There is much excitement at Berkeley College as we celebrate National Distance Learning Week! To see a full listing of events, please go to http://berkeleycollege.edu/ndlw2017.htm.
Some of the activities during NDLW at Berkeley College include: 
• The Virtual Film Club showing of Shakespeare in Love – Best Picture 1998 with opportunity to discuss with the Online Film Club
• The Online Fall Art & Creativity Festival – submissions of creative expressions, include photography, photos of original artwork, graphic and interior designs, poetry and other original written work, as well as creative works in multimedia and audio recording, being accepted now through November 3, 2017 by the Berkeley College community
• Online Bookstore Savings include 30 percent discount on all merchandised purchased during National Distance Learning Week (certain exclusions such as books, laptops, electronics and others, apply)
• Virtual Chess Tournament – Students can register for a free account and complete the registration form for the tournament
• Charity Miles/Virtual Community Service – Getting fit with the Online Campus has the goal of 20,000,000 steps to help the charity of choice for participants. The Charity Miles app is downloadable to the phone and participants can then join the Berkeley College Online Charity Miles Team and get walking. Begin during national Distance Learning Week and count your workouts throughout the year to count toward the goal.
• Essay Contest – In recognition of the 20th anniversary of offering online learning at Berkeley College, student submissions received between November 6 and December 3, 2017 that address the question “In the past 20 years, what has been the most significant event in your life, and why?” will be judged by a panel representing faculty, the Center for Academic Success, and Library Services. Prizes include gift cards from Amazon.
• Game of Phones – Students have the opportunity to use their telephone interview skills in hopes of receiving a mock job offer – includes prizes
2018 will mark the 20th Anniversary of Online Learning at Berkeley College. On Tuesday, 11/7, we held a kick-off celebration where staff, faculty, associates, and online alumni were in attendance. In addition, we had several employers attend who work closely with our Career Services team in hiring our students in both internship and full-time positions!
To mark this event, we had a “technology themed” cake – an iPhone cake! 
The network we were on was “BC-ONL” (Berkeley College Online). The battery life was at 20%; the time was 20:18; there were 20 unread emails, and 20 unread texts! We included apps that are most used including the Berkeley College app, our LMS app, and an assortment of others! In addition, we displayed eight posters reflecting back to the top 10 in the following categories – books, music, technology, fashion, sports, TV, movies, and news.
As one of the first college or university programs worldwide to be certified by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), Berkeley College continues to strive for excellence by applying additional quality measures for academic programs that are offered both on site and online.
“The delivery of courses with the highest quality is a major priority for Berkeley College Online,” said Joseph Scuralli, Ed.D, Dean, Online, Berkeley College. “The synergies we develop from interacting with certifying organizations such as the USDLA and Quality Matters, the Berkeley College Online Faculty Support Team and the Berkeley College Online faculty have set us on a path for reaching even higher levels of success in achieving our mission of empowering students to achieve lifelong success in dynamic careers,” he added.
National Distance Learning Week is an opportunity to celebrate achievements and advances in online learning and Berkeley College looks forward to this annual event!
Register now for additional National Distance Learning Week activities!
Blog written by Sharon Goldstein 
USDLA Board Member