Some of your responses helped bring me to a comfortable place, and some of them gave me ideas for further thinking.

Thanks for your kind words. It wasn’t just my vision, though — Kay Persichitte, now the Director of Teacher Education at the University of Wyoming, was really the mastermind of how it could work. I just wanted to change the way we did business. Kay also brought me Nate, and then the fun began!

In response to Question 1, we are funded by a Congressional earmark, from year-to-year. (If you like our work, please tell your Senators.) However, UNC is also mentioned in the NCLB section on National Activities.

In response to #5, I still use textbooks in my classes, primarily because I want the students to have resources after they leave us. BUT, NCLID also funded AFB Press’ effort to go online with textbooks — more precisely, we gave them seed money to make the transition and do a field test with 5 universities. That effort is culminating with the opening of ePublications at AFB in November.

#6 — students with screenreaders do have difficulties keeping up with the chat. I have trouble keeping up with the chat. To some extent, I think it depends on how you are using the chat — for content, social engagement, information . . . . I admit to trying to structure it more when a blind student is in the chat, but at other times I just let it go.

#7 — Egos are rampant in higher education. For me, it’s been a growth process. I still get angry when someone plagiarizes without attribution from my publications; I guess that’s an ego thing, too. But this is a new age of information. You can’t keep knowledge close to the chest. You have a responsibility to put what you know out there before you’re not around any more. I don’t know what proportion of faculty feel the same way that I do. It’s irrelevant, really.

#9 — I think what Nate’s done for us is to make accessible environments visually interesting, too. But that doesn’t mean that you need a graphic on every page (especially your own photo). We’ve also taken the position that we didn’t want alternate pages of text, as some folks do (text version vs. graphics version). All means all.

#10 — Besides social presence, there’s something else going on here. Students have a right to a response. It’s better if they know when they can expect that response. I’ve found that I need to carve out time for myself in order to get my other work done. But then I try to tell the students what’s going on with me. Some faculty give specific times when they will respond, almost like email office hours. You gotta live with yourself. The important thing is you have to respond. But no, department chairs can’t make faculty do much of anything!

Thanks, Sheila. I do appreciate your thoughts, comments, and compliments!