Back
to Top of PageACM SIGCHI
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/
ACM SIGCHI is an international organization focused on human-technology and
human-computer interactions (HCI). Its membership is made up of students, academics
and professionals who are involved in the design, implementation and use of
interactive, computer-based systems. Some of the services provided to ACM SIGCHI
members include conferences, publications, HCI tutorials, Web sites and discussion
groups.
The American Association for Higher
Education (AAHE)
http://www.aahe.org
AAHE is not strictly a distance education organization, but it does focus on
a diverse spectrum of issues faced in the world of higher education including
ones related to distance education. Over 9000 members belong to AAHE, and they
include students, faculty, administrators, as well as policymakers, individuals
from the business community and anyone interested in challenges faced in higher
education.
American Center for the Study
of Distance Education (ACSDE)
http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde
The American Center for the Study of Distance Education is located on the campus
of Penn State University. ACSDE was founded in 1986 by Michael Graham Moore,
an "internationally recognized distance education expert", and it
was one of the first centers of its kind in the U. S.
American Council on Education
(ACE)
http://www.acenet.edu
ACE was founded in 1918 and is considered to be the nation's coordinating higher
education association. The purpose of ACE is to be a forum for discussion on
issues related to higher education and its contributions to American life. Approximately
1800 members from accredited, degree-granting colleges & universities and
other educational organizations belong to ACE.
American Distance Education Consortium
(ADEC)
http://www.adec.edu
ADEC is an "international consortium of state and land grant institutions
providing economic distance education programs and services via the latest and
most appropriate information technologies". Online materials, courseware
tools, and accessibility information are merely a few of the resources provided
by ADEC.
American Society for Training
and Development (ASTD)
http://www.astd.org/index_IE.html
ASTD was founded in 1994, and considers the organization to be the "world's
premier professional association and leading resource on workplace learning
and performance issues". Over 70,000 members from more than 100 countries
belong to ASTD, and they represent multinational corporations, small/medium
businesses, government agencies plus colleges & universities.
Association for Media and Technology
in Education in Canada (AMTEC)
http://www.amtec.ca
AMTEC is a national association whose members consist of educators, librarians,
researchers and others who work to "facilitate and improve learning in
all sectors of education through the appropriate application and integration
of educational technology". In addition to information about this organization,
links to educational and copyright resources can also be accessed at this site.
Association for the Advancement
of Computing in Education (AACE)
http://www.aace.org
AACE is an international, non-profit organization that was founded in 1981.
Its mission is to promote the "advancement of knowledge, theory and quality
of learning and teaching at all levels with information technology".
Association for Applied Interactive
Multimedia (AAIM)
http://www.aaim.org
AAIM is an organization that was developed in 1992 to "support professionals
who use and develop interactive multimedia for education and training".
This association is currently expanding to include business and information
professionals. In addition to information about AAIM, resources such as jobs,
publications and tips are provided.
Association for Communications
Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA)
http://www.acuta.org/home.cfm
ACUTA is an international, non-profit organization consisting of almost 2000
members who represent 825 institutions of higher education from small schools
and community colleges to large research institutions. The mission of this member-driven
organization is to enhance "teaching, learning, research and public (community)
service by providing leadership in the application of telecommunications for
higher education".
Association for Educational Communications
and Technology (AECT)
http://www.aect.org
AECT is a professional organization that was founded in 1923, and currently
has a membership of thousands of educators. The goal of AECT is to provide leadership
and to bring together professionals interested in the use of technology to enhance
the education process. AECT is considered to be a "major organization"
for those involved in instructional design.
Asynchronous Learning Networks
(ALN)
http://www.aln.org/index.htm
ALN are "people networks for anytime-anywhere learning", and this
concept can trace its origins back to a by-invitation-only meeting in 1994 at
the Omni Hotel in New York City.
