Conference Presentations

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It's Not You: Strategies for Engaging Faculty Around Alignment

Higher education faculty typically conceptualize alignment differently than instructional designers do. How can we engage faculty in effective discussions around this deeply essential aspect of course design? In this session we will discuss ways to support faculty toward stronger alignment by helping them to conceptualize a course as a thing apart from its designer. You will come away with new insights as well as practical tools to use when working with faculty. 

Its All in the Design: The Importance of Making Courses Legally Accessible

Over the past two years the field has seen a significant increase in enforcement of civil rights legislation in the area of access to online learning for people with disabilities. The presenter is recognized as the current expert on these issues. It has become eminently clear that there are no differences between higher education and K-12 in the legal compliance for online learning. This session will articulate the expectations the federal enforcement agencies have with respect to access and equity in online learning in K-12 and Higher Education.

Jumping on the QM Bandwagon: Making QM Implementation a Faculty Driven Process

QM is an excellent tool for assisting institutions with meeting regional accreditation requirements associated with online and hybrid learning. However, implementation of QM on a campus runs much more smoothly if faculty collaborate with staff and administrators on selection of the Rubric and on campus-wide adoption. This session reviews strategies for introducing the Rubric to faculty and discusses how faculty can be best utilized during the implementation process.

K-12 Teachers & Professional Development Needs: What the Research Uncovered

The COVID-19 pandemic brought educational gaps into stark relief. In K-12, it highlighted the professional development teachers needed - and did not have - in order to design high quality courses that would enable them to work well with all of their students. In this presentation we will discuss those needs and a variety of options available for filling them.

Keep Calm, Caption On . . .

In a time when accessibility in education is highlighted, especially in distance and hybrid learning, we will present how Texas A&M International University has implemented QM accessibility Standards, universal design principles, and diversity appreciation to enable equal learning for all.

Keep Up With Emerging Technologies: Become a MERLOT Peer Reviewer

Learn more about MERLOT's peer review process. Become a part of a professional development community that will support teaching and learning and increase knowledge of new technology in education. Learning Objectives Make participants aware of the opportunities to become peer reviewers for MERLOT. Provide an opportunity for examining new technologies as they emerge. Become a part of a professional learning network of educators around the world.

Keeping a Voluntary QM Program Going and Growing

Everyone agrees that quality course design is a good thing, and administration is supportive of QM as a process and rubric, but no one is mandating adherence to the process or standards. Now what? How do you get faculty interested and involved? This presentation covers the subtle and not so subtle ways which have worked for one institution.

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Keynote Panel: Becoming Competent in Competency Based Education: What is it and What Is Driving this Growing Movement?

Experts will address competency-based education (CBE), including the universal design principles quality programs share. The panel will discuss key features of various institutional models and approaches to program design, instructional technology and delivery, pedagogy, and faculty roles. A policy expert will update participants on competency-based education-related federal regulation and policy including the HEA Reauthorization, Experimental Sites, and financial aid.

Keynote Panel: Becoming Competent in Competency-Based Education: What Is It and What Is Driving This Growing Movement?

Experts will address competency-based education (CBE), including the universal design principles quality programs share. The panel will discuss key features of various institutional models and approaches to program design, instructional technology and delivery, pedagogy, and faculty roles. A policy expert will update participants on competency-based education-related federal regulation and policy including the HEA Reauthorization, Experimental Sites, and financial aid.

Keynote | Five Considerations in Equitable Design

This presentation discusses five considerations in altering institutional and instructional structures and practices by taking an equity-minded approach to design avoiding exacerbated and take-for-granted practices. Let’s discuss what research is telling us that can inform our practices to ensure equity, and what problems of practice are we experiencing that should spur new research to guide equitable and inclusive practices. The succession of killings of Ahmaud Arbery (February 23, 2020), Breonna Taylor (March 13, 2020), and George Floyd, Jr.

Keynote: Expanding Impact by Reimagining Pathways in Work, Career, and Life

Creating quality online learning experiences for students, and communities of practice for faculty and designers, is dependent upon the continuing commitment of leaders within and between institutions.  Growing your career can support our collective commitment to quality for students by putting more designers and faculty in positions to direct strategy, craft institutional priorities and policies, and designate resources.  Come explore how you can reimagine your contribution to the field through leadership progression through a variety of pathways.

Keynote: Navigating Institutional Improvement and Accreditation

Discover strategies to improve institutional effectiveness, including ways to measure analytics and critical resource issues. Explore the accreditation process and learn to negotiate for internal institutional support. Specifically, see how QM processes tie into accreditation standards — including accountability for the quality of online courses, academic resources and accessibility assessments — and how making your work with QM visible can validate your efforts and need for resources.

Keynote: Pathways to Elevating Quality: Strategic, Transformational Leadership

At a time when resources are thin, demands are high, and outcomes are king, barriers to adequately supporting and improving quality-focused initiatives can feel insurmountable. Practical strategies for transformational leadership are essential as college teams make the case for guided academic pathways, change, and quality to increase student completion of credentials leading to transfer and meaningful work.

Keynote: Perspectives on Scaling Quality in Online Learning: MOOCs and Microdegrees, "Traditional" Online Courses, and Personalized Learning

Creating an online course is an art and the best faculty finely craft their courses for the greatest impact. With quality at the heart of that process, how does scale change design and delivery? Must engagement and innovation suffer in a course developed for several thousand learners or a proto/template course used by multiple sections? Does scale stifle the creative process or ultimately impact student success? Perspectives will be shared on scaling quality and approaches to program design, delivery, and pedagogy.