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DISTANCE LEARNING ADMINISTRATION 2021
July 25-28, 2021
Jekyll Island Club Hotel
Jekyll Island Georgia

Proposals are due December 28, 2020

SCOPE: 
The Distance Learning Administration Conference focuses on the administration and management of distance learning. The conference specifically addresses the needs of those who plan, manage and support distance education activities. 

STRANDS: 
The Planning Committee of Distance Learning Administration 2021 invites proposals from the introductory through advanced level on all topics related to the management and administration of distance learning. 

Topic strands include: 

* Managing Growth in Distance Education 
* Training & Support for Distance Instructors 
* Support for Distance Students 
* Budget and Cost-Benefit of Distance Education 
* Marketing Distance Courses and Programs 
* Distance Learning Ethics and Copyright Issues 
* Organizational Issues in Distance Education 
* Quality Assurance and Evaluation 
* Striving for Excellence

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL: 
Proposals should include a 30 to 50 word description. 
Instructions for submitting proposals can be found at the conference website: 
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/dla/

PROCEEDINGS AND AWARDS: 
Accepted papers will be published in the printed conference proceedings. Proposal submission indicates your commitment to preparing written materials for the Proceedings and making your presentation (Paper Session) at the conference. Fishbowl Sessions (see website) do not require a written paper. All sessions will last 45 minutes each. All presented papers will be considered for Best Paper Awards. Award winning papers will be invited for publication in The Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration and will receive a trophy. 

CONFERENCE FEE:
The conference registration fee for all presenters and participants will be $350 . Registration includes printed proceedings, all sessions, refreshments, two dinners, and the closing luncheon. The conference hotel will be the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Guest rooms will be discounted..  All conference sessions and activities will take place at this beautiful, historic hotel.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: 
See our conference website at: 
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/dla/

Or contact: 
Dr. Melanie Clay (melaniec@westga.edu), Conference Director 
Kendall G. Dickey (kdickey@westga.edu), Conference Manager
Austin Janowski (austinj@westga.edu), Events Manager 

Thursday, November 19^th, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.

This workshop will focus on identifying some of the challenges associated with teaching during the pandemic, particularly regarding student engagement and online learning. Through an interactive dialogue, the facilitator will foster an exchange of these challenges from the professor perspective. Challenges from the student perspective will be examined as well, particularly through a psychological lens. Ultimately, ways to optimize student motivation and engagement during the pandemic will be discussed.

Register on Eventbrite

Facilitator: Dr. Michelle M. Robbins, Associate Professor of Psychology

How has the pandemic affected graduation plans for students? Has online education impacted their ability to learn? Join us and hear from current college students as they share their insights into the challenges of post-secondary education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what can be done to improve it. Their voices provide real-world insights into survey responses Strada Education Network has collected from more than 4,000 currently enrolled college students. The picture they paint is one of increased challenges and barriers to completion beyond academic concerns, as many question if their education will be worth the cost. But their insights also offer solutions as we emerge from an unusual semester. Join Paul Fain, news editor at Inside Higher Ed, and Dave Clayton, senior vice president of Strada Center for Education Consumer Insights, as they lead the panel discussion with current college students on Monday, November 16 at 2 p.m. ET. Register for Free

“Pandemic Pedagogies:” A video time capsule of educator experiences Submit Now!   The Innovation in Teaching Conference (ITC), hosted by the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia (MFECOE), promotes novel and emerging teaching practices among educators. This year, we deviated from our traditional conference format to host  “Pandemic Pedagogies,” a curated video collection for educational researchers and historians. We ask educators for their personal anecdotal stories describing their rapid, adaptive, and emotional responses, in and out of the classroom, to the COVID-19 global pandemic.  The first of these videos are now available to the public! Click here to take a look and check back as more are added each week. We want to thank everyone who submitted, or is currently preparing, their story. These works exemplify how adaptive, innovative, and passionate you all are. There’s still time to add your story to this video time capsule! If you were teaching during the pandemic, and would like to share your experience, Click here. Help us with our effort to grow this endeavor. Please share this opportunity with colleagues who have communicated their stories with you on how they responded to the pandemic and forged ahead. We are Smarter than Me.  Stay well and inspire others!

Please contact Kayla Flanagan with any questions.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

The College of Southern Nevada has successfully shifted to nearly 100% of courses being delivered online despite the challenges involved with providing quality online courses, especially during a pandemic.

