Affiliate and Special Interest Groups Membership Information

iNACOL's Affiliate Members

iNACOL Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Diversity SIG

iNACOL has a strategic goal to increase diversity in membership, leadership and online learning programs to meet every student’s needs. This group will discuss and promote attentiveness to issues of diversity in online learning in student populations, with an additional emphasis on understanding the demographics of program leadership and teachers. We will continue the annual survey of online programs and their demographic makeup initiated in the spring of 2009. This survey will be done annually. We also wish to continue to increase the visibility of issues of diversity at iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium.

Contact - David Glick dave@glickconsulting.com

First Meeting - Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 12:00 PM (EDT) via Elluminate: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=253&password=M.863BCDFF18F5BDB710E955B7B956EF.

Online Christian Education SIG

As leaders in Christian education, we know an important goal of our Christian schools is to prepare students, teachers, and administrators for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century through the acquisition of 21st century skills and the effective use of distance education technologies.

The Online Christian Education blog and SIG are designed to be vehicles of inspiration, coaching, and equipping for teachers and administrators to leverage online learning as they equip their students to apply a Christian worldview to the contemporary and global context of their lives.

Please contact Brian Crouse, bhcrouse@comcast.net, for more information on joining this SIG. A website for the group can be found at http://ocea.squarespace.com/

Research SIG

This group will be composed of active researchers who will share effective approaches and solutions to the challenges of field-based research. We will welcome active researchers from academic and non-academic institutions.

Please contact Cathy Cavanaugh, cathycavanaugh@coe.ufl.edu, for more information on joining the SIG.

Virtual Worlds SIG

This group was organized to develop a Second Life space in order to host virtual VSS sessions for iNACOL members. Additional goals of this group include:

Providing virtual professional development sessions that iNACOL and its members develop;
Providing advocacy for virtual worlds use in education, specifically e-learning; and
Providing assistance to iNACOL membership on the development and deployment of virtual worlds.

Primary Contact: Ellen Minter - ejminter1971@gmail.com

Web URL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/CAVE/193/111/21

Meets – 4th Monday of each month in Second Life at 10:00 PM (EDT)

iNACOL's Affiliate Network

One of the goals of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to build community within the field of K-12 online learning. The Board of Directors hereby proposes the formation of two structures to facilitate this: Affiliates and Special Interest Groups (SIG). It is our expectation that the creation of Affiliates and SIGs will strengthen our society with additional loyal members. This document serves as a template for the creation of such structures.

The relationship between iNACOL and an Affiliate or SIG will be a purely collegial one. iNACOL will provide certain services to the Affiliate or SIG; the degree of the services will determine the fee structure, if any.

A “SIG” is created to indicate cases which arise from the recognition of common interests of sub-groups of existing members of the society. An example would be a regional or topic-based group.

An “Affiliate” is intended to indicate cases which arise from groupings with some external basis whose constituents may or may not be members and may or may not become members. It is assumed that there will be considerable variation in circumstances from case to case and that arrangements will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Eligibility

Our intent is to provide support for pre-existing communities, designated either by common geography or a common special interest. Such a community would consist of some reasonable number of established practitioners and/or researchers in K-12 online learning, sometimes already members of iNACOL or sometimes constituted by membership in another related organization.

Such a community would provide to iNACOL a written request to form either a SIG or an Affiliate. The request would specify what the community would expect from iNACOL and what it would offer in return. The community would also designate a single liaison to iNACOL who will maintain regular communication with the iNACOL Vice President.

The President/CEO of iNACOL may accept or reject any proposal to form such a structure at his/her discretion. Furthermore, iNACOL has the right to terminate any SIG or Affiliate at any time President/CEO and or the Board of Directors finds that the Affiliate or SIG behaves in a way that it deems inappropriate. A terminated Affiliate or SIG would receive a prorated refund on monies collected on its behalf.

Affiliates

Affiliate membership is open to any non-profit, professional, membership organization that is committed to the same or similar goals as iNACOL and communicates with its members on a regular basis. iNACOL and the Affiliate organization shall work together to achieve the following purposes:

Provide an international organization that supports access to high-quality online education for all students
Promote and encourage access to high-quality online education for all students
Support professionals using online learning including teachers, technology coordinators, curriculum coordinators, instructional designers, teacher educators, technology directors, administrators, educational researchers, and others
Cooperate with the manufacturers, publishers, and other private sector organizations to identify content and technological needs and establish appropriate standards for content, learning management systems, and other products and services
Encourage research and evaluation relating to the effective use of online learning in the K-12 setting and to promote the dissemination of such research to practitioners
Provide information to educational policy makers
Promote the sharing of information and communication between professionals using online learning in the K-12 setting from the local to the international level
Facilitate the achievement of all of the above by conducting activities including, but not limited to: iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium (VSS), as well as other conferences, workshops, webinars, the preparation of publications, and the development of other materials useful to the membership and the online learning community.

