OLC Accelerate 2023 Program

Have you ever reviewed your syllabus with a JEDI lens:? The overall goal of this session is to provide information and discussion on what JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) is as well as what belonging, and community look and feel like in a syllabus. 

Participants will learn how a small team coordinates across university support teams to provide holistic student support. The team will demonstrate how they connected stakeholders to create a system of support from admission through graduation and will help participants identify a “retention bottleneck” and develop a plan to address it.

The once venerable literature survey course is in desperate need of reinvention as we reassess the canon with brand new eyes – but, more importantly, as we reassess the skills a student needs in the academic and professional world.  But how can we make the literature survey course truly LIT?

In this session, we will share with you the findings from our recent literature review on lecture media. The results of this led to updated decision-making processes, design practices, and multimedia techniques. We also generated recommendations on when, why, and how to include an instructor’s visual presence in lecture videos.

Developing connections between faculty and students is essential to Student Success. To do so there needs to be an intentional strategic plan implemented throughout all levels of the organization and operationalized through benchmarks focused on students, student needs, student accomplishments. Based on student feedback six WE CARE strategies were developed.

Techno-pedagogy has faced many barriers to successful implementation in education, such as cultural, financial, political, and methodological. There are two types of technology integration in education: intentional and accidental. The pandemic resulted in a third type of technology integration called coercive adoption, where schools had no choice but to leverage technology to continue providing education to students. The emergence of ChatGPT is disruptive to the educational environment, much like the pandemic. Educational organizations have responded to technological disruptions with bans, such as with calculators, laptops, and smartphones. However, time and experience have revealed that these tools can be essential to effective education. The deployment and access to artificial intelligence (AI) in schools has been controversial and has resulted in some school districts banning it. The ban of AI technology, such as ChatGPT, in schools can have equity implications for students, including informational, technological, cultural, and linguistic equity. Educators should focus on how all students can benefit from technology if used in deliberate, effective, and equitable ways.

Effective teaching requires facilitating an engaging experience for adult learners to create memorable experiences and connections. Collaborating with peers helps drive thought leadership in the department benefitting everyone. Join us to discuss tips, strategies, and tools faculty members in India and the United States have used!

This interactive session guides online instructors and developers through instructor and peer-generated easily-implemented ways to enhance the online community of inquiry. Enhancing the cognitive, instructor, and social presence elements provides evidence-based scaffolding from which to boost student engagement and experience in online courses. 

Faculty are the foundation of education and institutions’ greatest asset. Is it enough to only provide new hire training and professional development sessions? Our greatest assets deserve our best effort to grow from novice educators to academic leaders. This session showcases a comprehensive faculty development program from start to finish.

Chatbots are gaining increasing utility in society to include educational environments.  Thus we know it has a range of interdisciplinary implications for professionals who support student's development.. In the area of career development and work Kim et al (2019) discuss its use with job placement.;Terblance et al (2022) researched the use of AI in a related field of personal coaching noting aspects of capacity and limitation; and Airoli et al (2022) relays aspects for identifying mental health challenges. Flanagan and Walker (2021) explored chatbots' potential in organizing work organizations such as unions.  From school counselors in secondary schools to career counselors in higher education understanding Chatgpt's role in career development in vital within changing work landscapes.  This presentation seeks to highlight and share salient current research with an eye on the future.

The food manufacturing industry faces labor shortages, further exacerbated by the pandemic.  The Introduction to Food Science course offered by North Carolina State University’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences aims to provide undergraduate students with an understanding of food science and career options in the food industry.

This Asynchronous Discovery Session is geared toward fostering collaboration and reflection among faculty using AI-powered tools. Cultivating a culture of sharing best practices, insights, and reflections on AI-generated data and feedback should encourage faculty to engage in reflective practice and use AI-generated insights to improve their teaching strategies.

Diversity, in terms of generation, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, mental, and physical ability has continued to surge over the past decade. This presentation will explore whether diversity, equity and inclusion are the secret ingredients for making connections, uniting students, and ultimately increasing student engagement and student persistence.

This workshop stems from evidence, and then shares first-hand strategies, real-life screenshots, and metrics of several online course humanization makeovers. Once examining the before and after of such examples, participants will be guided through a discovery session to borrow or innovate their own course humanization opportunities.

How can we engage faculty in upskilling? The Edtech Together series highlights digital tools that support online teaching and improve work productivity. Each semester, 4-5 topics are selected for workshop presentations that include hands-on time. The sessions focus on developing skills within technology platforms provided by the University.  