A key factor in their success was empowering faculty to create educational videos that support Universal Design for Learning principles. Learn how CSN is using video to improve student engagement, enhance the human connection, assess learning, and even involve students in the creation process.

This event is sponsored by TechSmith

Register

Thursday, Oct 29, 2020
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. ET

Lenn Millbower President of Offbeat Training LLC

It’s almost Halloween. Let’s conjure up the training tricksters, presentation poltergeists and meeting monsters that spark terror in the hearts of most stalwart trainers, facilitators and team leaders: the creatures of the classroom.

In this timely, humorous presentation, Lenn Millbower, The Mouse Man™, and a 25-year Walt Disney World training veteran, shares his list of the ghastliest ghouls we trainers, facilitators and team leaders must confront and offers his Disney inspired strategies for preventing the mutilation of your message.

More Info / Register Today

Thursday, November 19, 2020
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET

The shift to online teaching creates many challenges, but also offers new opportunities. In this webinar, Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Ayelet Israeli will draw on her experiences teaching MBA and Executive Education classes online and provide practical tips and insights into how to overcome the challenges of teaching virtually.

Topics will include:

• Assessing participation and introducing new ways for students to participate
• “Reading the Zoom” – how to “read the room” in an online world
• Lessons from the Virtual Teaching Task Force at HBS
• Adjusting your lesson plan to an online setting

If you are interested but cannot attend, please register as we will provide all registrants with access to the webinar recording.

On-demand webinar from Magna Publications:

Our knowledge of how students learn has grown significantly over the last few decades. In keeping with this trend, the quality and sheer amount of research on instructional strategies has also grown, and active learning has emerged as an instructional method that can improve learning outcomes for all students, including students from marginalized backgrounds and populations.

Active learning is not only something that students do, but also something that teachers can promote through their selection of learning activities.

We are offering a free Magna Online Seminar, Engaging College Students Using Active Learning Techniques, in which you will learn about active learning techniques that have been shown to improve college student learning in the classroom and online as well as three barriers to active learning and techniques for overcoming them.

Hybrid Classrooms: Four case studies

Register for this session

Tuesday, October 27 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

What does it look like to return to the classroom? What do the students experience? In this webinar, we will discuss different modes of hybrid classrooms. A panel of four faculty members who are teaching hybrid courses this fall will share how they are engaging students both in the classroom and online, how they are accommodating the changes in classroom space, and will share ideas for how this has led to unique opportunities not previously explored. Participants will have time to ask questions of the panel. 

Panelists:
Jamie Landau, Valdosta State University
Jason Lee, East Georgia State College
Keith Pacholl, University of West Georgia
Tamara Payne, Fort Valley State University

Back to the Classroom: Moving Forward

Register for this session

Tuesday, November 10 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Masks, physical distancing, and the flexibility to alternate between on-campus and synchronous online class sessions have allowed campus-based classes to resume for many of us. However, recent evidence from faculty indicates that some types of flexibility leads to a decline in engagement and academic performance for students who are choosing to shift to online sessions. In this presentation we share lessons learned from our return to campus, and offer recommendations for moving forward.

Facilitators:
Jennifer Knott, Columbus State University
Randy Garver, Columbus State University

Get Your Students to Read: Transform Learning with Perusall

Register for this session

Tuesday, November 18 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Learning is a social experience — it requires interactions and interactivity. The coronavirus pandemic has been a good opportunity to rethink our approach to teaching. Moving some tasks to an online format suggests that many activities that have traditionally been synchronous and instructor-paced, can be made asynchronous and self-paced. Through Perusall, Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, will demonstrate how to move information transfer and sense-making online and make it interactive, promoting social interactions between students. In addition, he will discuss how the platform promotes intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to improve student performance.

Video introduction and pre-webinar assignment

Panelists:
Eric Mazur, Harvard University, Co-founder of Perusall
Lauren Barbeau, Georgia Southern University

This study presents important results from EDUCAUSE’s 2020 research on students’ experience with information technology, which included 16,162 undergraduate students from 71 US institutions.

The study includes key findings from our analysis of students’ responses, concrete next steps your institution can take in response to those findings, and opportunities for connecting with peers who are implementing innovative practices in the areas of student success, technology use and environmental preferences, data privacy, online harassment, and accessibility.

Access the report