China Institute Educator’s Website

Founded in 1926, China Institute is the oldest bicultural organization in the United States focused on advancing a deeper understanding of China through programs in education, culture, business and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens our global community. We have built this website as a service to our constituents in the field of education, and request that you use its features consistent with our philanthropic purpose, and with respect for your fellow educators, including according to the guidelines set forth below.

The primary purpose of this Site is to enable educators who teach, or desire to teach, China-related topics or Chinese language to easily communicate their current teaching interests, methodologies and pedagogy; to discuss new methods of analysis; to test new ideas, share comments and tips on teaching and to find fellowship and support in one another. [When completed, the Site will provide a place for a free flow of ideas and shared experiences from K-12 teachers and administrators across the U.S. and China, and around the world. The Site will provide a place for experts’ commentary, articles and resources, education resources and ratings, online distance learning, job postings, events listings, and more. Organizers of fellowship announcements, conferences, and symposia in Chinese or Asian Studies will be encouraged to post calls for papers and program contents. ]

Ultimately, China Institute’s goal is to build a robust and thriving online community of educators who share in common our mission of providing today’s students with the global competency skills necessary to lead and succeed in our increasingly interconnected world.

Forum Access and Protocol

Access

Once you have signed in, you can make your way to the forums by clicking on the link in the top navigation bar titled “Forums.” You can also navigate other parts of the website via this top navigation, the scrolling bar, or hyperlinks throughout.

Registration

If you have not registered for the Site we strongly recommend doing so, otherwise you will be limited to “read-only” rights and will not be able to post or respond to topics, or otherwise actively participate in the online community. On this Site there are no strangers–only friends who have not yet met. Introductions are not merely good form or a matter of being polite but will likely be very valuable to other Site members looking for collaborators for panels and other education-related activities.

You can register by clicking “register” in the top right corner below the navigation bar or in the top right corner of the Forum landing page.

Once you have registered you can set your own password and upload a personal photo, avatar, or other image by clicking on the personal profile link on the “My Options” Page.

Please take care to maintain the confidentiality of your password and account, including making sure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. In the case of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, please be sure to notify us immediately.

Overview

The primary purpose of the “Forums” section is to enable educators of China-related topics to easily communicate their current teaching interests; to discuss new methods of analysis; to share resources, and test new ideas and share comments and tips on teaching.

The “Forums” section is organized using the following hierarchy:

Groups- There can be an unlimited number of groups. Groups are used to organize forum topics and users. Each user has his or her own set of permissions based on the group to which s/he has been assigned. One user can be part of multiple groups.

Forums- There can be an unlimited number of forums within a group. Each forum is further divided into topics. New forums can be started by group moderators. New topics in the forums can be started by any registered user.

Topics – Are the threads of discussion within each forum. We reserve the right, as moderators, to move threads of topics between forums and decided if a topic is appropriate or not.

Disclaimer

Please note that the views and ideas expressed in the forums are not necessarily the views and ideas held by China Institute or its directors, executives, staff and/or members. China Institute provides hosting for the forums but does not take responsibility for, nor endorse or support the writings and views of the forum users and community, unless posted by us, or otherwise specifically noted therein.
In addition, the Forums section, or other parts of the Site may provide, or third parties may provide, links to other websites or resources. Because we have no control over such sites and resources, by using the Site, we take no responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and do not endorse and are not responsible or liable for any content, including, without limitation, advertising, products, or other materials, on or available from such sites or resources. Accordingly, we disclaim any responsibility or liability, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, advertising, products, materials, goods or services available on or through any such site or resource.


Protocol

1. When posting a topic be as clear as possible in your title and topic message as to what you are posting about.
2. Work hard to stay on topic and relevant to the education-oriented mission of the Site.
3. “Netiquette.” The tone and content of this Site depends directly on subscribers.
4. We want to encourage lively, informal, productive discussion and exchange of information. To that end, we ask that contributions be considerate of the needs of a busy audience of scholars, many of whom must pay for their access to the Internet. A number of excellent guides to online behavior and style are available on the World Wide Web; we invite you consult them.
5. Please engage only in constructive dialogue and civil conversation. Anything overtly negative, inflammatory, vulgar or insulting is subject to removal and places the user at risk of being banned from the Site.
6. Ad hominems, unattributed quotations or innuendo, private messages or other non public correspondence forwarded for posting without permission, or messages that violate the norms of civility and professional courtesy are subject to removal.
7. Refrain from advertising, marketing, or solicitation of any kind.
8. Be judicious in posting links to external websites; refrain from including them unless they are integral to the conversation.

Do not use the Site to:

a. impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
b. instigate or encourage others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person;

c. post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, or indecent information of any kind, including encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law;
d. transmit any information, software or other material that violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material that is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with;
e. Gain unauthorized access to the Site, or any account, computer system, or network connected to this Site, by means such as hacking, password mining or other illicit means;
f. post or transmit any information, software or other material that contains a virus or other harmful component;
g. Gather for marketing purposes any email addresses or other personal information that has been posted by other users of the Site; or
h. Obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through this Site.

Other Terms

1. By using and registering with the Site, you acknowledge and agree that we may preserve and display content and materials submitted by you.
2. Although we have no obligation to monitor any bulletin boards, chat rooms, web logs, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material, we may, in our sole discretion, remove inappropriate or offensive postings and ban users who do not follow our protocols or terms of service, or who, in our sole judgment, interfere with the ability of others to enjoy our website or infringes the rights of others.
3. We reserve the right in our sole discretion to disclose any information or materials we believe necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce our Terms of Service; (c) respond to claims that any content or materials submitted by you violate the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Site users and/or the public. Please note that the technical processing and transmission of the Site, including content submitted by you, may involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices.

Modifications to the Site

Please note that the Site (or any part thereof) may at any time and from time to time be modified or discontinued, temporarily or permanently, with or without notice.