4th Annual Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium
A joint symposium of The Sloan Consortium and MERLOT
July 11-13, 2011
Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California
A Note from the 2011 Conference Chair, Karen Vignare
The 4th Annual International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Online Learning concluded in San Jose on July 13th and was a resounding success. The keynote by Bryan Alexander asked us what the education environment will become over the next decade. He brought us through a series of research and research methods, and asked us to think through future scenarios. The possibilities and potential pitfalls made making good technology choices all that more important. The two plenary panels challenged our abilities to work with for-profit partners in publishing and higher education. The publishing panel provided insight on just how many public private partnerships exist and just how many are successful. It seems that open resources will allow wide dissemination, but to be successful the private for-profit expertise is absolutely essential. The for-profit higher education providers and research foundations made it abundantly clear they are willing to address many concerns held by the Department of Education and critics and they will use enterprise wide technologies to make improvements and change. This is a significant resource that many public universities can’t easily tap into due to financial conditions and the structure of business.
The sunshine of beautiful, downtown, San Jose, CA streamed in and invigorated the conversations and networking. With well over 200 sessions, attendees were sharing online through the Sloan-C Commons site to Twitter and to YouTube. While the conference proceedings are available at http://sloanconsortium.org/conferences/2011/et4online/proceedings (you must be logged in to your Sloan-C account to access), the documents simply don’t provide the critical discussion that happened in many sessions. The conversations that were sparked in the exhibit hall, in the hallways and in the sessions brought richness to the symposium that transcends the proceedings. Even the virtual sessions had ongoing and deep conversations that mixed with the onsite attendees.
For those that attended, thank you for being there and look for the announcement of where we will be next year; for those that joined virtually, thanks for sharing your time; to the exhibitors, you brought your latest tools and we learned from you; to the program committee—reviewers, track chairs, Cathy Swift and Phylise Banner—thanks for the hard work; to the presenters—amazing work and thanks for sharing; to the Sloan Consortium and MERLOT staff thanks for the hours of preparation and support, and; to the Steering Committee—you know who you are—all your time and effort made ET4OL very successful.
Post Conference Evaluation
Please assist us with a brief evaluation of the conference, including your suggestions on how we might improve your experience in 2012. Your feedback and comments are integral in our conference planning for next year.
Conference Proceedings
Presenters have been asked to upload their presentations and handouts to their individual session pages. Presentations that are uploaded will be accessible through the conference website proceedings page. Only presentations or handouts that have been uploaded by the presenter will be viewable on the website.
View Recorded Sessions
The recorded sessions are available on the conference social networking site for all registered onsite and virtual attendees*. Access was provided to you prior to the conference. The links for the live and archived versions of each session are the same. If you are a registered attendee who missed the earlier access e-mail, please email conference@sloanconsortium.org for assistance.
*Please note that individual pre-conference workshop recordings will be available only to onsite and virtual attendees who paid to participate in that particular workshop.
Sloan-C Membership Discount Offer Extended
If you didn’t have a chance to take advantage of the discounted Sloan-C individual membership offer during your conference registration, you can still sign up at the $72 (regularly $120) price through July 31, 2011. Go here for membership details and to register. Use the discount code provided at the conference and in the post-conference e-mail at checkout for the discounted price.
Conference Highlights – Coming soon!
The Sloan-C staff is hard at work creating a conference highlights section on our website to share some of the great things that came from the conference, including photos of the event, news stories, and more.
Call for 2011 Sloan-C Awards Submissions
The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) has recognized outstanding work in the field of online education through an annual awards process since 2001. The Call for 2011 Nominations for a number of Sloan-C awards is now available on the Sloan-C website:
The 2011 Excellence in Online Teaching and Learning Awards
The 2011 Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online Education
The 2011 A. Frank Mayadas Leadership Award in Online Education
The submission deadline for all of the 2011 Sloan-C awards is August 15, 2011.
Please visit the awards page for more details.
17th Annual Sloan-C Online Learning Conference (Orlando) - Early bird registration Plus Hotel Reservations!
17th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning
November 9-11, 2011
"Online Learning, Teaching, and Research in the New Media Ecology"
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL
The full program is expected to be posted to the conference website later in August. Email notification will be sent when the program is posted.
Be the early bird that gets the worm…register and make your hotel reservations now
For 3 years running, Sloan Consortium has held the early bird registration fee for our Annual Online Learning Conference registration fee at $445 for Sloan-C members and $495 for regular attendees. Don’t miss this opportunity to register at 2009 prices! Early bird registration deadline is October 9. Register now! Onsite attendee and virtual attendee options are available.
