• This blog post written by:
• Paul Roitman Bardack, Esq.
• USDLA Chair Emeritus

 

The 2018 USDLA National Conference will take place April 29 – May 2, 2018 at the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites in Indianapolis, IN.  In attendance will be university presidents and provosts, K-12 and higher education faculty, college deans, chief information officers, chief knowledge officers, corporate and government trainers, instructional systems designers, K-12 and higher education administrators, and others.

The opening keynote – focusing on the evolution of online learning and assessment of market opportunities for workforce-aligned degrees – will take place the morning of Monday, April 30, and the opening keynote speaker will be Ms. Carol Vallone.

For many years Carole Vallone was the driving force behind Meteor Learning, the leading company enabling higher education institutions to launch online, competency-based education degree programs that build job-ready skills and enhance career advancement.  She is a seasoned technology executive with over 30 years’ experience in market-leading companies.  Previously, she served as board chair, president and CEO of Wimba Corporation, the global leader in virtual collaboration software for higher education. Vallone led and grew the company through sale in 2006.  She also launched WebCT, Inc. in 1999, the company that defined and delivered the premier e-learning solution for education.  As board chair, president and CEO, she built a higher education global customer base of almost 2,000 post-secondary institutions in 70 countries and 14 languages.  She led the company from start-up through sale in 2006.

Prior to her pioneering efforts in education, Vallone held several executive level positions with companies breaking ground in the corporate technology sector.  For over 10 years, she served on the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and chaired the Massachusetts Education Foundation where she spearheaded an effort to re-write the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Instructional Technology Standards with a focus on integrating technology into the curriculum. She annually recognized K-12 instructors whose teaching practices served as models for engaging technology use in STEM disciplines.

A frequent spokesperson on educational technology, Vallone has appeared globally in education industry print publications, nationally on CNN Headline News, and on Boston-based television news and radio programs.  She often guest lectures at noteworthy business schools on how to start and grow a technology company and provides mentoring to technology CEOs.

The closing keynote will take place the morning of Wednesday, May 2, and the closing keynote speaker will be Mr. Doug Lederman.

Doug Lederman is co-editor and one of three founders of Inside Higher Ed.  He co-leads the site’s editorial operations, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice, blogs and other features.

Lederman speaks widely about higher education, including on C-Span and National Public Radio and at meetings around the country, and his work has appeared in The New York Times and USA Today, among other publications.  Lederman was managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003. Before that, he worked at The Chronicle since 1986 in a variety of roles, first as an athletics reporter and editor.

Lederman has won three National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, including one in 2009 for a series of Inside Higher Ed articles he co-wrote on college rankings.

Things to note:

Registration is now open for the 2018 USDLA Conference

Please join us for our two Pre-Conference Water Cooler Discussions

10 Great Reasons Why You Should Attend 2018 USDLA Conference

 

 

 

 

 

 

This blog post written by:

Patrick Pluscht

Presidential Appointee, U.S. Distance Learning Association Board

The University of Central Florida’s Center for Distributed Learning has become synonymous with award-winning innovation in online education. As recent evidence, in April 2017, the USDLA recognized Dr. Tom Cavanagh, UCF’s Vice Provost for Digital Learning, with the USDLA Outstanding Leadership Award. At the same awards ceremony, members of Tom’s team, Charles Dziuban, Patsy Moskal, Jeffrey Cassisi, and Alexis Fawcett, received the Quality Research Paper Award for their research paper entitled “Adaptive Learning in Psychology:  Wayfinding in the Digital Age.”  In October 2017, UCF received a WCET WOW award for UDOIT: Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool, their open-source accessibility checker which can be used by any institution that uses Canvas.  In September 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked UCF the 25^th most innovative university in the country out of nearly 1,400 institutions.  So what’s the secret to UCF’s leadership in online education?

According to Tom, the key is striking the right balance between establishing a vision you can stick with and executing the tactics to accomplish that vision. He says these challenges work different muscles, but are both important.

Tom’s overall impact at UCF was noted by University of North Texas President Dr. Neal Smatresk, who served on the most recent Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) on-site committee for UCF’s reaffirmation of accreditation. “Tom has been a remarkable agent of transformation at UCF, creating better services and access for their students, better use of educational technology across the campus and he has been a leader in developing ‘higher ed big data’ in the service of better learning outcomes,” said Smatresk.

If you spend any time talking to Tom, you already know he is quick to give credit to his exceptional team that has grown online learning over 80% since he joined the university. He casually cites favorite Peter Senge quotes like “Innovation is a team sport” and then demonstrates his commitment to this notion by hosting a Hack Day event once per semester to give technical and non-technical staff time to work on new ideas.  Tom knows that if you do a good job answering the “why” question, it is a lot easier to accomplish the “how.”

Tom recognizes that valuable ideas deserve to be shared and not just for the good of your own institution. The UDOIT tool is just one such product-based example that has been implemented at institutions across the country. Tom also freely shares his insights with others whether he’s presenting at national conferences or co-hosting the monthly podcast Teaching Online Podcast (TOPcast) with Dr. Kelvin Thompson, Director of Online Design and Development Strategy at UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning. These podcasts are both fun and thought-provoking.  As an example, check out this podcast episode where Tom and Kelvin discuss some leadership traits and strategies for effectiveness in online learning. The FIRRST heuristic covered in this episode is more formally explained in “Keeping FIRRST things First: The Delicate Dance of Leading Online innovation at Your Institution,” the opening chapter of the 2018 book Leading and Managing e-Learning: What the e-Learning Leader Needs to Know (Educational Communications and Technology: Issues and Innovations) available at Amazon. While Tom didn’t write the book on innovation in online education, he and Kelvin are certainly major contributors.

