The Sustainable Development eLearning Network was formally created by submitting legal Articles of Incorporation to the Oregon Secretary of State which were approved on May 17, 2004. As a legally registered non-profit corporation SDLEARN is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or the corresponding provisions of any future United Stated Internal Revenue law.

As stipulated in the organization's ByLaws, SDLEARN was established to:

• Create a network of individuals and institutions interested in offering online educational courses designed to give participants a better understanding of the issues underlying sustainable development and the skills and knowledge needed to help turn development in the direction of sustainability.
• Promote sustainable development through the dissemination of impartial science-based knowledge taking advantage of Information and Communication Technologies.
• Educate and empower people at all levels to develop the values, attitudes and skills necessary to change behavior in regard to natural resource management.

SDLEARN is governed by Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for establishing the organization's policies, overseeing its programs and activities, supervising the director, authorizing expenditures, overseeing financial affairs and ensuring the proper management and use of assets and property. Currently, 3 individual serve on SDLEARN's Board.

Dr. Seishi Ninomiya
President

Seishi is currently the Associate Director of the Department of Information Science and Technology in the National Agricultural Research Center of Japan and a full time professor of the University of Tsukuba where he is involved in teaching and research activities in the area of phytosystem metrics. A key interest area of his is the combination of agricultural science and computer science and he is particularly active in exploring the potential of Information and Communication Technology in the service of agricultural development. He serves as the leader of a long term Japanese Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Information Technology research and development project for agriculture and has been a key resource person and active participant in establishing and guiding the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN). APAN is a non-profit international consortium intended to be a high-performance network for research and development on advanced computer networking applications and services. In APAN he is currently the Director of the Natural Resource Area after having been the chairman of the APAN's Agricultural Working Group for 3 years. He was also one of the founders of the Asian Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture (AFITA) and has been serving as AFITA's Secretary-General since it was established in 1998.

URL: http://zoushoku.narc.affrc.go.jp/ADR/

Dr. Robert T. Raab
Secretary and Executive Director

Bob has a PhD degree in Education and has been involved with training course design, delivery, evaluation and training program management for the last 17 years. Most of his work has been done under the auspices of three CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) centers including 5 years with the training programs of The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, 3 years with the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), Netherlands and 8 years with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. He established and for 3 years directed the Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre (APRTC). Bob also acts as SDLEARN's Executive Director and Secretary. Specific areas of expertise include:

1. Design, development and implementation of Web-based instructional activities and digital learning materials.
2. Integrating technology into the educational process.
3. Training course and program design and management.
4. Training material development.
5. Evaluation of instructional and development projects and programs.

Ms. Buenafe R. Abdon
Treasurer and Network Coordinator

Pipot is an IT professional and statistician with considerable experience in instructional technology and eLearning. She has designed and facilitated numerous multimedia Web-based eLearning courses, been involved in the development of a range of digital learning materials and organized several Internet-based videoconferences using advanced research and education networks. While working at the International Rice Research Institute where she was involved in IT training and managing the Training Center's eLearning activities. Subsequent to this work she was the Associate Director of the Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre (APRTC) where she managed a broad curriculum of online Web-based courses. In this role she also coordinated the work of regionally distributed design teams and course facilitators. While continuing her involvement with APRTC, she also acted as a consultant to the ICT in Education project of UNESCO Bangkok which works to promote successful policy models and strategies of ICT integration in education systems within the Asia Pacific Region. She is SDLEARN's Treasurer and is responsible for the day to day management of the network and its activities. Specific areas of expertise include:

1. Online course management and facilitation
2. Online facilitator training
3. Website development
4. Project management