FAQ

New members of Asia Region Art Educators are encouraged to review the following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as a way of orienting themselves to the site. If you have a question about any of the following information or if there is something else you would like to know about Asia Region Art Educators that isn't answered below, feel free to send the site's administrator, Kendra Farrell, a message.

What's the difference between a forum, a blog entry, and a group?

• Post to a forum when you want to initiate a discussion on a topic of interest OR when you want to pose a question for the community at large to which you want people to respond.
• Post to a blog if you have a subject you wish to write about (e.g, share the progress of a new project you're starting in your classroom over a period of weeks) OR make an announcement (e.g., there's an art teaching position available in your district) OR to simply report on how things are going in your classroom or studio (e.g, as a new art teacher).
• Start a group when you feel there is a special project or subject of interest that will attract a sufficient number of members to join. Anyone can set up a group on this site. But, please browse through the group pages to see if the group you MAY want to set up already exists on the site. When setting up a group, please provide a description of the group's focus or intent and upload an image to serve as the group's visual identity on the site. Note: If you join a group that doesn’t seem active (e.g., the last posting on the group page was from a year or so ago) it may just take someone like you to jumpstart that group again!

What can the general public (non-members) see on the Asia Region Art Educators?

While the main page of Asia Region Art Educators is visible to the public, only members can view the other pages on the site. Also, only members can post photos, videos, and text messages to the site. The only private space on Asia Region Art Educatorsis when you send a "message" to others or when they send a message to you. This message function amounts to an internal email system. If you want to communicate privately to another member, do so by hitting “Send a Message” under their profile picture on their page.

How can I update my profile information and photo?

Many people join Asia Region Art Educators with a fairly minimal amount of information in their profile. It's understandable to be leery of offering too much personal information on the Internet. Still, reading the background information on our personal pages is the easiest way to get to know each other on Asia Region Art Educators. Middle school art teachers want to chat with other middle school art teachers. Likewise, those that teach digital photography want to meet other digital photography teachers. Without some basic information about where we live, what we do for a living, or what our interests are on our personal pages, it will be a challenge to get to know each other. So, look at your personal profile and page as a way of introducing yourself to others on the site.

You can change your profile information and photo and appearance of your page at any time by clicking on “Settings” under your name in the upper righthand corner of the screen or by clicking on "Customize My Page" under your picture on your personal page. The first option there is to upload a new profile photo. Click "browse" and locate the image you want to upload and "select" or "open" it. It will take a few seconds to upload. If you wish, you can change your profile information by simply changing the text in the boxes on the "settings" page. Be sure to click on "save" at the bottom of the page in order for the changes you made to take effect.

What is the policy regarding posting commercial content on the site?

Asia Region Art Educators was created with the main purpose of building a community of practice through professional discourse, collaboration and the exchange of information among members. Commercial content is encouraged only when its intent is to contribute a resource to a discussion or group. Please do not engage in "hard selling" or send unsolicited, product- or service-focused messages to other members.

Spam. This definition of "spam" comes from the spam.abuse.net site: "Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it." IF you have a message you wish to send to the whole Asia Region Art Educators community OR to a large number of members (via our email messaging system or by posting to members' comment walls) please clear it with the site administrator first. If you feel you've received "spam" from another Asia Region Art Educators member, let the site administrator know.

Thanks to Craig Roland for letting us use his FAQ guidelines as they work perfectly on our ning too.