From the outset I had no illusion and so it was clear to me - that in order to fly, hours and hours of practice would be needed. Time, money and fear of failure are often the first obstacles preventing women from even contemplating the flight into cyberspace. But unlike with print media, ideas only half-baked and not fully developed can be launched in cyberspace - and gradually be built upon. With these important guidelines in mind, I set out to develop skills with web authoring tools (such as AOL press, and several months later Netscape Communicator - both offering different degrees of flexibility but generally having many similarities). Initially, the learning curve was so steep that I really questioned if I would ever take off. Unfamiliarity with the jargon, that is the computer language used in every day cyberspeak, made it necessary to learn some simple terms to assist me along the journey. (For example html, links, jpegs, gifs.) Months later I was away, enjoying the flight, my sites launched, and the students benefiting from new flexible ways of learning such as interactive websites and computer mediated conferencing (CMC). In what follows I will discuss the advantages, obstacles and joys for both students and educators of online teaching.

Learning to develop Web sites

Before I could launch into teaching Women's Studies in cyberspace several test flights were needed. One flight involved maintaining and updating the Australian Women's Studies Research Centre's web site (no longer current, 2002). Experiments with different colours, fonts, tables and graphics kept me occupied for hours. It all seemed really slow, manually writing the html scripts but with newer and faster programs developed, it wasn't long before the old manual methods were defunct and easier and quicker ways to set up sites were available. With assistance from technological witchery, specialists from DCAD assisted with design and development of electronic forms and templates. The Information Technology (IT) Co-ordinator in the Faculty provided advice and instructions that complemented basic training sessions.

In my next test flight I began to work with templates which was simpler that it sounded. It involved deciding on where and how to place the ideas and concepts in an already made frame with the use of jpegs, gifs, and an assortment of graphics and digital photos to jazz up the sites, http://arts.deakin.edu.au/guymer/asw101 http://arts.deakin.edu.au/guymer/asw310 and http://arts.deakin.edu.au/guymer/asw311. But so far Women's Studies websites closely reflected the print copies of the Unit Guide study materials with additional links to the library, feminist authors, activists and publishers. Now that I felt confident with the technology I was ready for my first real flight. From months of work in my private folder on the desktop in the safety of my office it was time to launch my sites into cyberspace. I gave the URL to my collegues, students enrolled in third year and together we took off.

For larger versions of the graphics opposite, click on the image.

Laurel Guymer was born in 1963 in Melbourne. She lectures in Women's Studies at Deakin University, having worked as a Nurse/Midwife in the areas of critical care and womenÕs health for more than ten years. She has a Master of Arts (1997) in Women's Studies. In late 1997 she commenced her PhD on the sexual politics of contraception. Her current research includes feminist investigations of homophobia, sexual coercion and the sex industry, Women's Studies graduates careers and the implications of the pro-euthanasia movement for women. She is an active member of FINRRAGE and is involved in the international campaign against population control and abusive, hazardous contraceptives. Over the past two years she has presented and published internationally a number of papers and written three book chapters. She was awarded a DUTSD (Deakin University Teaching and Staff Development) grant to develop interactive teaching materials (web site/CD-ROM) based on collaborative interactional feminist pedagogy with Renate Klein in 1999. She is committed to radical feminism, flexible teaching and learning, which results in her boundless energy and enthusiasm for Women's Studies.

When you are the administrator of a cyberclassroom the conference space is only limited by your imagination. The top level shows a number of conferences including the Women's Studies icon and the student simply clicks this icon to open a second level which contains the several different conferences we use in Women's Studies. From there the student opens the icon called Feminist Research Methodology, or the unit they are enrolled in to find where most of the discussions are taking place. The third level includes tute rooms, resource room (here the students find a list of the readings and questions to discuss and engage in each week), library (frequently asked questions are answered here), a chat facility, the office (here students can submit assignments and evaluations electronically into a locked bag) and private tute rooms for students wanting to work collaboratively on projects on any variation that you decide to include.