Organizations

Overview

Elearning is a aggregation industry - built on the activities and concepts of learning, technology, and communication/transfer of knowledge (psychology? KM?). This collection of organizations highlights the diverse background of elearning. Most of the organizations are focused on educational principles (could it be that educators are adept at setting up organizations?!?...:)). Several organizations offer an IT perspective, and a few are emerging to offer a specific elearning need.

The value of any organization is measured by how well it meets the needs of its membership. Some of the links listed here are for more regional groups that have a focus that may not specifically benefit the larger elearning community. I've included them where I felt that they offered a valuable model. Generally, however, I've not listed organizations that serve only a small geographical area.

Resources

Alberta Online Consortium
" The Alberta Online Consortium will take a leadership role to advocate on behalf of online educators in Alberta. As well the provincial consortium will endeavor to shape the emerging option for network learning utilizing existing and new technologies to enhance and optimize student learning. Consortium members will seek ways to ensure all Alberta students have access to high quality online education."

Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
"The Association (founded in 1981) is an international, educational and professional not-for profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the knowledge, theory, and quality of learning and teaching at all levels with information technology."

Illinois Online Network
"Illinois Online Network seeks to promote the effective use of networked information technologies, to enhance traditional classroom instruction, and to build the foundation for developing, delivering, and supporting online education."

Learn.co.uk
"Learn.co.uk — the educational website from the Guardian — has a simple mission: to support, stimulate and succeed. We support teachers and promote success. On the website you will find lessons to support the national curriculum, resources for learners which build on the 200-year-old archive of the Guardian and the Observer and a unique range of online events."

Asynchronous Learning Network
"Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) are people networks for anytime - anywhere learning. ALN combines self-study with substantial, rapid, asynchronous interactivity with others. In ALN learners use computer and communications technologies to work with remote learning resources, including coaches and other learners, but without the requirement to be online at the same time. The most common ALN communication tool is the World Wide Web."

AMTEC
"The Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada, AMTEC, is a Pan-Canadian community of educators, media producers, researchers, librarians and other professional staff who work to facilitate and improve learning, in all sectors of education, through the appropriate application and integration of educational technology."

Association for Educational Communications and Technology
"The mission of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology is to provide leadership in educational communications and technology by linking professionals holding a common interest in the use of educational technology and its application to the learning process."

Canadian Association for Distance Education
"CADE is a national association of professionals committed to excellence in the provision of distance education in Canada."

CANARIE
" CANARIE's mission is to accelerate Canada's advanced Internet development and use by facilitating the widespread adoption of faster, more efficient networks and by enabling the next generation of advanced products, applications and services to run on them."

Organizations & Institutions
Large list of various elearning organizations, associations, and institutions.

Collaborative Distance Delivery Sites - Canadian
Good resource for Canadian distance education organizations.

EdNA.au
"EdNA Online is a service that aims to support and promote the benefits of the Internet for learning, education and training in Australia. It is organised around Australian curriculum, its tools are free to Australian educators, and it is funded by the bodies responsible for education provision in Australia - all Australian governments."

EDUCAUSE
"The mission of EDUCAUSE is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology."

Education & Training - Europe
Good links, resources.

The Higher Education Knowledge and Technology Exchange
"The Higher Education Knowledge and Technology Exchange (HEKATE) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) international exchange shaping the next generation of products and services for 21st century learners."

Ready2Net
"What matters to higher education in the Internet Age"

ictadvice.org.uk
Good resource-rich site offering practical approaches to teaching and learning.

International Journal of Educational Technology
"The International Journal of Educational Technology (IJET) is a new international refereed journal in the field of educational technology, sponsored by faculty, staff, and students at The Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia and the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. IJET is published online twice each year and is available without an access charge."

Elearning Network
" The eLearning Network is a long established non-profit making organisation run by a committee of learning professionals for all those interested in the application of technologies to learning.
The aim is to provide a lead in the use of best practice in all aspects of learning technologies.
This website provides information for anyone seeking the very latest information about e-learning developments."

Information Technology Network
"The Information Technology Network is a liaison group of associations in the UK which support the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Education."

International Society for Technology in Education
"ISTE is a nonprofit professional organization with a worldwide membership of leaders and potential leaders in educational technology. We are dedicated to promoting appropriate uses of information technology to support and improve learning, teaching, and administration in K–12 education and teacher education. ISTE’s role is leadership—we provide our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of incorporating computers, the Internet, and other new technologies into their schools."

IT in Teacher Education
"ITTE aims to promote the education and professional development of teachers in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning with ICT in all phases of education."

Journal of IT in Teacher Education
"Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education is a fully-refereed international journal concerned with the implications for teacher education, both pre-service and in-service, of all aspects of information technology. Contributions are published in the form of original theoretical works, research reports, literature reviews, software and book reviews, conference reports, and announcements about the development of information technology theory and practice in teacher education."

Resources - Learnativity
Great listing of resources and elearning organizations.

Learning Technology Consortium
"The Learning Technology Consortium is a collaborative of nine universities with common interests and challenges in the area of teaching and learning with technology."

IDeA Learning
"learning pool is a new e-learning service from the IDeA that will enable every council and their employees to create, pool and exchange e-learning materials and other learning resources."

LearnShare
"Founded in 1996, this consortium of Fortune 500 members shares best practices, new thinking and perspectives, and intellectual capital. Members use the LearnShare website to access leading e-Learning providers to bring uniform, advanced career development and training courses to their employees throughout the world. Members also share proprietary research results and collaborate to solve problems."

MCREL
"McREL, located in Aurora, Colorado, is a private, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to improve education through applied research and development. McREL provides products and services, primarily for K-12 educators, to promote the best instructional practices in the classroom."

Center for Online Learning and Pedagogy
"Our Mission at the Center for Online Learning and Pedagogy is to further the field of education by providing access to the most current knowledge and best practices in online education, by providing tools and resources for educators and by encouraging discussion among active practitioners. Our purpose is to allow members of the higher education community to draw upon NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) extensive experience with the design and implementation of online instruction."

techLEARNING
"The resource for education technology leaders"

Commonwealth of Learning
"The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies."

The Observatory of Borderless Higher Education
"The term 'borderless education' encompasses a broad range of activities and developments which cross (or have the potential to cross) the traditional borders of higher education, be they geographical, sectoral or conceptual. So, for example, the Observatory will track developments in areas such as e-learning, growth in private and corporate education, developing markets and international collaboration."

United States Distance Learning Association
Excellent resources site.

World Association for Online Learning
"The World Association for Online Education (WAOE, pronounced "wowee,") is an international professional organization concerned with online pedagogy, registered as a nonprofit public benefit corporation (NPO) in the California state capital. WAOE offers membership services relevant to educators concerned with teaching online, public services for international society, and collaboration with other educational organizations functioning in cyberspace."

Worldwide Open Space
"This site is an open invitation to connect with the people and practices, insights and experiences that are showing up in worldwide open space."

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