This year’s conference moves to a new venue - the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Make your hotel reservations now. Attendees of the conference must book their hotel room through the conference website no later than Friday, October 14, 2011 in order to receive discounted rates starting at $177.00* per night plus taxes. The special conference rates also apply for three days prior to and three days after the conclusion of the conference, so come early or stay late to enjoy a little Disney magic. Important: If you plan to arrive the weekend prior to the conference or stay the weekend after, make your hotel reservation NOW! The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin is expected to be sold out during those weekends due to the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. There are very few rooms available for Friday, November 4 through Monday, November 7. We recommend making hotel reservations to stay post-conference if you plan to add a few days to your trip.
Speaking of Disney magic, did you know you can purchase special After 2pm and After 4pm Disney tickets as an attendee of the Sloan-C conference? These special order tickets are only available for sale prior to the conference; they cannot be bought onsite. Purchase your discounted park tickets here.
ALT-C 2011: Thriving in a Colder and More Challenging Climate
The 18th international conference of the Association for Learning Technology will be held at the University of Leeds, UK, September 6 - 8 2011.
In 2011, education systems throughout the world are attempting to do more, better, and often with less. As the political, economic, social, agency and technological landscapes change, it is tempting for people in the learning technology community simply to "go on with vigour, hoping for the best"*. But this would be to miss a major opportunity. Innovation is strongly stimulated by crises and pressures of all kinds.
Keynote and invited speakers are shown at http://www.alt.ac.uk/alt-conference/alt-c-2011/programme-events/keynote-and-invited-speakers
Register here or click here for more information.
Calling All Administrators - Featured Sloan-C Workshop
Talent Management in Online Education - Aug 3 - 12
What is the best way to manage faculty and staff in an online program? Join Industrial/Organizational Psychologist and Online Educator, David Mohr as he guides you though tips and strategies to effectively manage online staff and faculty in the new Sloan-C Institute Talent Managment Workshop that begins August 3rd. This workshop is specialized for administrators and managers of online programs to review the unique challenges and benefits of working within an online education department to help enhance the experience for staff and students. Participants will have the opportunity to review current research, philosopies, and best practices of human resource management in relationship to online education and reflect on techniques that can be implemented in your online programs. In addition, the session will also look at how to plan ahead for future changes from the external environment and strategies to assist staf in adapting to change while remaining motivated.
Register here or find out more about the Sloan-C Talent Management Workshop.
2011 Sloan-C Webinars
Sloan-C has added webinars to its resources for educators. Webinars typically last anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half. Most are free to Individual Members. Institutional members and non members pay a separate fee. New webinars will be added soon. Check the webinar site frequently.
Supporting Faculty Virtually with Tools That Anyone Can Use - FREE - August 2, 2011 2:00 - 3:30PM ET
If you are responsible for providing faculty training, this webinar will show you ways to use new online tools to create and deliver effective professional development. The presenter will discuss and demonstrate how he used screen recording software (Jing [free version] and Camtasia) to develop just-enough, just-in-time training modules and how he offered live faculty support using webinar software (Elluminate vRoom [free version]).
Quality Standards for Using Mobile Apps for Teaching, Learning, and Workforce Development PreK-20 - August 10, 2011 2:00 - 3:30PM ET
This webinar will outline the standards of quality measures for mobile apps in education including how to search for appropriate apps and how to submit apps for peer reviews. It will also include the system wide approach for identifying, purchasing, piloting, and evaluating mobile devices and apps. In addition, mobile app resources will be presented of apps by discipline areas including PreK though Ph.D., subject areas including various specialized disciplines in higher education, education level from preschool to professional development, and workforce development and clusters; providing app resources and accessories for specialized areas such as student services, special needs, assistive technology (partnering with Griffin Technologies) educational games, and productivity apps for office and businesses. The webinar will conclude with participants providing feedback of the quality standards and in sharing mobile apps that they have found to impact teaching and learning.
Cloud Computing Solution for Rural Schools Networks. Project "Rural Schools & Cloud Computing" - September 7, 2011 10:00 - 11:30AM ET
This webinar will offer an insight on a pilot project on cloud computing and open source solutions applied to a rural school network in Spain, carried out by Galicia Supercomputing Center in Spain, and financed by HP Labs.
For more information or to register, please go to the webinar page.
View recordings of previous webinars.
Are You Prepared to Teach Online in 2011?
The next cohort of the Sloan-C Certificate starts September 7, 2011.
Watch a recording of the informational webinar about the certificate program.
