Building the Web Interactive Study Environment : mainstreaming online teaching and learning at the University of Western Sydney

The Web Interactive Study Environment or WISE was developed from 1998-2000 at UWS Hawkesbury to address the issues that have arisen in moving online teaching from the innovative to the mainstream. The principles underlying WISE are drawn from a number of educational disciplines including distance education, tertiary education and academic development. Its objective is to influence not only academic practice within the institution but also the ongoing dialogue concerning flexible and online learning. Ownership of the process is dispersed throughout the organisation. The WISE team is involved in a wide ranging consultative process which includes virtually every sector of the university community. The result is a constantly evolving environment reliant as much on communication, negotiation and consensus as on hardware and software.