Recent trends in higher education point to challenges with establishing student belonging, which helps create community, comfort, and value. The purpose of this study was to identify influences of sense of belonging for non-traditional undergraduate students of color attending an online institution. The study’s significance contributes to highlighting how building belonging can contribute to strengthening social capital through networking with groups, which is valuable to enhance societal mobility (Ahn & Davis, 2020b; Smith, 2018). Participants will obtain best practices to empower educational leaders (faculty, staff, administrators) to reinforce resources encouraging engagement, strengthen social capital opportunities, and build belonging for online non-traditional students of color.

After Covid hit the US, schools closed and reopened in the fall of 2020. Meeting Owl was introduced to classrooms to increase classroom interaction between onsite and online students. This session will focus on four areas: a brief review of the background to adopting the Meeting Owl in the blended classroom, practices of using the Meeting Owl in the classroom, student and teacher feedback on using the Meeting Owl, benefits, and limitations of using the Meeting Owl in the classroom, and the value of Meeting Owls in post-pandemic.

This session describes a virtual check-in model to promote engagement in online courses. Participants will learn the importance of synchronous activities and strategies to engage students that promote self-reflection, connection to faculty in online programs. 

Online education continues to grow, but is attending classes and completing assignments enough for online students? Online students also desire a sense of community.  Co-curricular events provide students with the opportunity to interact with faculty and other students, apply classroom knowledge to real-life applications, and be part of a community. 

Examination of teacher perceptions of their own self-empowerment with a servant leader administrator provides several opportunities for consideration. This presentation will provide insights to university administrators when it comes to the selection, onboarding, and development of school administrators based on research conducted in a K-12 school system. In addition, insights related to future practice that in turn may lead to stronger schools with empowered teachers will be explored. Recommendations related to the development of empowered teachers, exploration of how servant leadership can be applied in other areas of a school environment, and how servant leadership can be included in district professional development. Administrators interested in better understanding how to empower their teachers will leave this session with an understanding of how their own practice of servant leadership can empower their teachers and assist with their retention.

This session highlights the results of a literature and research review assessing the effectiveness of digital learning in decreasing equity gaps as well as the impact digital learning has on specific student populations: those who identify as Black, Latino, and Indigenous; students from low-income backgrounds; and first-generation students.

One LGBTQIA+ youth commits suicide every 45 seconds, and transgender/non-binary youth are twice as likely to consider suicide as their cisgender peers (Trevor 2021). We must recognize that a safe space in the classroom is vital, and bringing the online classroom into the 21st century with us is just as crucial. 

Collect your toolkit of supplies and tap into insider know-how on implementing required and optional virtual live learning.

Participants will discover:

*Why this High Impact Practice (HIP) is especially beneficial in STEM courses.

*Get inspired by Live Learning Student Success Stories.

*Our belonging approach: The Three C’s of Live Learning.

How do we keep online students from suffering in silence? Not all students feel empowered to speak up if they are struggling in an online course, and signs of struggle may be difficult to identify. Session attendees will acquire strategies to empower online students and keep them engaged.

This presentation will explore the importance of technology, post-COVID-19 pandemic, in creating student communities, developing student-faculty mentorship relationships, and conducting dissertation research. The presentation will conclude with recommendations for the next steps in the inclusion of innovative and accessible technology integration in doctoral curriculum to best support students.

Join us for an interesting and engaging conversation on leveraging the ADKAR change management model to build and sustain an engaging online faculty culture. Using the Center for Faculty Excellence team as a change management hub, the university institutionalizes the change management mindset and strategically employs the method to drive faculty behavior change. Members from Capella University will share examples and lessons learned from their strategies and the steps of engaging and motivating faculty through communication, professional development, and recognition programs. The examples include a major statistics tool and a learning management system migration. The discussion will include how the change management model impacted institutional culture and faculty behaviors with intentional implementation.

Workplace affinity groups aid in organizational culture, operational excellence, and employee retention. To be successful, organizations need to develop effective affinity group programs and initiatives. The purpose of this qualitative generic inquiry study was to explore how affinity groups support organizational culture, operational excellence, and employee retention in organizations. 

UMBC's Instructional Technology team will share how our institution has piloted a clickerless audience response system (ARS) to enhance students learning, inclusion, and engagement across the institution, sharing specific examples of how polling activities have enriched class discussions, student engagement, and assessment.

Although educational technology is becoming more widely used, its implementation in medical education varies. This survey study aimed to conduct a needs assessment by systematically collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting the requirements for educational technology from all national faculty members at a military medical school.

Why do I have to take this class? Answering this question once isn’t enough. Extreme relevance and reinforcement of skills to both career experiences and academics is essential for online adult learners. This session will breakdown the pragmatic approach used to write an OFYE course focused on strengths and relevance. 

