquote>
<tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Event3"></a><b><font size=+2>Call for Articles: Learning Technology
Newsletter</font></b>
<p>Learning Technology Newsletter is a semi-annual newsletter which aims mainly
to report the activities of Learning Technology Task Force. The Task Force
is an arm of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc (IEEE).
Key responsibility for the Newsletter is carried by Dr Kinshuk who is a member
of the WAOE Coordinating Ring in his capacity as Chairperson of the Online Educator
Development Committee. Kinshuk put out a call for contributions earlier
in August:
<blockquote>Dear colleagues
<p>We are seeking case studies, project reports and short articles related to
emerging and existing learning technologies for October issue of Learning
Technology newsletter (ISSN 1438-0625). If you are interested, please
see past issues, author guidelines and other details at: <a href="http://ltsc.ieee.org/ifets/lttf/learn_tech/">http://ltsc.ieee.org/ifets/lttf/learn_tech/</a>
<p>Inquiries: <a href="mailto:kinshuk@massey.ac.nz">kinshuk@massey.ac.nz</a>
<p>Regards.
<p>Kinshuk <br>
Publications, IEEE LTTF
</blockquote>
Kinshuk is also the Editor of <a href="http://ifets.gmd.de/periodical/">Educational
Technology & Society</a>, the journal of the International Forum of Educational
Technology & Society and the IEEE Learning Technology Task Force.
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<h2> <a name="Feature"></a><i><tt><font size=+1>About Conference (Re)Call</font></tt></i></h2>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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>.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt><font size=-1>################</font></tt>
<p><a name="Ideas"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WEB Ideas and Issues</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="Ideas1"></a><b><font size=+2>The Library's Role in Distance Education</font></b>
<p>A query to the Distance Learning in Developing Countries forum (<a href="http://www.egroups.com/group/dldc/info.html">dldc</a>)
about the role of libraries in distance learning elicited a response from the
Association of College and Research Libraries. The Association has developed
guidelines which are posted at <a href="http://caspian.switchinc.org/~distlearn/guidelines/">http://caspian.switchinc.org/~distlearn/guidelines/</a>.
<p>The original query ventured the opinion that
<blockquote>there is a serious lack of co-ordination between the course providers
and the information providers ... libraries are left out by the course providers
when their courses are designed. This can lead to a drop in the usage for the
library resources that are provided.</blockquote>
and raised the following matters:
<blockquote>
<li> What are the hot topics or research areas with regards to the library's
role in Distance learning?</li>
<li> What are the current problem areas faced by the academic libraries in relation
to Distance learning?</li>
<li> Is there any university library that is co-ordinating well with the course
providers and to what extent?</li>
<li> How would one judge, whether the co-ordination is good?</li>
</blockquote>
This is an iomportant set of questions for WAOE members to ask of themselves,
their working environments and collegial relationships. How, indeed, should
librarians and teachers collaborate in the delivery of online education?
What positive - and not so positive - experience can WAOE members rccont in this
area? How are these things handled in yoiur own educational institution
or organisation? What <u>is</u> the role of the library in the planning,
delivery and evaluation of online education?
<p>Do the Association of College and Research Libraries guidelines provide appropriate
answers to such questions?
<p>Use <a href="#Your_Say">Your Say</a> to state your views. It would be
great to hear from the librarians among us, especially!
