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DL Networking Harmony in Nashville: Join us for the 2019 USDLA National Conference

Blog Written by Pat Cassella, President, U.S. Distance Learning Association

This will be the 32nd year of the United States Distance Learning Association and our first conference ever in Music City.

Much like Digital and Distance Learning has been the fabric of our Association, music has long been the common thread in Nashville, connecting people to both the life and soul of the city in cultural, business and social capacity.

I recently visited the Hilton Airport Nashville, the site of our 2019 conference, to get a first hand look at the layout, meet the staff and best understand how to leverage the location for four days in May.

Upon meeting Keith Glad, Hilton Manager, I immediately felt at home and a strong connection. Keith waked me through each of the 6 rooms where we will hold our concurrent sessions, introduced me to supporting staff, explained the history of the hotel (it was an old Holiday Inn just a couple of years ago) and showed me the ballroom where we will have our keynotes and Awards dinner. Once business was finished, we continued the bonding over a great meal at the on-site restaurant, complete with a glass (or two) of wine.  

As I reflect upon the visit, it’s this type of connection that many attendees over the years have told me they felt with their peers upon attending their first (or tenth) USDLA conference. In fact, when we poll attendees after the conference, they indicate that networking is one of the primary reasons for attending and that the intimate, family environment is hard to find in other conferences they attend in the DL space.   

This year we are committed to continuing this trend of quality networking along with some new and exciting topics within the AI (Artificial Intelligence) space and how this is currently (and will continue to) impact the world of digital and distance learning. The three keynote speakers we have signed on will bring significant experience to the conference, yet are all very approachable for small group and personal conversations regarding AI, Mixed Reality, IoT (Internet of Things) and other 21st century learning topics.

To keep your mind and body in balance, we also have a variety of events planned! We kick off Monday night with a nice opening reception, complete with a local musician. Tuesday morning, we will keep you in shape with a Yoga class, courtesy of Hope Gibbs, a very talented Kundalini yoga instructor and entrepreneur while the evening round table dinners will allow you to network with your peers on Broadway with courtesy (free) roundtrip transportation. Wednesday morning, we will meet in the lobby at 6AM for a nice walk/jog/run to celebrate the life of Bill Jackson, past USDLA President and friend who left us all too early followed by an incredible evening of Award presentations to those who have made significant achievements within DL community.

I hope you share my excitement and I’d be honored to have you at the conference this May 21st-24th in Nashville. Visit https://usdla.org/2019-national-conference/ to learn more.

Blackboard’s Accessibility Solution Ally receives Innovation Award from USDLA

 

 

Blog written by:

Randy McDonald

USDLA Board Member

 

Each year the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) recognizes the preeminent distance learning practitioners from around the world. The annual awards program not only salutes some often unsung but hardworking professionals but also showcases the “best of the best” so that others may admire and emulate their excellence and innovation.

The Innovation Award is given for innovative approaches to the delivery of distance learning and nominations for the awared are judged on innovation, originality, significance, and measurable impact.  A recipient of USDLA’s 2018 Innovation Award was the Blackboard Ally Accessibility Solution.  The nomination was submitted by Sally Ewalt and the award was presented at the 2018 USDLA annual conference in Indianapolis. Blackboard Ally, a Learning Management System (LMS) agnostic technology, is the first solution that integrates accessibility so closely and seamlessly into already existing systems and workflows.  Ally provides guidance to faculty about how to improve the quality of their content for everyone; provides students of all abilities with immediate access to content in formats that may be more suited to their specific needs, and helps institutions understand the accessibility of all their digital course content.

Ally does this by automatically scanning course materials uploaded in the LMS and alerting faculty if the materials are not accessible.  Ally checks for a wide variety of issues and alerts may include things such as contrast issues; seizure-inducing graphics; and missing headings, tags, and descriptions. This immediate feedback gives faculty the information they need to make course materials more accessible. In addition to the report, Ally also automatically creates alternative formats of the original document including Semantic HTML, audio, ePub, and electronic braille.  Ally also provides an institution-wide accessibility report so administrators can better understand their institution’s accessibility needs and challenges and prioritize resources effectively.

By providing institutions and faculty with easy to use, integrated workflows, Ally can help hundreds of thousands of students access the course materials that are best formatted for their needs. This is a type of personalization unlike any other that we have seen on a wide scale and has the potential to alter who can access and succeed in higher education.  By raising awareness about the importance of accessible content to student success, Ally can also help institutions move towards a more inclusive environment for everyone.

More information about Ally is available at the Blackboard Ally website.  https://www.blackboard.com/accessibility/blackboard-ally.html

 

 

 

 

 

The USDLA thanks our 2018 International Awards program sponsor, Lifesize.

Save the Dates

November 5th – 9th, 2018 – National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) 

November 28th – 30th, 2018 – International Forum for Women in E-learning (IFWE) – San Antonio, Texas

Learn more about the USDLA and how you too can be a member. The association supports all core markets including Enterprise, Government, Telemedicine, Education and others.

