About this site

This site is a bit like the duck you see on the left.  For a start, it doesn't really look like a duck unless you squint. And even if it did have the requisite duck-like markings and dimensions, it would still only be a line drawing, a crude representation based on the available resources and talents of the person depicting it. A real duck of course is warm and downy, quacks, waddles clumsily and swims beautifully.  A picture can only ever approximate the real thing.

This website approximates the legacy of contributions and interactions of a large group of loosely linked people (the Australian Flexible Learning Community) who journeyed across a specific digital landscape over a particular period in time. Some left recognisable artefacts, such as formal articles and print resources. Others didn't but their footprints are here too in the comments they added to articles, contributions to discussions in public and private groups, participation in special events, influence on other members through private interactions and a range of other scenarios which together weave this sum of the parts.

The resources on this site follow a browse structure based on the original Community themes:

  Technologies for Learning (previously called New Learning Technologies)
  Teaching, Training and Learners
  Professional Development
  Managing Flexible Delivery
  Global Perspectives (replacing National and International Perspectives)

You will find a legend in each section which shows icons for the types of resources contained in each theme area. Resource types include:

  Article - a fairly detailed resource on a specific topic
  How to guide - a step-by-step resource designed to help you learn something quickly and easily
  Event Summary - a summary of an event that took place including presenter's notes and/or the discussion which took place
  Group Summary - a resource based on the collaboration of a group of people
  Review - a review or assessment of a tool, website, product or process
  Interview - can include audio or print transcripts
  Annotated link - a link to a third party site of interest and a brief description

You may notice some repetition in the content of the resources. The Community was a bustling network of people who were connected in multiple ways and the resources reflect the viral patterns of recommendations, favourite websites, opinions, attitudes, and understandings between members and across groups.  Similarly, you'll notice quite a broad variation in the quality and tone of the resources in the collection.  Some articles directly contradict the content of other articles. In other cases the same resources draw polarised feedback from readers. Some resources are written and researched in a very formal style. Others take a very tongue in cheek approach or replicate the informality of a personal, opinion-based conversation. Being a community, and not a library, the resources reflect the diversity and uniqueness of the individuals and groups who comprised it. This is its strength.

You may also wonder why we've kept resources that may be superceded by more recent resources in the collection or shifts in our understandings about flexible learning.  One reason is that many of the older resources are (surprisingly) still relevant and useful. In other cases certain resources were important to keep as a record of the Community's development as well as the evolution of practices, trends and understandings in the field of elearning itself during this period. Not so long ago we were fielding questions like “what’s HTML?"  Seen against this backdrop, the increase in skills and capability in members over this period is fairly remarkable.

Much of the content in this archive contains links that, sooner or later, will be out of date or will no longer work. This is beyond our control. Similarly we are not responsible for the content of third party sites. We hope you agree that the benefits of linking to external sites outweighs concerns about broken links and sites which may have changed their tone/quality/content. As with anything else, use your judgement.  If you find a broken link, try the original home page of the site. If that doesn't work, try Google (or your preferred search engine). Failing that, move on. Like the universe, the internet appears to be impermanent.

Most discussions (except for private groups, which have been deleted) have been summarised and appear as either a “group summary” or “event summary”. Where possible we have tried to list the contributors in each resource but this has proved almost impossible in some cases so we’re hoping you'll forgive any omissions or failures of acknowledgement.  If you submitted a learning resource and it's not here, it may be because the links didn’t work anymore and couldn't be located or some other reason that resulted in it being missed or excluded. Again, apologies for any omissions.

Finally, the Free for Education logo you'll find at the top of each resource refers to your right to use and copy any resource in the collection as long as it is for educational purposes and you do not amend or revise the content. In this way, resources developed in or contributed to the Community are appropriately protected and still retain something of the generous spirit in which they were contributed.

Enjoy these artefacts, especially if you were part of the journey during its 2001 – 2004 incarnation. While (a bit like the duck) it does not replicate the dynamic, “living” environment that was the Community, we hope the collection at least reflects something of the creative culture and spirit in which people participated, contributed, collaborated and engaged.