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="When"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>When is a school not a school?</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>For those of you interested in the court case reported in the last issue
of WEB, considering whether a school in Australia is required to have physical
classrooms, a recent <a href="http://www.onlineaustralia.net.au/">Online Australia</a>
newsletter carried the following update:</tt>
<blockquote><tt><u>Internet School Moves Closer To Registration</u></tt>
<p><tt>Net Grammar encountered a few bumps along the road to becoming a registered
school teaching the New South Wales higher school certificate to students
at home and overseas.</tt>
<p><tt>At first the New South Wales Board of Studies decided that because Net
Grammar doesn't have physical buildings and class rooms it was not considered
a school and so rejected its application to teach the secondary school qualification.</tt>
<p><tt>Net Grammar, <a href="http://www.ngs.com.au/">http://www.ngs.com.au/</a>
, aims to teach the courses to students at home. It employs qualified teachers
to guide the students and set work.</tt>
<p><tt>Last week Net Grammar won an appeal against the decision and the education
board has been told to reconsider the company's proposal to provide education
online.</tt>
</blockquote>
<tt><blink>Use the <a href="#Say">Your Say</a> section of WEB to ... well, have
your say! on any items in this or any other section of WEB.</blink></tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="What"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+1>About WEB Ideas and Issues</font></tt></i></b>
<p><tt>The issues and other matters raised in this section of WEB are intended
to derive from membersâ concerns and suggestions.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Briefs"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>News Briefs</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="News1"></a><b><font size=+2>WAOE Server and Database Development</font></b>
<p>A significant decison was taken at the Board of Directors' Meeting during the
latter part of July. In the context of discussing well-supported moves
to establish an Australian chapter of WAOE, the Board went on to consider the
Association's urgent need to consolidate and extend its server and database
operations. The outcome was the formation of a working party of the Coordinating
Ring to come up with a practical solution by November 1999.
<p>The relevant motion, in its final form reads as follows:
<blockquote>(1) Be it resolved that WAOE agrees to enter into a collaboration
with the Australian Web-based Training <br>
Association (AWBTA) to establish an Australian chapter of WAOE.
<p>(2) Be it further resolved that AWBTA will provide such facilities and services
to WAOE as a whole as shall be <br>
defined and agreed between the parties, including membership registration
processes, database development and <br>
maintenance, and networking and communications throughout WAOE.
<p>(3) Be it further resolved that WAOE and AWBTA will combine expertise and
share resources with a view to <br>
establishing comprehensive facilities and services for WAOE, under the domain
name waoe.org, on a server <br>
located in Sydney, Australia,
<p>PROVIDED THAT a working party of the WAOE Coordinating Ring be established
to define the long-term server <br>
and database needs of the WAOE, and to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages
of retaining and extending <br>
the server arrangements in place during 1999 as well as those entailed in
transferring WAOE's domain server to <br>
Australia, and thus to identify and recommend to the Board of Directors the
most effective solution, by not later <br>
than the end of November 1999.
</blockquote>
Any member who would like to work through the extensive debate on this question
can go to Agenda Item #5 of the July Directors' Meeting on the <a href="#Board">WAOE
WebBoard.</a>
<p>The working party will be convened by the Chair of the Membership Committee,
David Wyatt. The following WAOE members will be asked to make up the core of
the group:
<blockquote>Brian Donohue-Lynch, Executive Secretary <br>
Jenna Seehafer, Treasurer <br>
Ross Reid, who is re-designing WAOE's database operations <br>
Mihkel Pilv. Vice-President</blockquote>
Other WAOE members with relevant expertise and interest are welcome to join this
group - so long as it doesn't grow too big to be an efficient forum for detailed
discussion - or to participate more casually in the discussion. The working
party should begin its deliberations online around the end of August. Please
send any comments or questions to <a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">David
Wyatt</a>.
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt><font size=-1>################</font></tt>
<p><a name="News2"></a><b><font size=+2>Multilingual WAOE</font></b>
<p>President Steve McCarty has been spearheading the important process of setting
up WAOE Websites and providing access to information about us in a range of
languages. The Spanish site is the location for a regional chapter - an exciting
development for the Association that seems destined to expand. This summary
"progress report" comes from the <a href="http://www.geocities.co.jp/Berkeley-Labo/4001/WAOE-founding.html">WAOE
Organisational Page</a> that Steve has recently set up in Japan.
