About
SAVE THE DATES!
June 15 and 16, 2021 (10 am to 4 pm CST)
Transforming the Future of Education
In 2020, the COVID pandemic forced instructors to quickly consider virtual classes and campus classrooms suddenly went dark, prompting so many instructors, students and staff to question the effectiveness of “online” education. Regardless of one’s role on campus, summer 2020 became one of learning, planning and executing. Fall 2020 became one of experimenting, reflecting, and recalibrating. Spring 2021 became one of reorganizing, rethinking and reengineering. Fall 2021 will be one of restarting, retooling and reconstructing. Before the pandemic, many campuses questioned, “Should we invest in online teaching and learning?” The question is now, “How do we continue to utilize and invest in online teaching and learning to enhance student offerings on our campus?” As we return to more “in person” teaching, how do the lessons learned, the technologies utilized, the experiments tried and the reflections made help shape future educational opportunities? Join us in talking about how the future of education is transforming.
Call for Proposals
Proposals Due Friday, April 16, 2021
We invite you to participate in the 2021 LTDC Virtual Showcase by submitting a proposal for a session or TechTalk. To ensure the richness of this two-day event, the LTDC highly encourages collaboration, use of appropriate and acceptable technologies, multiple institution, and cross-discipline proposals.
For more information on the theme, session tracks and presentation guidelines, please see the Call for Proposal here:
To submit a proposal, please use the online form here: http://uwsystemadmin.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_508e664pbXufxC6
June 15 Keynote Speaker
Bryan Alexander
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 10:00-11:00 a.m. (CST)
Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of higher education’s future.
In 1997, Bryan completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan. Then Bryan taught literature, writing, multimedia, and information technology studies at Centenary College of Louisiana. There he also pioneered multi-campus interdisciplinary classes, while organizing an information literacy initiative.
From 2002 to 2014 Bryan worked with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a non-profit working to help small colleges and universities best integrate digital technologies. Based on his experiences with NITLE, Bryan launched Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC, a higher education consulting firm that has brought him national and international success.
Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently. He recently published Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (January 2020), which won an Association of Professional Futurists award. He is currently working on Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis (2022). His two other recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).
Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program. To learn more about Bryan’s accomplishments, please visit his website.
June 16 Keynote Speaker
Kathe Pelletier
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 2:00-3:00 p.m. (CST)
Perspective-Taking and Paradoxes
It might be surprising to hear the words, “the pandemic has been a gift,” especially in light of the lives lost and the disruption of relative normalcy. The last year has felt alternately long and isolating, and frantic and connecting.
Digital transformation is upon us in higher education. We might be tempted to maintain the momentum we felt as we rapidly transitioned to remote teaching last spring and take action to redefine our institutions to create an innovative future. It’s also tempting to imagine ways we can restore our campuses to the way we were before the pandemic. Or maybe we are focused on just adapting to the new normal.
Technologies, new and old, have offered us tools to engage with students and each other. Technology has offered us a bridge through the pandemic. But as institutions adapt to students’ needs, as staff support course development and delivery, and as faculty bring passion in their areas of expertise, we can recognize the opportunity in the continued collaboration and in listening.
It’s time to take a collective breath, and just pause for a moment. This is the time when we can practice perspective-taking, learning from others’ experiences as much as our own. Pausing to recognize the tension that might exist between technology, teaching, and a students-first approach. Let’s reflect on what we’ve learned from this past year – let it really settle in – and then we can collectively lean in to creating the future together.
Biography:
With more than 20 years of experience in higher education with positions in areas such as academic advising, online learning, instructional design and competency-based education, Dr. Kathe Pelletier currently holds the role of Director, Teaching and Learning Program with EDUCAUSE. She brings an expertise for combining traditional higher education best practice with innovative delivery models. She has been recognized by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction for starting and scaling the first online Supplemental Instruction programs and by the Online Learning Consortium for a hybrid framework that creates a structure for creativity yet insures consistency and quality in hybrid program and course delivery. Through her career, Kathe has accomplished such things as building an online student success center from scratch, establishing a competency-based curriculum model that became an anchor for a self-paced CBE program, developed and launched a holistic assessment and outreach system that delivered personalized resource recommendations to incoming students, and optimized a faculty community of practice that was not only engaging and satisfying to the faculty participants but also increased student learning outcomes and success metrics.
FAQ
Attendee Information
The conference is scheduled for June 15 and 16, 2021 (10 am to 4 pm).
No. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection may attend.
It is free to attend the Virtual Showcase. The only "cost" is an inquisitive mind and a desire to participate with other passionate colleagues.
No, but it is recommended. Registering in advance will ensure that you will be informed of schedule changes and other important updates.
Presenter Information
No. This year we've decided that you don't have to be affiliated with the University of Wisconsin System so please submit a proposal. Vendor partners/software providers should consider submitting a pre-recorded TechTalk.
Complete information on our Call for Proposals is found here: https://www.wisconsin.edu/systemwide-it/councils/ltdc/events-conferences/
The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 16, 2021.
All proposers will be notified of their participation in the Virtual Showcase on Monday, May 3, 2021.
What types of presentations are sought?
Traditional sessions are live and presented synchronously on topics that fall into one of three tracks (Student Experience & Success, Online Instructional Pedagogy, and Leveraging Learning Technology). The duration of each session is 30 minutes, and includes 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of questions and answers with attendees.
These sessions are pre-recorded videos, delivered asynchronously, and viewable on demand. The duration of TechTalks are brief (5-15 minutes) and are used to explain or demonstrate how to use a tool or certain applications of the tool.
What are the traditional session tracks and TechTalks?
This track explores ways in which the student experience has changed within the new learning modalities due to the addition of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practices, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices and accessibility practices. Here are some topic examples for Track 1: What instructional challenges have you overcome as you have learned about online instruction? What are some key takeaways or lessons learned over the past year that you would like to continue to develop? What lessons have you learned about various instructional modalities, pedagogies, or learning designs? What training programs/professional development opportunities have been developed and what are the short- and long-term impacts of those programs?
This track explores how online education has impacted course design and layout, synchronous/asynchronous techniques for engagement and motivation, group work, activity or assessment creation, or other learning designs and lessons learned. Here are some topic examples for Track 2: What instructional challenges have you overcome as you have learned about online instruction? What are some key takeaways or lessons learned over the past year that you would like to continue to develop? What lessons have you learned about various instructional modalities, pedagogies, or learning designs? What training programs/professional development opportunities have been developed and what are the short- and long-term impacts of those programs?
This track explores the use of various tools, technologies and teaching strategies used to enhance student learning, create efficiencies, or promote engagement. Here are some topic examples for Track 3: How have you used certain technology or tools to enhance your teaching and the student experience? What tools have intentionally made the online student experience more equitable, efficient or engaging? How have you approached the use of video or web conferencing within your practice?
New this year are TechTalk videos. Technology administrators, instructional designers, and instructors are invited to create brief (5-15 minutes) pre-recorded videos explaining how to use a tool or certain applications of the tool. The focus of the TechTalk should be training or demonstration. For example, a TechTalk video about Flipgrid within a course could show how to create a Flipgrid group and elaborate on benefits to the student experience.
Please send your questions via email to LTDCVS@UWSA.EDU. A member of our showcase planning team will respond as soon as possible.