Measuring the true benefit of classroom technology might be getting a bit easier

Measuring the true benefit of classroom technology might be getting a bit easier

by Pat Cassella, USDLA President

When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of technology in the classroom how does one measure success? Having spent the better part of the past 20 years empowering students and teachers with the latest visual communication tools I’ve often tried to help CIOs and CFOs measuring the true effectiveness as part of an ROI analysis.

When it comes to video conferencing applications there are some hard metrics that can often be applied; travel reduction, teaching resources and improved outcomes are generally among the top three. The cost to travel from point A to point B a certain number of times in the week/month/year can easily be calculated with miles saved and a per-mile cost to travel. A good example is a student in a rural area attending a metro located community college 50 miles away. The cost of wear and tear on the vehicle, cost of gas and time spent on the road can add up quickly.

A single specialized teaching resource (let’s say Mandarin language) can often be leveraged to teach in multiple remote locations from one physical site. Again, not only are you saving on travel but also the cost of having just one teacher rather than several in salary and benefits.

The third metric is often a bit trickier; how does one best measure an improved outcome? You could certainly look towards test scores, student engagement and teacher feedback to get a valid reference point, but how do you gather and analyze such data?

While my example specifically calls out video conferencing which has been a technology found in the classroom since the early 90’s, what about Learning Management Systems, video distribution platforms, data repositories and the other hundreds of technology tools in the classroom?

With an estimated $14B being spent on technology across US K-12 schools and districts in 2018 it’s more important than ever to be able to measure the effectives of technology to ensure a positive ROI is being achieved. EdTech management systems have recently begun to appear within campuses and school districts across the country with the promise of improving instructional, operational and financial decisions through organization and analysis of classroom technology. Understanding how often products are used, how they are being used, what the teachers think of them and analyzing student outcomes can help to place an actual score on a particular piece of technology and justify an investment.

The EdTech management market is relatively new but there is no denying the need for such an analysis tool as budgets continue to become strained and every dollar spent on classroom technology comes under additional scrutiny in the public and private eye. It would certainly make my life easier as I meet with my CIO and CFOs to discuss technology options.

Cleveland Clinic Has an “Awesome” Connected Learning Experience for Middle School Students

 

This blog written by:
Janine Lim

USDLA Board Member
Associate Dean, Online Higher Education Andrews University
Department of Digital Learning and Instructional Technology

To say that the Adventures in Health Science and Medicine program® is “awesome” is an understatement.  The Cleveland Clinic Civic Education Department’s connected learning experience, which plays on its acronym’s phonetic pronunciation, is truly “AHweSoMe”…

An Award-Winning Experience

Adventures in Health Science and Medicine (AHSM) was awarded with this year’s USDLA Innovation Award in the K-12 space, and this connected learning experience designed for middle school students is exactly as billed:  it’s an experience.  AHSM is not a class, it is not a lecture, and it is not a presentation. It is an immersive and multifaceted learning experience which leverages the best practices of instruction and learning in a distance learning/webinar environment.  The experience includes real healthcare professionals facilitating the sessions, an AHSM kit full of experiments, and a video case study, which catapults AHSM into a whole different instructional realm that most students have never experienced.  It is real, it is tangible, it is kinesthetic, and it is all happening in their classroom.

Real Engagement With Healthcare Professionals

Eight middle school classes engage in seven, hour-long interactive sessions that are offered via interactive webinars, blending virtual facilitation by real healthcare professionals and interactive, hands-on activities that the students perform as they work through a case study. With guidance from the healthcare professionals, students conduct experiments and peer-to-peer discussions to discover and diagnose a disease using the knowledge they gain from each of the connected learning sessions. The engagement with real healthcare professionals, paired with the AHSM case study, gives students an inside look into a variety of allied health processes, from having a blood workup in the medical laboratory to a bronchoprovocation test in a respiratory therapy lab.  Over the course of the eight-week experience, students will learn about 15 different allied health professions and see those professionals in action, in their work environments.

Hands-On Experiments

The hands-on experiments are the cornerstone of the AHSM experience.  Each session includes two experiments, one provides context to the underlying science behind a medical procedure and the other is the application of that scientific principle in the diagnosis of an illness. In the second session, for example, the students explore the concept of density by layering a variety of liquids (including molasses, dish soap, and vegetable oil) in a plastic cup and then shining a penlight through the liquids to observe how light travels through each layer. This activity helps the students understand the underlying principles of how an X-Ray machine works. The students then analyze real X-Rays with the Radiology Technician leading the session to make a diagnosis.