<p><b><font size=+1>CHINESE</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Chinese - Alex Liu: <a href="mailto:ibrsystem@email.msn.com">ibrsystem@email.msn.com</a>
<p>Website (big5 fonts needed) - <a href="http://gecMALL.com/waoe/">http://gecMALL.com/waoe/</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>ESTONIAN</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Estonian - Mihkel Pilv: <a href="mailto:info@miksike.ee">info@miksike.ee</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>FRENCH</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries / translate for a possible French Website - Katherine Watson:
<a href="mailto:bizarrerie@hotmail.com">bizarrerie@hotmail.com</a> <br>
Cliquez <a href="mailto:bizarrerie@hotmail.com">ici</a> pour vous renseigner
plus sur WAOE en Francais
<p><b><font size=+1>GERMAN</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in German or Italian - Arun-Kumar Tripathi: <a href="mailto:tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de">tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de</a>
<br>
In English, World Association for Online Education <br>
In German, Welt Gesellschaft fuer die Online Bildung
<p>WELT VEREIN FUER ONLINE ERZIEHUNG <br>
WAOE: Kombinierende Widmung zu online Lernen Mit Spa? und kulturellem Umtausch.
<br>
NACHRICHTEN!
<p>F¸r mehr Informationen bitte Schreiben Sie an: <a href="mailto:waoe@waoe.org">waoe@waoe.org</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>HINDI</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Romanized Hindi - Arun-Kumar Tripathi: <a href="mailto:tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de">tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de</a>
<p>In English, World Association for Online Education <br>
In Romanized Hindi or Sanskrit, Vishwa Shikshana Online Sanstha
<p>Please send an e-mail inquiring about the World Association for Online Education
to Arun Kumar Tripathi (English) <br>
Vishwa Shikshan Sanstha ki jankari ke liye, Kripya karke Arun Kumar Tripathi
Ko e-mail bhejiye (Romanized Hindi)
<p><b><font size=+1>ITALIAN</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Italian - Arun-Kumar Tripathi: <a href="mailto:tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de">tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de</a>
<p>WAOE: la dedicazione che combina alla cultura di online Col divertimento e
lo scambio culturale. <br>
LE NOTIZIE! <br>
Per pi informazioni, contattarci a: <a href="mailto:waoe@waoe.org">waoe@waoe.org</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>JAPANESE</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries / Web page with Japanese information about WAOE - Steve McCarty:
<a href="mailto:steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp">steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp</a> <br>
Douzo Nihongo de demo, Sekai Onrain (Intaanetto jou no) Kyouiku Gakkai (WAOE)
ni <br>
tsuite <a href="mailto:steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp">denshi meeru </a>de tazunete kudasai.
Mata wa, WAOE no koto o sukoshi byousha <br>
shite-iru enkaku kyoiku ni kansuru <a href="http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/kyutech-speech.html">gakkai
no kouen</a> o etsuran shite kudasai.
<p><b><font size=+1>PORTUGUESE</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Portuguese - Roberto Andrea Mueller: <a href="mailto:rmueller@mail.ufv.br">rmueller@mail.ufv.br</a>
<br>
Respostas informacionais sobre WAOE em Portugues. <br>
WAOE Website in Brazil - Associação Mundial para Educação
Online (WAOE): <a href="http://www.ufv.br/deq/teleduc/waoe.htm">http://www.ufv.br/deq/teleduc/waoe.htm</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>RUSSIAN</font></b> <br>
Answer inquiries about WAOE in Russian - Mihkel Pilv: <a href="mailto:info@miksike.ee">info@miksike.ee</a>
<p><b><font size=+1>SPANISH</font></b> <br>
<u>WAOE Spanish Chapter and Website</u> - Rafael Molina: <a href="mailto: waoe_spanish@xoommail.com">waoe_spanish@xoommail.com</a>
<br>
<u>Asociacion Mundial de Educacion en Linea - Division Hispanoparlante</u>:
<a href="http://members.xoom.com/waoe_spanish/">http://members.xoom.com/waoe_spanish/</a>
<br>
<u>Answer inquiries about WAOE in Spanish</u> - Alberto Gibbs: <a href="mailto:agibbs@reacciun.ve">agibbs@reacciun.ve</a>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Policies"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE Policies and Procedures</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="Respect"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Respect and Support the Voluntary
Effort</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>How Members Can Help</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Release"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Release of Personal Information</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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 impossible task to apply the statement
