Sloan-C View
Perspectives in Quality Online Education
Volume 8 Issue 7 - July 2009
ISSN 1541-2806
Quality, Scale and Breadth

Issue Contents


*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.

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Sloan-C Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning Symposium - Symposium Wrap Up

The Second Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning was held in San Francisco, CA, June 17-19, 2009 in collaboration with the MoodleMoot San Francisco 2009 conference. Over 600 registrants attended in-person and almost 100 attended virtually via a video streaming of all the sessions. In addition, the video streamed sessions were made available by Sonic Foundry for attendees to review the sessions after the conference. The 700 attendees came from all over the country and world, with the majority of international attendees coming from the pacific rim. The overall theme of the conference on Emerging Technologies for online learning was strongly supported in 5 tracks that examined: (1) Inventive Uses of Media and Tools in Online Learning, (2) Emerging Technologies for Administration, Infrastructure, and Support Services, (3) New Learning Communities, (4) Immersive Learning and Virtual Environments and (5) Pedagogy and New Learning Environments.

The symposium opening and closing was bookended by two powerful speakers, Richard N. Katz, Vice President of Educause and Josh Jarrett, Senior Program Officer of the Gates Foundation. Katz spoke about topics in his recent book "The Tower and the Cloud", preparing the assembled audience to think toward the changes that information technology will bring to higher education in the upcoming years. Jarrett spoke about the goal of educating everyone and concluded the conference by leaving attendees thoughtfully engaged in understanding how to become part of the global movement to provide education to everyone everywhere.

Sloan-C is planning to continue this symposium in the upcoming years. Search for a site for the symposium for 2010 is already underway - we hope you will plan to attend either virtually or in-person. The symposium represents a new addition to our established Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning that will be held in Orlando in late October, 2009 and compliments our third conference-related activity on Blended Learning held in Chicago each Spring.


Did you leave your heart in San Francisco? Check-out these links from the Sloan-C Emerging Technology Applications in Online Learning Symposium...

Now that the Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning Symposium (June 17-29, San Francisco) has concluded, remember to check-out these websites to access a wealth of information from the symposium:

- Conference proceedings are now available at http://voicethread.com/#u93102.

- Onsite and Virtual Symposium attendees recently received an email from Sloan-C with a link to access on-demand viewing of sessions broadcast from the symposium. Included in the recordings is a late-addition session not mentioned in the program, "Accessible Technology Initiative- SF State," presented by staff from San Francisco State University's Disability Compliance and IT Departments, with closed-captioning provided by Sonic Foundry. If you have questions on accessing the on-demand catalog, please contact RT Brown at rtbrown@sloanconsortium.org.

- Social networking played a key role in facilitating communications among symposium attendees. View the stream of 1100 comments made via Twitter through http://twitter.com/#search?q=sloancsym.

- If you were an onsite attendee, please complete a short online evaluation of the symposium (if you have not already done so) at http://www.ce.ucf.edu/ASP/ceSurvey/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=104 . All survey responses entered by Friday, July 10th will be entered in a drawing for a complimentary conference registration to next year's 3rd Annual Sloan-C Emerging Technology Symposium. Note: Separate surveys will be sent soon to Virtual Symposium and pre-conference workshop attendees.

A final thank you

Thank you again to our Coast-to-Coast sponsors for their tremendous support of the recent Sloan-C Emerging Technology Applications Symposium, as well as our upcoming 15th Annual International Conference on Online Learning (Oct. 28-30, Orlando). Coast-to-Coast sponsors include Compass Knowledge Groups (Diamond), Colloquy (Sterling), Sonic Foundry (Conference Technology), and Platinum sponsors Blackboard, Elluminate, Embanet, Epsilen, Fig Leaf Software, Learning Objects, and Sentenceworks.


2009 Sloan-C Effective Practice Awards

Sloan-C invites posting of Effective Practices from individuals/teams/instructors and from institutions. Awards for the best individual Effective Practices submitted between November 2008 and August 15, 2009 will be eligible for awards to be presented at the 15th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on ALN, in October 2009. Effective practices are automatically eligible for nomination. Each year, an awards committee selects awardees. Awards committee members are unaffiliated with the nominated institutions. Individual Sloan-C Effective Practices Awards recognize practices that are selected for awards according to these criteria:

Innovation: the practice is inventive or original
Replicability: the practice can be implemented in a variety of learning environments
Potential impact: the practice would advance the field if many adopted it
Supporting documentation: the practice is supported with evidence of effectiveness
Scope: the practice explains its relationship with other quality elements

Visit the Effective Practices page for more information and to submit, http://www.sloanconsortium.org/effective/index.asp.


