"How was it? The same old people, right?" she asked.
It has often intrigued me as a doctoral student that not everyone is interested in going to conferences, after all, it is part of a researcher's practice, or so we were told -- to disseminate ideas/findings and engage with one's community of practice. Now that I've graduated, I still find it exciting to continue with the practice. But my friend's comment made me wonder what I was really learning from my conference trips. Why bother?
For this conference, I had in mind some questions centered around a few themes. I'll focus first on the "good work" that is being recognized by Sloan-C.
1. Who is doing good work?
I went to the Awards Luncheon to find out.
Best in Track award winners: http://sloanconsortium.org/conference/2013/aln/best
Those that I'll explore in greater depth:
Three Institutions, Three Approaches, One Goal: Addressing Quality Assurance in Online Learning
Lead Presenter: Marwin Britto (University of Saskatchewan, Canada)
Jean-Marc Wise (The Florida State University, USA)
Cristi Ford (University of the District of Columbia, USA)
Track: Leadership, Values and Society
We Can Work Together: Managing Group Work Online for Collaboration, Assessment, and Life-Long Learning Skills
Lead Presenter: Lujean Baab (Virginia Tech, USA)
Track: K-12 Online Education
Mechanical Vs. Philosophical Considerations When Upgrading the LMS
Lead Presenter: J. Garvey Pyke (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA)
Kurt Richter (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA)
Track: Faculty and Professional Development & Support
Global Learning Qualifications Framework - Assessing University-Level Learning Anytime, Anywhere
Lead Presenter: Amy McQuigge (SUNY Empire State College, USA)
Track: Open, Global, Mobile
Leveraging Mobile Devices to Engage Students and Improve Student Outcomes: Evidence From Hospitality Education
Lead Presenter: Amy Gregory (University of Central Florida, USA)
Track: Technology and Emerging Learning Environments
Don't Drop the Baton! Building a Foundation for Success Through Student Services for Online Learners
Lead Presenter: Ruth Newberry (Duquesne University, USA)
Kate DeLuca (Duquesne University, USA)
Track: Student Services and Learner Support
Other award winners:
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| Excellence in Online Teaching, Betty Rambur, University of Vermont |
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| Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Teaching, University of Louisiana, Lafayette |
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| Outstanding Online Program, M.S., Biotechnology, University of Maryland, University College |
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| Pedagogical Innovation, Ryerson University, G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Certificate in Food Security |
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| Excellence in Institution-Wide Online Education, Lone Star College System |
The complete list of 2013 Effective Practice Award Winners can be found on the Sloan-Consortium Website: http://sloanconsortium.org/ep_award_winners
One of them documents the validation of a research tool that assesses the effectiveness of online educator preparation. Definitely worth taking a further look: http://sloanconsortium.org/effective_practices/assessing-effectiveness-online-educator-preparation
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| Assessing the Effectiveness of Online Educator Preparation, Yang, Hung & Blomeyer's Research Tool |
Yang, Hung & Blomeyer's paper presented at AERA 2013, San Francisco, CA:
To be continued in Part 2
