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Volume 1, Issue 1--Special Inaugural Issue |
January 2009 |
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The ARDLAN
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A Welcome from the ARDLA President Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Arkansas Distance Learning newsletter! For the past few years, I have had the distinct privilege of getting to know distance educators the state and from around the region through ARDLA. In those years, I have learned that there is much that we share. First, we share a love for people. Each of us is fueled by the knowledge that our efforts enrich the lives of those about us. Whether our work allows three tenth-graders the opportunity to take calculus, enables a physician to make a diagnosis from 300 miles away, or helps our judicial system work, we all take joy from knowing that what we do makes lives better for others. Second, we all share some degree of enthusiasm for technology. Some of us are pioneers who install each and every open-source program hoping that it will come in handy in someone’s classroom while others of us wait for the second or third service pack’s release before installing a program. Some of us are hesitant to right click on anything and others know by heart how much time it takes to reload the operating system on our desktop PC when we tried something that didn’t work. Though we each have a different approach, we all depend daily upon the ever flowing stream of zeroes and ones that makes this possible. Finally, we all have expertise to share. Most was gained through day-by-day experience in the trenches and some was absorbed by study of research-based best practices. Regardless, each of us, through trial or by study, have learned to do what it is that we do best. We each have something to share–our vantage point, our insight, our successes, our failures. This,
then, is the purpose for "The ARDLAN"–to share. Please take this opportunity
to give and to receive. Give to all by sharing your experiences and insights
into using Distance Learning and receive by reading and learning from
others. Together, let’s make the most of our association with one another
beyond the boundaries of our annual conference by sharing with each other. |
About the Author
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ARDLA Home | Current Issue | About Us | Archives | Writer's Guidelines | Editorial Calendar |
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Chris Boyett
is the Director of Distance Education at ASU-Beebe.