Real-Time Judging

AHSM also capitalizes on the capabilities that webinar technology provides for students to interact with their peers from different schools.  The culminating capstone session, called the IDEA$ Challenge, has students presenting an innovation that they have developed based on a real-world health problem.  All eight classes present their innovations using videos, slide decks, CAD drawings, and even prototypes printed on 3-D printers.  While each class presents, the other classes are the judges, using a rubric to score the presentation and an online polling tool to generate real-time results for their peers.  The two classes with the highest rubric scores are declared the “AHSM Innovators of the Year” and are awarded AHSM Innovator sunglasses.

Warrenville Heights Middle School AHSM Innovators 2017

 The AHSM program actively promotes learning about health sciences and career opportunities in healthcare while engaging and inspiring students along the way. The program unites caregivers, students, and teachers to provide a unique learning experience that builds on students’ foundation of scientific principles and fosters creative and critical thinking. By merging distance learning technologies with active learning, the AHSM program is a truly innovative approach to health science education.

It’s also important to note that the Adventures in Health Science and Medicine connected learning experience is provided free of charge to Northeast Ohio schools by the Cleveland Clinic Civic Education Department.  Tower Health in Reading Pennsylvania is also providing the AHSM connected learning experience to their local schools. 

For more information about Adventures in Health Science and Medicine, visit the Cleveland Clinic Civic Education Department’s website.  


 

 

 

 

The USDLA thanks our 2018 International Awards program sponsor, Lifesize.

Save the Dates

November 5th – 9th, 2018 – National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) 

November 28th – 30th, 2018 – International Forum for Women in E-learning (IFWE) – San Antonio, Texas

Learn more about the USDLA and how you too can be a member. The association supports all core markets including Enterprise, Government, Telemedicine, Education and others.

USDLA Membership

 

USDLA Represented at European Distance and E-Learning and Network

USDLA Represented at European Distance and E-Learning and Network – Genova, Italy

Blog written by USDLA Member:
Michael L. Mathews,
Oral Roberts University
2018 CIO 100 Winner and 2017 Top 30 Education Innovators

The United States Distance Learning Associate (USDLA) continued the strong relationship with the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) on June 17-20, 2018. The USDLA was represented by Oral Roberts University who was the 2017 USDLA Innovation of the Year Winner.  Michael delivered a presentation called ‘The Flipped University’ which was a perfect fit for the conference theme: Exploring the Micro, Meso, and Macro — navigating between dimensions in the digital learning landscape.  I was privileged to be accompanied by the video overview of USDLA by President Pat Castella.

The conference was well attended and represented people from all European countries and many from Brazil, South Africa, and Asia who believe that the European Network has much to offer in innovative methods in distance and E-learning. Being an attendee of both USDLA and EDEN was a perfect chance to see the various presentations and formats for both  organizations.  Both organizations operate at high impact, and desire to bring out the best in information, case studies, and collaboration. The EDEN conference was clearly focused on innovative methods between micro, meso, and macro delivery models.

The conference also included many sessions on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and other emerging technologies. The attendees were eager to learn which technologies may power the next big trend in distance learning. From my perspective, the last 10 years has produce so many options and possibilities that people are both fatigued and skeptical of solutions. It is clear that no one college, university, or corporate training can invest in so many technologies, at least in their fullest measure. Many leading universities have concluded that they will need to become extremely intelligent at choosing the crème de la crème of all technologies within a smart ecosystem. This approach would be a hybrid of Micro, Meso, and Macro learning in an innovative method. This method is known as micro-Innovating, and it integrates these diverse approaches for the benefit of all learners.

The EDEN presentation by the USDLA and Oral Roberts University was extremely well received and demonstrated how Augmented and Virtual Reality (AVR) has impacted students from 101 countries through ORU’s Global Learning Center, which operates in the micro, meso, and macro levels. The live demonstration of AVR was a huge success. In addition, the unveiling of the first AVR repository called the Virtual Reality Education System that integrates into any LMS gave hope to every attendee that AVR can be implemented at an affordable and micro-level that truly showcases what micro-innovation is all about.  The design diagram below illustrates how a VRES system integrates with all systems, all AVR devices, and the future of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. In essence, the VRES is a design at all levels, micro, meso, and macro.

Summary: The plethora of possibilities to innovate and improve online and e-learning demand that campus technology designers micro-innovate ecosystems that span across micro, meso, and macro levels of delivery. This design mythology will allow sustainable and affordable solutions. These innovations will allow a repeatable deliverable like ORU has — which brings retention levels to 96%, placement to 97%, and expand from 85 countries to 101 countries with four years of consecutive growth in online learning.

It was a true blessing, honor and privilege to represent the USDLA and ORU at the EDEN conference. For information in another conference featuring emerging technologies through micro-innovations at Wheaton College with CIO Wendy Woodward, viist https://www.emergingtech-education.com/

The new micro-innovation of a Virtual Reality Education System

Learn more about the USDLA and how you too can be a member. The association supports all core markets including Enterprise, Government, Telemedicine, Education and others.

USDLA Membership

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