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From the WEB Editor
By force of circumstances rather than intention, WEB once again comes
out on a sort of monthly instread of bi-monthly schedule for which we
apologise. The shift is expected to be merely temporary and short-lived.
November will be a key month for the Coordinating Ring to look at ways
of consolidating networking among members, and the development of some
major initiatives. Resumption of the normal publication arrangements for
WEB will be part of this work.
Production of WEB has inevitably taken a bit of a back seat in the three
weeks plus that have elapsed since the September issue and the close
of the call for membership renewals on October 1, while I and other members
of the Coordinating Ring have been much preoccupied with discussions about
strategic directions for WAOE. These discussions have been prompted
by the fact that the constraints on our operating budget and the reduction
of our committed membership base are both more severe than we anticipated,
following a disappointing response to the drive for dues. This issue
of WEB, on the other hand, reflects positive responses that we are already
making - for example, the Carlton Scott Fellowships.
David Wyatt, WAOE Membership
Officer and WEB Editor
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Virtual Universities
How many WAOE members have received unsolicited posts like the following?
UNIVERSITY DIPLOMAS
Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power, and the admiration of all.
Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited universities based on your present
knowledge and life experience.
No required tests, classes, books, or interviews.
Bachelors, masters, MBA, and doctorate (PhD) diplomas available in the field
of your choice.
No one is turned down.
Confidentiality assured.
CALL NOW to receive your diploma within days!!!
Call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays and holidays.
On the face of it (I haven't called ... yet), this looks like a more than usually
in-your-face example of what John Bear** calls the "less than wonderfuls" among
institutions offering degrees via the Internet. Recent years - months, weeks,
or days, even! - have seen a burgeoning of such institutions, calling themselves
(with perhaps (?) unconscious irony) virtual universities. Just how "virtual"
can you get!
** John Bear and Mariah Bear are the authors of Bear's Guide to Earning
Degrees Nontraditionally, now in its 13th edition. More information
about this publication and John's work more generally is supposed to be available
at http://www.degree.net, but I couldn't
reach this site the few times I tried. John is a frequent contributor
to the newsgroup alt.education.distance which, among other preoccupations, maintains
an ongoing review of questionable practices in online and distance learning.
There is growing interest in cyberspace in defining and/or challenging the
merits or otherwise of virtual universities or similar online providers of higher
education. For example, the Chronicle of Higher Education Colloquy
is currently running a debate and discussion centred around widely divergent
opinions expressed in two articles on accreditation of online universities.
One argues that virtual universities "raise the specter of a higher-education
system that is nothing more than a collection of marketable commodities."
The other defends accreditation of these institutions, but asserts that critics
of them are not concerned primarily with the quality of education offered by
on-line universities, but with the possibility of "reduced faculty control over
the design, teaching, and evaluation of curricula at distance-education institutions."
Another example is the warning
put out recently by the Telecampus site urging prospective clients of online
higher education to be careful about taking courses from a large number of listed
organisations.
So, what has this got to do with WEB and WAOE? Well, a recently joined
member, Adelaide-based George Brown, has approached the Coordinating Ring to
seek support for the work he is doing to alert educational authorities in Australia
and elsewhere to the dubiousness of the proclaimed credentials of a number of
organisations offering degrees via distance learning in general and the Internet
in particular. George is also a frequent contributor to the newsgroup
alt.education.distance, and he maintains an information site on Virtual Universities
in Australia at http://www.cobweb.com.au/~agbrown/home.htm.
The professionalisation and continuing improvement of online education is,
of course, WAOE's essential purpose. Developing and sustaining standards
of good practice in delivery of courses, and access to them, is a central commitment
of the Association, and the Educational
Standards OCREW has already been established to undertake responsible analysis
of the issues affecting recognition of online course providers. As a vital
first step in creating a policy platform from which WAOE could identify basic
standards for online and computer mediated instruction, and so mount unassailable
attacks on bogus practitioners, WAOE members are urged to join the Educational
Standards OCREW, or contribute to its work in other ways. For example,
you could:
- Send in your comments to help re-vitalise and bring to conclusion the discussion
on standards which started up on the WAOE-Views listserv a month back, but
which has fallen silent. This discussion focused on a seminal
draft statement of
online educational standards for measuring the quality and effectiveness of
online education, contributed by Jenna Seehafer and repeated in WEB, Volume
1, Number 11.
- Be on the lookout for relevant statements about the issues in other organisations
of which you are a member, or listservs, discussion groups, newsgroups etc
to which you subscribe - and pass these on.
- Forward your opinions about the best and worst online courses or units
of instruction you have come across, and your grounds for holding those opinions.
- Recommend to WAOE colleagues the best online degree or certificate programs
in operation, or nominate programs to be avoided - again, stating your reasons
for holding these personal views.
- Take up the convening or another vital role in the Educational
Standards OCREW, by emailing Treasurer Jenna
Seehafer, who presently heads this group, but who would like to pass on
this responsibility while remaining an active member.
WEB intends to play a useful part in this work. Until arrangements for
efficient networking of the ESOCREW are in place, discussion of the group's
agenda will continue to take place on WAOE-Views.
However, this listserv is still greatly undersubscribed, and WEB offers a regular
outlet for passing on major items of information and debate to the membership
at large. As well, the Conference (Re)Call section
provides a ready forum for members to report events they have attended or heard
about where important policy matters were discussed, or good ideas were presented
about online education practice. Coming Events, within that section, promotes
various conferences and other activities - as far as possible, conducted online
events and free or low-cost - which members can attend, and we are always looking
for members to alert us to events to include which target issues and concerns
most relevant to WAOE's objectives.
Please use email to the Web Editor
as the channel for passing on all items of interest. In a more focused
way - depending upon such contributions, of course - the next and subsequent
issues of WEB will include a Virtual University Watch column, or something like
that (perhaps Caveat Emptor?), specifially aimed at passing on advice about
obviously bogus operators. Once the key question of adopting a policy
on standards as settled, through the work of the ESOCREW, WAOE will be in a
position to set about endorsing online courses - credit and noncredit - to potential
clients on the basis of their recognised quality, and recommending action by
responsible agencies on organisations which are debasing standards ort exploiting
the lack of them. At that hopefully not too future time, WEB will also
report these activities on a regular basis.
No doubt, all of us feel that more immediate and more drastic action should
be taken against operators like the author of the post at the start of this
piece. WAOE is committed to doing so, but the Association must first of
all establish its foundation and authority for action. We'll need your
input.
How many internet mail list subscribers
does it take to change a light bulb?
Just to lighten things up a little! With thanks to scotartt <scot@systemx.autonomous.org>,
passed on by the Media Mentor
list.
Q: How many internet mail list subscribers does it take
to change a light bulb?
A: 1,331
1 to change the light bulb and to post to the list that the light bulb has
been changed14 to share similar experiences of changing lightbulbs and how the
light bulb could have been changed differently.
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.
53 to flame the spell checkers
156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb discussion
and its inappropriateness to this mail list.
41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.
109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this
email exchange to alt.lite.bulb
203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and alt.punctuation
about changing light bulbs be stopped.
111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we are all use light bulbs
and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list.
306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy
the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this
technique, and what brands are faulty.
27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs
14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post corrected URLs.
3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this list
which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.
33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and
footers, and then add "Me Too."
12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle
the light bulb controversy.
19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."
4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.
1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.
47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was meant for, leave it here.
143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.