Communications and Networking
Digests
WCET staff assembles a biweekly digest of articles for the WCET membership that highlights the most pressing current e-learning topics. WCET staff carefully sifts through hundreds of articles from dozens of primary sources and culls reports on only the most important developments for this digest. The articles are divided into six topic groups for easy reference: academic issues, encompassing distance and online education, faculty issues, and curriculum; student issues, encompassing student support, retention, and tuition and fees; technology issues, encompassing information technology innovations in education; access, encompassing student access to higher education and technology access for the differently able; intellectual property, encompassing copyright issues in education; and policy and guidelines, encompassing laws, bills, new policy, and the publication of guidelines. Links to sources and source copyright information are provided.
Executive Briefing
WCET’s executive director travels extensively and has the opportunity to participate in many higher education policy discussions. From these, topics emerge that have a direct bearing on WCET members (or will have soon as they plan for future e-learning projects). Each quarter, Sally Johnstone, focuses on one of those topics and creates a short paper that can be useful to university and college administrators and planners. During this past year the topics included specific aspects and updates on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and interinstitutional resource sharing.
Inquiries
WCET staff serves as a valuable source of information on a wide array of e-learning issues. In fielding hundreds of inquiries from members, reporters, government officials, and others seeking expert advice, WCET staff may handle the questions themselves or refer them to WCET members – practitioners in the field who possess up-to-date knowledge and who exhibit a truly cooperative spirit and a willingness to help.
WCET staff receives inquiries from members of the general public who are seeking a credible source of information about e-learning. These inquiries often center on how to evaluate the efficacy of e-learning and how to determine if an institution is a legitimate distance-learning provider.
Members are also encouraged to use the WCET Online Community to seek help from fellow members. By sharing what they have learned in tackling tricky policy issues, members are an invaluable source of practical experience and advice.
Online Community
The WCET Online Community (www.wcet.info/community) is a web discussion board that serves as an online gathering place for WCET members. Participation in the Online Community means access to a wide and diverse network of experts in technology and education: the WCET membership. Within the Online Community, WCET members from over 240 institutions participate in conversations on a wide range of distance education topics. WCET members use the Online Community to share experiences and get up-to-the-minute information on policy developments and effective uses of educational technologies. The organization of the Online Community and its comprehensive search engine allow members to quickly find information on their topic of choice. In addition, members can personalize their Online Community participation through e-mail subscription options, which allow them to track only those discussions that are related to their interests. All individuals affiliated with WCET member organizations may register to use the ever-growing resources of the Online Community.
Webcasts
In the fall of 2004, WCET partnered with other organizations to offer a series of webcasts on Applying Activity-Based Costing to Educational Technologies.
In September, WCET partnered with the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the TLT Group to offer a webcast on Money, Stress, and Time: Innovative Use of Activity-Based Costing. Aimed at business officers and policy leaders, the session outlined the basics of activity-based costing and explained actual policy scenarios where costing studies have been applied.
In October, the TLT Group and WCET offered a three-part tutorial: How to Conduct Activity-Based Costing Studies. Tom Henderson of Central Washington University and Christine Geith of Michigan State University led this practical session on how to design the study, gather the data, conduct the study, and interpret the information.
Website
The WCET website (www.wcet.info) contains information about current projects, professional development events, resources of interest to members, and information about membership and consulting services. The website has been redesigned to have a more user-friendly look and feel. A web-based discussion forum, WCET Online Community, launched in June 2003, allows members to share resources and participate in online discussions on various topics of interest. Current plans are to expand the WCET website to showcase more detailed information on important topics in e-learning.