California Distance Learning Project
http://www.cdlponline.org
Increase access to adult basic learning services and lay the groundwork for
the infrastructure to accomplish this objective was the initial goal of the
California Distance Learning Project. The California Department of Education's
Adult Education Office sponsored the project, and it was managed by the California
State University System. Subcontracting and management of the Web site was handled
by the Sacramento County Office of Education's Outreach & Technical Assistance
Network (OTAN).
Canadian Association for Distance
Education (CADE): Association Canadienne de l'éducation à distance
(ACED)
http://www.cade-aced.ca
CADE is a non-profit, national association dedicated to promoting excellence
in distance education in Canada and was established in 1983. In addition to
association information, the CADE site posts an extensive list of publications
that are organized by year, author and title.
Coalition for Networked Information
(CNI)
http://www.cni.org
CNI's goal is to "advance the transformative promise of networked information
technology for the improvement of scholarly communication and the enrichment
of intellectual productivity". This organization was founded in 1990 and
was a program of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE. Over
200 institutional members currently belong to CNI.
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
http://www.col.org
COL is the world's only intergovernmental agency focused on the development
and sharing of knowledge, resources and technology associated with distance
education initiatives. It was created in 1988 by the Commonwealth Heads of Government
and is headquartered in Vancouver. It is the only official Commonwealth agency
located outside of Britain.
Consortium of College and University
Media Centers (CCUMC)
http://www.indiana.edu/~ccumc
CCUMC is an organization of over 500 members from higher education institutions
and companies providing media/instructional technology products. The mission
of this group is to "provide leadership and a forum for information exchange
to the providers of media and technology support for quality teaching and learning
at higher education institutions". CCUMC was founded in 1971 as the Consortium
of University Film Centers (CUFC) and changed to its present name in 1988.
Corporation for Education Network
Initiatives in California (CENIC)
http://www.cenic.org
CENIC is a non-profit organization designed to coordinate and facilitate network
services to provide seamless links in California. Members include California
Institute of Technology, California State University, Stanford University, University
of California and the University of Southern California.
Council for Adult and Experiential
Learning (CAEL)
http://www.cael.org
CAEL is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1974 to provide better
access to educational opportunities for adults in the adult learning and workforce
development arenas. In order to accomplish this goal, CAEL has partners in business,
government, labor and high education sectors.
Distance Education Organizations
http://ccism.pc.athabascau.ca/html/ccism/deresrce/institut.htm
Distance Education Organizations is a site that has organized a collection of
annotated links into four categories: 1) Virtual Campuses; 2)
Open and Distance Learning Institutions; 3) DE Departments within Conventional
Institutions; and 4) Distance Learning Networks. The site is maintained
by James Mackintosh at Athabasca University (Canada).
Additional distance education resources
provided by this institution can be found at RIDE (Resources In Distance Education)
at
http://ccism.pc.athabascau.ca/html/ccism/deresrce/de.htm.
The Distance Education and Training
Council
http://www.detc.org
The Distance Education and Training Council, formerly known as the National
Home Study Council, is a non-profit, educational association headquartered in
Washington, D. C. Initially, the Council was established to promote "sound
educational standards and ethical business practices within the correspondence
field", and the Council has recently emerged as the "leader"
in global distance learning.
EDUCAUSE
http://www.educause.edu
EDUCAUSE is a non-profit organization whose mission is to "advance higher
education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology".
Over 1800 representatives from colleges and universities and more than 180 corporations
make up the EDUCAUSE membership. Numerous information resources related to distance
education, like the "Guide to Evaluating IT on Campus", can be found
at http://www.educause.edu/consumerguide.
Full text online periodicals can also be found at the EDUCAUSE site, and they include the following publications:
EuroPACE
http://www.europace.org/portal/index.html
EuroPACE began in 1993, and its goal is to develop a "virtual university"
for Europe. It is a "trans-European network of universities and their partners
in educational training", and there are currently 60 members participating
in this organization, 45 of those represent universities.