The Sloan-C Certificate prepares educators to teach and improve online courses using the Sloan-C pillars of quality in online education—learning effectiveness, scale, faculty and student satisfaction, and access. A unique feature of the certificate program is that expert mentors work individually with each certificate candidate to accomplish specific goals. The certificate consists of a 9-week foundation course and a variety of electives and specializations that focus on improving overall competency within a specific area of academic focus. The workshops in each specialization are structured to encourage skill development and practical application within the participants' specific job function. Upon completing the 9-week foundation course, individuals can select 3 individual electives, one specialization, or multiple specializations that best suit professional development objectives.
The Sloan-C Certificate foundation costs $1,499 plus three (3) required electives; priced at $345 (10-day workshop) or $495 (3-week workshop). Elective workshops, which should be registered for individually, may be funded by coupons available through Sloan-C membership discounts and the Sloan-C College Pass professional development package.
Click here for more details.
Institutional Membership - More Benefits, Same Price
The reality for institutions everywhere is tighter budgets, more travel restrictions, and less available resources. Institutional Membership is for organizations that are ready to give their faculty and administrators access and discounts to resources dedicated to quality online learning at an affordable price.
New benefits are frequently added such as the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs, a tool used to measure and quantify elements of quality within online education programs in higher education. Also new for this year are more options for the College Pass Professional Development package, which gives an institution seats to our online workshops at a bulk discount rate. We now offer a 25 and 50 seat package along with our 100 seat package for smaller institutions.
NEW - Quality Scorecard for evaluating your online programs: full access and use ($150 value)
NEW - 1 free workshop (archived, from selected list) ($345 value)
20 Workshop Discounts $150 value each ($3,000 total value)
10 Conference Discounts $50 value each ($500 total value)
Free Webinar: Topical issues in online higher education for $25/participant ($99 each for non members)
10% discount on Sloan-C publications
Full Sloan-C web access: JALN, Effective Practices, Practitioner Documents from Sloan-C workshops, JobLine, Listserv, Sloan-C Commons Community Site
Awards: Eligibility for institutional awards
Institutional Member Pricing (value of over $4,000)
$1,495/Institution or Campus
$1,046.50 for HBCU schools (30% off)
$1,270.75 for Community Colleges (15% off)
Click here to register.
The College Pass Professional Development Package - Membership Add On
Looking for a cost effective way to give your staff and faculty access to the full range of Sloan-C online workshops?
The College Pass Professional Development Package is a membership add-on that includes bulk discounted seats in the widely acclaimed Sloan-C online workshop series for one year.
100, 50, or 25 seats per year in over 75 Sloan-C online workshops in a variety of key online education topics at a highly discounted price.
Once you purchase the College Pass, your faculty, staff or anyone you select can register for workshops using your College Pass Code. Simple.
Workshops are regularly priced at $345-$495. College Pass enables you to pay as little as $35 per workshop
Sloan-C Institutional Membership is required in order to take advantage of these savings.
Institutional Membership + CP (for non members)
Institutional Membership +CP-100 seats: $4,990
Institutional Membership +CP-50 seats: $3,995
Institutional Membership +CP-25 seats: $2,995
College Pass Membership Add-On (for existing members only)
100 seats: $3,495 ($35/seat)
50 seats: $2,500 ($50/seat)
25 seats: $1,500 ($60/seat)
Community Colleges receive a 15% discount and HBCUs receive a 30% discount.
Click here to register.
*Join the Sloan Consortium on Linkedin, Twitter & Facebook*
Stay connected with The Sloan Consortium and its members through the Sloan-C networking groups on Twitter and Linkedin. Learn what others in online education are doing as well as receive news and conference updates from the Sloan Consortium.
Follow us on Join Sloan-C’s Join Sloan-C’s Join Sloan-C’s
2011 Sloan-C Workshop Deadline Reminders
July 27 - Aug 5 : Impact Assessment
July 27 - Aug 5 : Online Learning and the Military Student: How to Better Serve Those Who Serve
Aug 3 - 12 : Talent Management in Online Education
Aug 10 - 19 : Encouraging Your Faculty to Use MERLOT to Enhance Their Classes
Aug 10 - 19 : Collaboration and Group Work: Using Teams Effectively
Aug 10 - 19 : The Mindful Classroom: Identifying, Understanding, and Managing Student Stressors
Aug 17 - 26 : Leadership Principles
Aug 17 - Sep 2 : Getting Started: The First Step Towards Online Teaching
Aug 24 - Sep 16 : Synchronous Teaching
Aug 24 - Sep 2 : Providing Effective Feedback in Online Courses for Enabling Student Learning