15th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning - Registration Open

The 15th Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning: "The Power of Online Learning: Opportunities for Tomorrow." is taking place October 28 - 30, 2009 in Orlando, FL. Online and blended learning transforms education and training from location and time-boundactivities to anytime, anywhere experiences. This conference addresses solutions to the challenges presented by online and blended learning to boundaries between the academy and the world, as well as between the virtual and the real. Online and blended learning connects learners around the globe with each other, with instructors and experts world-wide, and with an enormous range of resources to support learning that is both highly individualized and highly collaborative. For fifteen years, the Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning has been the lead conference in online and blended learning, continuously improving and responding to emerging trends.

Conference Tracks include:

Learning Effectiveness
Student Services and Learner Support
Technology and Emerging Learning Environments
Faculty Development & Support
Professional Development and Workforce Training
Leadership, Values, and Society

Last year's annual conference attracted over 1100 participants to Orlando for more than 180 presentations, as well as exhibits, pre-conference workshops, keynote and plenary addresses, and a variety of other special events.

Visit www.sloanconsortium.org/aln for more information.


2009 Sloan-C College Pass Professional Development Package

*A cost effective solution for faculty training*

A 2009 College Pass Professional Development Package provides:

- 150 seats per year in over 30 Sloan-C online workshops which cover a variety of key online education topics
- A cost-effective and convenient way to improve quality in online education while networking with new colleagues
- Supplements your on-campus efforts with access to a wide variety of topic coverage from experts around the nation

Online workshops are 1 - 2 weeks long with convenient synchronous and asynchronous delivery. Sloan-C's online workshops are based on years of Sloan-C research and effective practices - anytime, anywhere flexibility combined with an attention to quality and access to top experts and new colleagues in the field. Now you can provide your institution complete access to these workshops through the end of 2009 with the Sloan-C College Pass Professional Development Package.

Register for a 2009 College Pass Professional Development Package today at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/info/2009colpass or e-mail info@sloanconsortium.org.


Sloan-C 2009 Institutional Membership

*Join the Sloan-C Community of educators from around the world.*

Membership in the Sloan Consortium provides knowledge, practice, community, and direction for educators.

A 2009 Institutional Membership includes:
- 10 $50 coupons toward the 15th Annual Conference on Online Learning Networks in 2009 in Orlando, FL
- 20 $150 coupons toward over 30 Sloan-C online workshops for faculty, staff, and administrators in online education
- Full access to Sloan-C effective practices, networking opportunities, and many Sloan-C publications

Register for a 2009 Institutional Membership today at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/membership.


Learn From the Experts - The Sloan-C 2009 Workshop Series

Academic Integrity in Online Education - July 15 - 24

The role of technology in academic dishonesty is in the news, and federal legislation is pending that will require authentication of online learners. This session will provide information, examples, and a reality check for staff and faculty working in online education.

Click here for details and registration.

Open Educational Resources: Build It and They will Come - July 21 - 31

Open Educational Resources: Build It and They will Come E-learning content is becoming much more pervasive. This developing content which can be shared within one institution, or across continents represents a powerful possible paradigm shift in the distribution methods of learning content and courseware from traditional publishing models to those of open and collaborative in nature. Major initiatives from leading institutions to provide open courseware further support the growth of this segment of online learning.

Click here for details and registration.

Great Web 2.0 Tools to Improve Learning - July 22 - 31

There are many excellent Web 2.0 tools that have been used successfully to enhance learning and increase engagement, but finding just the right tools can be challenging. You will be introduced to five exemplar tools. You will learn how to effectively use these tools.

Click here for details and registration.


Elluminate

21st Century students learn differently. As 21st Century educators, you need the tools to reach them-regardless of geographical, physical, intellectual, and economic barriers. At Elluminate, we take global accessibility very seriously. While most eLearning and Web conferencing products are built with the mass market in mind, we take a radically different approach, elevating accessibility to a whole new level. Our No User Left Behind philosophy means that Elluminate Live! is completely cross platform, optimized for low bandwidth, and designed to engage all types of learners, including those with disabilities. Learn more about how Elluminate can help you deliver 21st Century learning today, http://www.ilearndifferently.net/.


Sloan-C Quick Links

Membership - Join Sloan-C and enjoy added savings and access

Workshops - Tailored for faculty and administrators

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) - The leading journal for online education

Survey Reports - Latest findings from our research

Publications - The state-of-the-art in online learning

Effective Practices - Learn what works best from the best

College Pass - Dramatic group savings at Sloan-C workshops

Sloan-C Catalog - Listing of Sloan-C member online programs

Academic Continuity - Maintaining continuity of learning in a crisis situation

 

Featured Download

The Annual Sloan-C Awards

The Call for Nominations information and submission forms for the 2009 awards for Excellence in Online Teaching & Learning and the Ralph E. Gomory Award for Quality Online education is now available.

For more information on the 2008 winners, download the awards brochure.

Please click here to download the pdf.

 

Upcoming Sloan-C Workshops

2009 Workshops

July:

 

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