d in 1868. The information at the site allows learners and the public to pursue their research as they please and to access original documents which are not generally available. Individuals are free to interpret the meaning of the documents and reach their own conclusions. 4.3 Flexibility of Learning You want to provide maximum flexibility to allow learners to undertake learning and research in the order which best suits them. Because the web allows learners to "move around" at will, they do not need to follow a structured hierarchy. Generally learners need and want some direction but the web allows a more flexible approach. 4.4 Further Study You want learners to pool data and/or analysis to find patterns and trends or to undertake further study. p> 5.0 ASSUMPTIONS For a starting point and to keep us on track in this paper, I will discuss degree credit courses delivered by the University of New Brunswick. I will assume that for your case there is ready WWW web access for the professor as well as web access for students. Again, for consistency, I expect my students to have at least Netscape 3 (or its equivalent), their own internet service provider (ISP), and the skills necessary to access the WWW. These are my starting points - but most concepts discussed will transfer across institutional lines. p> 6.0 BEFORE YOU START YOUR COMPUTER 6.1 Steps to Take There a number of things that you should do before you begin to do any coding, contracting or late night computer hacking. There are meetings to setup, there is paper work to be done and decisions to be made. Then, and only then, do you get to "Play" with the computer. 6.2 Meetings I would advise that you consider the following meetings as part of your endeavors. They will help you set the ground rules, help you avoid some of the mine-fields, and start you off on a working relationship with groups that can be either wonderful allies or formidable combatants, and hopefully help keep you on track as you work towards a finished product. 6.2.1 Your initial meeting with your own department I feel it is imperative for any relationship you and your delivering agency (Department of Extension, Continuing Education or "University of the World") to start with a good relationship with your own department. In this meeting you may need to get the approval of the supervisors of your department to be able to deliver in something other than the traditional face to face, on campus mode. Those in authority may have to guarantee the academic support for some period after the first start of delivery of the course (at UNB, the period is three years). At the University of New Brunswick, instructors delivering courses through the Department of Extension are recommended by the faculties. This is something you might also wish to discuss with your own department at this time. It is often assumed that the person (s) developing a course will be the one (s) that wish to teach the course and the one (s) that the faculty will appoint to teach the course. This is not always the case. You should also discuss possible sources of help for the development of your course. There are times when stipend relief may be available from various sources. There may also be funds available from other agencies. 6.2.2 Your first meeting with your delivering agency Having gained the approval of your faculty, you should next meet with your delivering agency. In this meeting, you should discuss the ways that they can help you in the development of your course. They may also share with you what they know about possible funding sources. As Web-based learning is different from regular face-to-face lecture learning, they will want you to make use of good instructional design methodologies. This is often an area where they can help. Here are some items you may wish to discuss at that meeting: a. possible methods of web-based delivery for your course, b. method of payment to the instructor, c. ancillary support materials and their delivery to the students, d. how the materials, assignments, marks and communications flow between parties e. liaisons with the libraries f. liaisons with Computer Services g. on-going checkpoint meetings with your delivering agency. At regularly scheduled intervals, you should meet with your delivering agency as they will wish to monitor the development of the course. Your delivering agency should be checking with you to: * keep abreast of your time lines. They need this to be able to best market your course and to see that it receives the coverage it deserves, * ensure the consistency of an Academia "look and feel "* ensure the consistency of any standards for web-based courseware development (for an example, please see