literally at the individual level of membership.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Waiver1"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Waiver of Membership Fees/Dues -
Policy</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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<font color="#FF172A"><a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/read?558,24">http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/read?558,24</a></font>(If
you cannot get to this page, go to the<font color="#FF172A"><a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe">WAOE
WebBoard</a> </font>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,<font color="#FF172A"><a href="mailto:mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us">Mike
Warner</a></font>.)</tt>
<blockquote><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>Members may initiate requests to the Membership Officer for waiver of
fees on one or more of the following grounds:</tt>
<blockquote>
<li> <tt>They are providing service to the Association (eg convening a Committee
or OCREW or managing a project);</tt></li>
<li> <tt>The costs of funds transfer or currency exchange would be excessive
in relation to the fee amount of $US10 *;</tt></li>
<li> <tt>They are in a situation of severe financial hardship.</tt></li>
</blockquote>
<tt>* 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).</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
</blockquote>
******************
<p><a name="Waiver2"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Waiver of Membership Fees/Dues -
Procedure</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>To apply for waiver of fees/dues, send an email message to the<font color="#FF172A"><a href="mailto:dwyatt@camtech.net.au">Membership
Officer</a></font>.</tt>
<p><tt>For convenience, applicants may copy/cut and paste the following text into
their email message:</tt>
<blockquote><tt>I wish to apply for waiver of the WAOE membership fee/dues for
the 1999/2000 period.</tt>
<p><tt>My application is based on the following ground(s):</tt>
<blockquote>
<li> <tt>I am providing service to the Association;</tt></li>
<li> <tt>The costs of funds transfer or currency exchange would be excessive;</tt></li>
<li> <tt>I am in a situation of severe financial hardship.</tt></li>
</blockquote>
<tt><b><u>Please strike through whichever ground(s) are NOT applicable</u></b>.</tt>
<p><tt>In support of my application I wish to present the following information:</tt>
<p><tt><u><b>Please insert an appropriate statement</b>, keeping it as brief
as possible</u>.</tt>
</blockquote>
<tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Change"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Notifying Change of Email Address</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><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
>."</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Resign"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>How to Unsubscribe from Listserves
or Resign from WAOE</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="About_Policies"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+1>About WAOE Policies and
Procedures</font></tt></i></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Forth"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Forthcoming Meetings</font></tt></b>
<p><a name="PFC"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Planning and Finance Committee</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>The Planning and Finance Committee (PFC) is an advisory committee whose
purpose is to make recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding</tt>
<br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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</tt> <br>
<tt>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</tt> <br>
<tt>email addressed to all members of the committee if the Web-board is not
available.</tt>
<p><tt>If you are interested in participating on this committee, please send an
email to the Treasurer, <a href="#Jenna">Jenna Seehafer</a>.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="this"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+1>About this Section</font></tt></i></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>*****************</tt>
<p><a name="Time"></a><b><i><tt><font size=+1>Time conversion site</font></tt></i></b>
<p><tt>To help arrange synchronous meetings, WAOE uses <a href="http://155.43.48.225:2020/timew.html">World
Time Zone in JavaScript</a>.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Your_Say"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Your Say</font></tt></b>