Often online courses can seem to lack interactive connection between Students and Faculty. Based on Student feedback we have developed a WE CARE Program that helps personalize online courses to enhance the learning experiences of both Students and Faculty. This presentation will focus on five methods to personalize online courses.

This session will make the connection between the needs of the current workforce and the role of online education. Specifically, the session will focus on critical roles in communities that necessitate students be job-ready upon graduation. Through interactive activities, participants will learn teaching strategies for skill-building to supplement their courses.

In this session, we will share tips and evidenced-based, student-centered approaches to creating effective discussions and assignments in university online and blended classroom settings that attend to personalized learning principles and avoid possible pitfalls. The focus is on technology integration, at-risk learners, and meeting individual and collective student needs.

An update to our 2020 presentation on our institution’s process to document implementation of HIPs, establish systematic processes to promote their inclusion across the university in multiple modalities, develop additional HIPs, and establish a community of practitioners to support student success. A resource and recommendations document will also be shared. 

Professional development should include a variety of components including technology, pedagogy, mentoring/peer support, and modules for skill-set deficits. Faculty have specific expectations; therefore, it is important to first assess their needs. As Chair of my university’s Faculty Development Committee, I am tasked with developing these opportunities without a budget.

Redesigning courses for a blended format in higher education requires a thoughtful and intentional approach to integrate online and face-to-face learning activities effectively. This session highlights three key factors you must consider and lessons learned from the field- tried and true techniques based on experience. Participants will learn from our experiences and be provided with research, tools, and other essential elements to move to hybrid learning successfully. The session will conclude with participants mapping out their next steps.

This session describes how design thinking facilitated decisions about presenting content using the Canvas LMS in a longitudinal interprofessional course. The session explores how implementation considerations informed content design, connections and faculty development. Participants will develop actionable design strategies promoting interprofessional collaboration for their own projects.

Being in the field, you know that the world of instructional design and learning technology is constantly evolving. Do your experiences match our research team’s findings? Join us to find out!

This session will discuss the importance of stakeholder analysis for online course design and propose a model that can be used to achieve the goals of all stakeholders for increased success.

When a student speaks up in an online class, they are engaged—at least for that moment. We present new methods and software that measure this engagement in Zoom classes in detail. Our “discussion dashboards” help teachers engage students more equitably and effectively, and give students insight on their performance.

My session focuses on how to support diversity and inclusion in online education though the creation of social communities and engagement that humanizes the student experience by addressing mental health and wellbeing, inclusive peer support, the needs of underrepresented and historically marginalized students in an online graduate degree program through an intersectional social justice lens.

This presentation examines the benefits and drawbacks of using voice cloning software in online education. It explores its potential to create a sustainable, personalized instructor presence while addressing ethical concerns and potential misuse to ensure a positive learning experience for students.

How do we as faculty meet and exceed the needs and desires of “The Student of the Future”? It starts with engagement! In this session, we will examine case research on innovative approaches to Web 2.0 integration that allowed student engagement to soar. Recommendations and best practices for Faculty, Administrators, and Curriculum Developers will be provided in the context of student engagement in the classroom. Best practices that allow for innovative approaches to Web 2.0 integration that allowed student engagement will also be included in addition to discussion of research findings.

A tour of Telling Stories to Save the World: Climate Change in Narrative Film. Available via Pressbooks, this new OER explores the history and impact of the Climate Fiction Film, a subgenre of narrative cinema that depicts the effects of climate change on the Earth and its inhabitants.

Generative AI chat bots can have destructive and promising implications for higher education. This session will discuss the pedagogical roles AI can play in higher education, showcase ways we implemented AI to enhance student learning  and share faculty and student reflections. Participants will explore and discuss critical issues of teaching and learning in the AI era to prepare students for the workforce.

Higher education professionals lead situationally or within defined roles. These leadership actions require that they become Allies, Builders, or Collaborators who plan for and care for others. This session will encourage higher education professionals to use the eight foundational principles of self-care to create an action plan that drives intentional focus and accountability.

Assessment offers insights into areas of strength and areas of opportunity when it comes to student learning. Faculty Leadership and Support can apply these insights, tailoring faculty development to improve instruction. This presentation will provide attendees with effective practices and resources for utilizing assessment results to improve faculty instruction.

This session will focus on approaches to apply the elements of online engagement, using guided reflection, in the intentional design and delivery of online course. Participants will leave the session with ideas they can incorporate immediately into their own online and blended courses, and resources for continuous course improvement.