Special Interest Group (SIG)

SIG membership is open to any member of iNACOL. SIGs of iNACOL share a common sub-interest of K-12 online learning or are located in a close geographical location. SIGs are committed to the same or similar goals of iNACOL and will develop a plan to communicate with its members on a regular basis. iNACOL and the SIG shall work together to achieve the following purposes:

Promote and encourage access to high-quality online education for all students
Support professionals using online learning including teachers, technology coordinators, curriculum coordinators, instructional designers, teacher educators, technology directors, administrators, educational researchers, and others
Encourage research and evaluation relating to the effective use of online learning in the K-12 setting and to promote the dissemination of such research to practitioners
Provide information to educational policy makers
Promote the sharing of information and communication between professionals using online learning in the K-12 setting within the region or interest group
Facilitate the achievement of all of the above by conducting activities including, but not limited to: iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium (VSS), as well as other conferences, regional workshops, webinars, the preparation of publications, and the development of other materials useful to the membership and the online learning community.

Member Benefits

free subscriptions to iNACOL reports and newsletters;
free iNACOL promotional materials for conferences;
complimentary registration for Affiliate President or Board Member at VSS;
discounts on iNACOL membership for Affiliate’s members;
discounts on VSS conference registration with iNACOL standard membership;
conference co-marketing opportunities and exchange incentives;
advocacy professional development and regular updates on policy and practice;
visibility through iNACOL electronic/print publications and promotional materials;
opportunities to share expertise with other online learning professionals;
collaboration with other iNACOL members; private corporations, other nonprofits, governments; and
leadership opportunities to advance the field and advocate for change.
marketing of meetings, including a link from iNACOL’s web site. There would be no charge for this service.
co-sponsorship of regional events
placement of logo and link to website on iNACOL website.
opportunity to nominate an individual to run for the iNACOL Board of Directors
opportunity to nominate an individual for the iNACOL Awards Program.
use of our membership forums to archive electronic proceedings of meetings.
use of our registration software for iNACOL sponsored events.
use of our Sharepoint site to maintain membership records and mailing lists. If this service is provided for Affiliates, each member of the Affiliate must be a member of iNACOL as well.
use of iNACOL’s Elluminate licenses to hold and record regular meetings.
use of iNACOL’s conference call line to hold meetings.
use of iNACOL registration system to collect dues (beyond iNACOL membership dues) to be returned to the SIG for its own purposes if needed.
access to iNACOL’s full membership for legitimate research purposes (e.g., calls for papers, invitations to attend a meeting) via the iNACOL forums and/or iNACOL staff.

How to Apply

Applications for Affiliate or SIG status will be screened and approved by the President/CEO of iNACOL who may request additional information.

All documents, whether electronic or hardcopy, issued by an Affiliate or a SIG must include the following disclaimer: (name of structure) is an independent Affiliate/SIG of iNACOL and is solely responsible for actions and commitments undertaken by (name of structure). iNACOL assumes no obligation or responsibility for any actions or commitments undertaken by (name of structure).

Affiliates

A complete application consists of the following:

Complete iNACOL Affiliate Application Form
Copy of current, official Bylaws
Letter of Intent to Apply (include mission statement and outline history and structure of organization)
Copy of conference or professional development promotional collateral (if applicable)
Membership information (brochure organization uses to prospect new members)

Affiliate membership dues are $150.00 USD annually.

Questions or comments, please send a message to Allison Powell, or call 703-752-6216.

Special Interest Group (SIG)

Any group wishing to become a SIG of iNACOL should submit an electronic document (.doc or .pdf) to apowell@nacol.org with the following information:

Complete iNACOL SIG Application Form
A brief description of the group and its goals.
The name and email address of a contact person for the SIG
A description of the activities of the group for which the support of iNACOL would be needed.
For SIGs wishing to collect fees, a preliminary budget should be submitted estimating the number of members, the fees to be charged to members, and the uses of those fees.

Questions or comments, please send a message to Allison Powell, or call 703-752-6216.