European Distance Education Network
(EDEN)
http://www.eden.bme.hu
EDEN is a non-profit, non-governmental educational association that was formally
established in 1991, after the first pan-European conference on distance education
in Budapest. Membership is open to individuals and institutions who are interested
in distance education issues in Europe.
Flashlight Program
http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/flashlight.html
Flashlight is a non-profit TLT Group that works to improve the educational uses
of technology. This award-winning program provides 1) twenty-five tool
kits, study packages, etc.; 2) training; and 3) evaluations and
evaluation assistance provided by Flashlight consultants. The following publication
is another resource provided by Flashlight.
The Futures Project
http://www.futuresproject.org/index.html
The Futures Project is a higher education think tank based at Brown University's
A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. This project
is focused on higher education in a global market, and it concentrates its efforts
on the following:
Global Alliance for Transnational Education (GATE)
http://www.edugate.org
GATE is an international organization that is focused on issues dealing with quality
assurance programs and services in educational programs in countries around the
world. It was formally enacted in 1996 and evolved out of discussions instigated
by Glenn R. Jones of Jones International, Ltd. with representatives from the higher
education, corporate and quality assurance communities.
Globalwide Network Academy (GNA)
http://www.gnacademy.org
GNA is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1993 and promotes worldwide
distance education opportunities that allow students to learn anytime and any
place. This organization does not offer any distance education courses, but
GNA does provide guides and Web resources for learners and providers.
Higher Learning Commission
http://www.ncacihe.org/index.html
The Higher Learning Commission is part of the North Central Association of Colleges
and Schools, which is one of six regional institutional accrediting agencies
in the U. S. Even though the Higher Learning Commission receives numerous questions
regarding accreditation associated with distance learning programs, they only
accredit entire institutions. Its Web site does, however, have a section focused
on distance learning, and can be found at http://www.ncacihe.org/resources/distancelearning/.
International Forum of Educational
Technology & Society
http://ifets.ieee.org/
The International Forum of Educational Technology & Society is a subgroup
of the IEEE Learning Technology Task Force. This organization is designed for
developers of technology-based education systems and for educators using technology
to enhance and improve the teaching and learning process. Links to resources
including the journal, Educational Technology & Society at http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/
are available.
International Multimedia Telecommunications
Consortium (IMTC)
http://www.imtc.org
IMTC is an international organization focused on multimedia technology standards
that facilitate "rich-media communications" among individuals in locations
around the world. It was formed in September 1994 as the result of a merger
between the Consortium for Audiographics Technology Standards, Inc. (CATS) and
the Multimedia Communications Community of Interest (MCCOI). In 1995 Personal
Conferencing Work Group, Inc. (PCWG) was also folded into IMTC.
Internet Society (ISOC)
http://www.isoc.org
ISOC is a professional society concerned with issues affecting the future of
the Internet. Over 150 organizations and 11,000 individual members in over 182
countries make up ISOC. This group is also home to the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), both committed
Internet infrastructure standards.
The Knight Higher Education Collaborative
http://www.irhe.upenn.edu/knight/knight-main.html
The Knight Higher Education Collaborative is a cooperative of colleges and universities
that work to understand the changes & conditions affecting the higher education
environment and strive to shape it to adapt to these changes. This group is
sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
League for Innovation in the Community
College
http://www.league.org
The League is an international organization that began in 1968 and is focused
on issues and challenges affecting community colleges. It is actively involved
in many community college initiatives including the application of information
technology to improve teaching and learning in the community college.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
(NCLD)
http://www.ld.org/index2.html
NCLD, an organization that began in 1977, is a resource for people trying to
locate information on learning disabilities. Its mission is to "increase
opportunities for all individuals with learning disabilities to achieve their
potential" and works to increase public awareness & understanding of
learning disabilities, provide educational programs & services and provides
national leadership in shaping public policy. Even though this is not a distance
learning-specific resource, it has numerous resources that may be applicable
to areas of distance education.