<p><b><tt>No items for this issue.</tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Say"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>About Your Say</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="Links"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE Links</font></tt></b>
<p><b><tt>This section lists URLs for key Websites within WAOE itself, and other
URLs related to online education which have been identified by members.</tt></b>
<p><b><i><tt><font size=+1>WAOE Organisation and Communication Sites</font></tt></i></b>
<br>
<ul>
<li> <tt>WAOE Home Page: <a href="http://www.waoe.org/default.htm">http://www.waoe.org/default.htm</a></tt></li>
<li> <a name="News"></a><tt>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></tt></li>
<li> <a name="Views"></a><tt>WAOE-Views: 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></tt></li>
<li> <a name="Board"></a><tt>WAOE WebBoard: <a href="http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe">http://www2.ec.erau.edu:8080/~waoe</a>
Log-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
<a href="mailto:mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us">mwarner@embryriddle.k12.az.us</a>.</tt></li>
<li> <tt>WAOE Journal: <a href="http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/waoej.html">http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/waoej.html</a></tt></li>
</ul>
<p><br>
<tt>**********************</tt> <br>
<b><i><tt><font size=+1>WAOE Committees, OCREWs and Other Groups</font></tt></i></b>
<br>
<ul>
<li> <tt>Online Educator Development Committee: <a href="http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/">http://ifets.gmd.de/waoe/oedc/</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Planning and Finance Committee: <a href="http://www.waoe.org/pl-fin-committee.htm">http://www.waoe.org/pl-fin-committee.htm</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Web Design Committee: email Robert Luke (Chairperson) <a href="mailto: robert.luke@uleth.ca">robert.luke@uleth.ca</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Academic Outcomes Assessment Online Course and Resource Evaluation
Workgroup (OCREW): email Jenna Seehafer at <a href="mailto: seehafer@csus.edu">seehafer@csus.edu</a></tt></li>
<li> <tt>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></tt></li>
<li> <tt>Industry and Academia 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></tt></li>
</ul>
<tt></tt>
<p><br>
<tt>**********************</tt> <br>
<a name="New_Links"></a><b><tt><u><font size=+1>NEW LINKS</font>:</u></tt></b>
<p><tt>This issue's New Links are all focused on using the Interent as a mechanism
to gather information for research purposes of one kind or another. The
links have been gleaned from a variety of newsgroups and discussion forums.
The links appeared with the past few weeks, but it is not always clear whether
the project concerned are still running. Members may be interested in
responding directly to the online surveys and other calls for information or
participation, or just to make contact with the enterprising researchers.</tt>
<p><a name="Link1"></a><b><tt><font size=+1>The Internet and Self-Directed Learning</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="mailto:rgspencer@my-deja.com">Ralph Spencer</a> is researching
the uses of the Internet for Self-Directed Learning. He writes:</tt>
<blockquote><tt>Anecdotal popular press articles and my preliminary research indicate
that the Internet is a rich resource and tool for Self-Directed</tt> <br>
<tt>Learners. More significantly, it appears that this media may greatly
expand the formation of ad hoc, impromptu 'communities of learners',</tt> <br>
<tt>which may have important implications for the realization, and prevalence
of Mezirow's concept of transformative learning</tt>
<p><tt>I have developed a survey which I invite you to take: <a href="http://www.digizen.net/member/spencer/intro1.htm">http://www.digizen.net/member/spencer/intro1.htm</a>.</tt>
<p><tt>It consists of a Learning Styles Instrument, a brief demographic questionnaire,
and a questionnaire on how you use the Internet for</tt> <br>
<tt>Self-Directed Learning.</tt>
</blockquote>
<tt>**********************</tt>
<p><a name="Link2"></a><b><tt><font size=+1>Teacher submissions</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="mailto:Media106@aol.com">Kathy J. Kobliski</a> is an American
author looking for all kinds of submissions from teachers for an educational
series in progress. One of the books is specifically for teachers who are staying
at home with their young children; one is for home schoolers; one is for special
education; and one is for all teachers. The series will include submissions
from all over the world.</tt>
<p><tt>The deadline for submissions is December 15, 1999, so there's plenty of
time. The site for the series is <a href="http://www.beinabook.com">http://www.beinabook.com</a>.