Tom shared one particular story that perhaps best illustrates why he was recognized for outstanding leadership by the USDLA.  “The biggest things are also the smallest things. I participated in a signing ceremony recently with a new college partner and several UCF Online students spoke. I was nearly in tears listening to their stories about how they could only pursue education online because of work and family obligations, and how the education they were receiving was literally changing their lives. Being a part of that makes the work worthwhile,” Tom said.

Tom’s story is emblematic of what motivates the membership of the USDLA: to know that that we are spending our time and talent doing something that makes a difference in the world.

Learn more about the USDLA and how you too can be a member by visiting www.usdla.org/membership. The association supports all core markets including Enterprise, Government, Telemedicine, Education and others.

USDLA Membership – www.usdla.org/membership

Our Association is unique, not only for its historical commitment to distance learning, but also for engaging with a broad spectrum of distance learning professionals – K-12, higher education, corporate, government, military, telehealth, and home schooling. While more narrowly focused organizations have an important role, a powerful perspective emerges when bright minds serving diverse constituencies come together.

The USDLA was formed in 1987. At that time, companies like Yahoo and Google were still years away. “Power users” were boasting of their Intel 386 processors. In that context, distance learning was a concept well outside the educational mainstream. Granted, a few people knew something of the process, but hands-on distance learning experience was rare. The USDLA provided a means for these pioneers to find one another.

Today, with more than one-third of college students taking an online class, it’s a far different world. But USDLA remains a vital player. Our members continue to seek out other distance learning professionals. These practitioners still want to grow and want to offer students a strong education in a robust community of learning. Today’s the USDLA stands out as a remarkable resource for teachers and administrators who want to enhance the learning experience.

Submit an award nomination today!

 

This blog written by:

Samantha Penney

USDLA Board Member
Director of Distance Education
Indiana State Online

 

 Dr. Constance Reece was awarded the USDLA Excellence in Teaching Award for 2017 this May in Indianapolis, IN at the USDLA 2017 National Conference. Dr. Reece teaches psychology at Baker College and her online courses are exemplary.

There were many points of excellence that illustrate the reason Dr. Reece won the award. She focuses on multiple pedagogical aspect within her courses. For instance, she concentrates on developing and implementing quality course outcomes. She interacts with the students and provides frequent feedback to the students. Dr. Reece stated “Teaching online offers a wonderful opportunity to connect with students. As an online instructor, I have the opportunity to reach almost every student simply because there are so many ways to connect with them. I communicate via email, posts, texts, feedback, and my phone. Even the reticent students have the chance to receive one-on-one guidance”.  She uses a variety of teaching methodologies in her courses such as real life examples, case based scenarios, questioning and reflection. She also presents multiple resources to aid in student learning styles and preferences. And she focuses on bringing prior learning to the forefront when she sets up new activities or discussions, thus scaffolding learning.

Some of the activities she uses to assess her outcomes are weekly discussions that call on student to apply and analyze course concepts, journal entries that allow for reflection and self-connections, self-check quizzes, and guided steps to projects that provide opportunities for scaffolding knowledge. Dr. Reece indicated one process she uses, “I start each class with a questionnaire. Students provide answers to ten questions about their needs, skills, learning style, goals, expectations, and interests. I respond to each questionnaire. It’s a lengthy process, but it opens the door for further communication. In my response, I address their areas of concern and offer specific assistance. I specifically note that I want to see them succeed. The questionnaire personalizes the course immediately. I keep the questionnaires handy throughout the course so that I continue to meet their needs.”

She provides formative feedback that keeps students on the right track or provides them information needed to get back on track. According to Dr. Reece, “Quality feedback takes time. Students want detailed feedback that includes explanations and examples. Feedback should be individualized so each student can grow. It’s easy to tell students what they did wrong, but it’s equally important to tell them what they did right. Although it may take creativity, it’s important to highlight something the student did well. The discussion board is a great place to add some positive feedback because other students can benefit too.” She is a proponent of detailed, specific, and individualized feedback that is constructive and positive to help students understand what was well constructed and what could be improved upon.

As a proponent of learning engagement, Dr. Reece uses social presence to help students feel involved and part of the community. She uses engagement so that the students have the opportunity to interact with the concepts taught in the course through activities such as games. Thus allowing students to build their own course identity where their voices and experiences are valued. One of the strategies she uses is to develop a welcome discussion at the start of class. Another is regular notes that introduce students to new topics or assignments. Both of these help her contribute and model a collaborative learning environment.

The USDLA Awards Committee selected Dr. Constance Reece due to the success mentioned above and in addition to the variety of experiences and student comments that were supplied in her nomination. She demonstrated a strong focus in teaching and learning and provided excellent points of engagement with her students that guide them to be successes. One bit of advice she has for instructors or institutions is “start with high expectations for students, instructors, and the program. Students will rise to the level of expectations. If you expect students to post once or twice a week, you will never have the level of participation necessary to have a fully engaged atmosphere. Expect instructors to be actively involved and committed to student success. Programs require continual development. Use student feedback to improve the program”.

Giving Tuesday

On Tuesday, November 28, 2017, USDLA will be participating in the 6th annual #GivingTuesday, a global day to celebrate philanthropy and giving back.

Call for proposals due for 2018 USDLA Conference!!