New Media Consortium (NMC)
http://www.newmediacenters.org/
NMC is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1993 and currently has
over 118 members from colleges, universities, museums plus representatives from
high tech companies. This project-focused consortium works to build bridges
between people and institutions using new technologies to spark creative and
innovative approached to teaching and learning. Originally based in San Francisco,
it has since relocated to Austin, TX.
Node: The Learning Technologies
Network
http://node.on.ca
Node, an independent, non-profit organization, was established in 1996 as the
Network for Ontario Distance Educator, and quickly discovered that they were
attracting a much larger audience than originally anticipated. In response to
the demand, the organization developed a resource "to support an international
community of educators and trainers interested in understanding online learning
technologies and harnessing their potential". Services offered to clients
include strategic planning for learning technologies, course program evaluation
and research & consulting in all aspects of online, blended and distance
learning.
Norwegian Association for Distance
Education (NADE)
http://www.nade-nff.no/nade-nff/nadeindx.html
NADE is a membership organization that was established in 1968 and is active
in the development of distance education initiative in Norway. Members include
independent distance education institutions plus other private and public institutions
involved in distance education. The goal of the organization is to increase
awareness and knowledge about distance education, improve distance education
standards and strengthen distance education in the Norway education system.
Pew Research Center for People
and the Press
http://people-press.org/
The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C)
http://www.sloan-c.org
Sloan-C is a consortia whose goal is to make "education a part of everyday
life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety
of disciplines". Membership is free and open to the following:
TLT Group: Teaching, Learning
and Technology
http://www.tltgroup.org
TLT Group is a non-profit organization that provides information tools and services,
like online workshops, training opportunities and presentations to its members.
It supports and is supported by over 270 institutional members as well as consortia,
state systems and higher education associations. TLT Group's mission is to "motivate
and enable institutions and individuals to improve teaching and learning with
technology, while helping them cope with continual change".
United State Distance Learning
Association (USDLA)
http://www.usdla.org
USDLA is a non-profit organization that was established in 1987, and is a "leading"
source for information on legislation impacting distance learning. This organization
began establishing state chapters in 1993 and continues those efforts today.
Approximately 2000 pre-K through 12, higher education, continuing education,
corporate, military, government training, home schooling, telemedicine professionals
are members of USDLA.
Vision 2010
http://www.si.umich.edu/V2010/home.html
Vision 2010 is a project funded by the Carnegie Foundation and administered
by the Commission on Preservation and Access and the School of Information at
the University of Michigan. This group examines how new innovations, especially
digital information technologies, will alter the university community. It also
explores how higher education will look in 2010.
WCET: The Cooperative Advancing
the Effective Use of Technology in Higher Education
http://www.wiche.edu/telecom
WCET is a membership organization that was founded in 1989 by the Western Interstate
Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Its members include some of the most
innovative thinkers from schools, higher education, non-profit organizations
and corporations who are providers and users of educational telecommunications.
Some of the programs and services offered by WCET include professional development
meetings & institutes, newsletters and consultation advice.
More information about WICHE, the organization that founded WCET, can be found at http://wiche.edu/.
Web-Based Education Commission
http://www.hpcnet.org/cgi-bin/global/a_bus_card.cgi?SiteID=154797
Congress established the Web-Based Education Commission as part of the Higher
Education Amendment of 1998, and the members serving on the Commission include
leaders from Congress plus experts in the education and technology fields. The
Commission was formed to recommend specific public policies dealing with issues
surrounding the use of the Web in education. Their long term goal is to develop
a "road map" that will assist administrators, educators, policymakers
and others make decisions about Web-based education.
World Association for Online Education
(WAOE)
http://waoe.org
WAOE, pronounced "wow-ee" is a non-profit international, professional
organization that is concerned about online pedagogy. Some of the offerings
provided by WAOE include services relevant to educators concerned with online
teaching, public services for an international society and collaboration with
other educational organization operating online.
Back
to Distance Education Resources
Created by Sharon
Stoerger MLS, MBA
©November 10, 2002
Updated
February 20, 2003