Each page of the site contains directions and a way to e-mail Kathy with any
questions.</tt>
<p><tt>**********************</tt>
<p><a name="Link3"></a><b><tt><font size=+1>Novice Distance Educators Needed!</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="mailto:sbraxton@SEAS.GWU.EDU">Sherri Braxton</a> is doing
research on distance education course design. She needs 4 or 5 <u>novice</u>
distance educators to use the formative evaluation tool that she has created
to assist in the design and implementation of their courses, and to provide
feedback on the usefulness of the tool to her. The tool can be found at
Sherri's <a href="http://tangle.seas.gwu.edu/~sbraxton/Dissertation/de_eval_tool.html">Website</a>.</tt>
<p><tt>Sherri is a Doctoral Student working on Education and Multimedia Systems
in the Department of Education and Multimedia Systems at The George Washington
University.</tt>
<p><tt>[This call has already gones out the the distancelearning list, so sherri
may already have all the input she needs. Still, the tool is worth taking
a look at and experimenting with. And additional critical feedback will
no doubt be valued.]</tt>
<p><tt>**********************</tt>
<p><a name="Link4"></a><b><tt><font size=+1>Distance Learning Questionnaire</font></tt></b>
<p><tt><a href="mailto:chrishutchinson@my-deja.com">Chris Hutchinson</a>, who
is currently doing research on distance learning and the impact of culture,
asks people to complete a questionnaire on his Web page at <a href="http://campus.fortunecity.com/dartmouth/907">http://campus.fortunecity.com/dartmouth/907</a></tt>.
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>##############</tt>
<p><a name="Feedback"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>Feedback</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>No items in this issue.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="About"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>About WEB</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="WAOE"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>About WAOE</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>##############</tt>
<p><a name="Aims"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE's Objectives</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>##############</tt>
<p><a name="Meaning"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>The Meaning and Exercise of Membership
in WAOE</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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!</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Becoming a Member</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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 September 1999 onwards, it will also mean that
you have paid the annual subscription fee of $US10 (we are asking for renewing
members to pay the fee by September 1).</tt>
<p><tt>At this stage, there are only two categories of membership of WAOE: associate
members and voting members. For more information, 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.)</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Associate Membership</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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 to three weeks, 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.</tt>
<p><tt>In fact, as we become more established in our ways of operating 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.</tt>
<p><tt>All associate members are expected to subscribe to the announcement listserve,
<a href="#News">WAOE-News</a>, as a matter of course.</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Voting Membership</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>Once conferred, voting-member status will continue for as long as each
designated voting member wishes to retain that level of participation in WAOE.</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Relinquishing Voting Membership</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Annual Renewal of Membership</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>Both associate and voting members are required to renew their membership
between July 1 and July 30 of each year, commencing in 1999. The conditions
of and procedures for renewal are decided annually by the Directors on advice
from the Planning and Finance Committee at its April meeting, and advised to
members shortly afterwards. Failing to renew membership, including payment
of (or waiver from) any subscription fee, will be understood as resignation
from WAOE membership (WAOE <a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm">Bylaws</a>,
<a href="http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seehaferj/waoe/bylaw.htm#a12">Article 12</a>,
Section 9).</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="System"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE's Communications and Discussion
System</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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>.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><a name="WAOE_Committees"></a><b><tt><font size=+2>WAOE Committees and OCREWs</font></tt></b>
<p><tt>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).</tt>
<p><b><tt><font size=+1>Committees</font></tt></b> <br>
<tt>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:</tt>
<blockquote><tt>Membership Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Finance Committee (now the Planning and Finance Committee)</tt> <br>
<tt>Dissemination Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Records Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Web Design Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Online Educator Development Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Affiliate Liaison Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Research & Publication Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Online Academic Conferences Committee</tt> <br>
<tt>Online Parliamentary Procedures Committee</tt></blockquote>
<tt>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:</tt> <br>
<ul>
<li> <tt>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.</tt></li>
</ul>
<br>
<ul>
<li> <tt>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.</tt></li>
</ul>
<br>
<ul>
<li> <tt>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!</tt></li>
</ul>
<p><br>
<b><tt><font size=+1>Online Course and Resource Evaluation Workgroups (OCREWs)</font></tt></b>
<br>
<tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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>.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>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.</tt>
<p><tt>So, itâs over to you. The agenda is yours. Its your Association.
Go to it!</tt>
<p><tt><a href="#Contents">Back to Contents</a></tt> <br>
<tt>#############</tt>
<p><b><tt>Copyright © World Association for Online Education</tt></b> <br>
<tt>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 <a href="mailto:waoe@waoe.org">waoe@waoe.org</a></tt>
<p><tt>#######################################################################</tt>
<p><tt>End of WEB Vol 1, No 10, August 14 1999.</tt> <br>
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