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The Distributed Teacher

April 19, 2:00 PM, Hawaii Standard Time Zone

Dr. Jon Dron
Chair, School of Computing and Information Systems
Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada

Description
Dr. Dron will explore what makes online learning different, describing how its boundaries affect how we learn. He will suggest ways to rethink and dis-establish the course as the primary unit of education, to rethink the role and nature of assessment, and to consider what educational system we might build if we started now. He will discuss tools, built at Athabasca University, to support beyond-the-course learning, assessment approaches, and ways to adjust course-based teaching so that we can learn together and become a part of one vastly distributed, collective teacher.

About The Presenter

Dr. Jon Dron Chair, School of Computing and Information Systems Athabasca University

Dr. Jon Dron
Chair, School of Computing and Information Systems
Athabasca University

Professor Jon Dron is a member of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI), where he is a member of the social learning technologies group, and Chair of the School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University. He is also an Honorary Faculty Fellow in the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK, where he works on staff development in the area of technology-enhanced learning. Dr. Dron has received both national and local awards for his teaching, is author of various award-winning research papers and is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences in fields as diverse as education, learning technologies, information science and programming. With a first degree in philosophy, a masters degree in information systems, a post-graduate certificate in higher education and a PhD in learning technologies, Dron’s career has been diverse, included work in education, information systems, technology management, programming, marketing and several years as a professional singer. He is the lead architect behind The Landing (https://landing.athabascau.ca), Athabasca University’s social learning commons.

Athabasca University website: http://jondron.athabascau.ca
Personal website: http://jondron.ca

Into the Great Beyond: Exploring the Next-Generation Digital Learning Environment

April 21, 2:00 PM, Hawaii Standard Time

Malcom Brown
Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Veronica Diaz
Director, Online Programs, EDUCAUSE
Associate Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Description
Here’s a paradox: grousing about the LMS is a favorite sport on most campuses. Yet nobody seems to think they could possibly do without one (or two or three). So what might a next-generation digital learning environment look like? What should it enable us to do? EDUCAUSE has started researching and conceptualizing the next-generation digital learning environment, and in this session we will, together with its participants, continue our exploration of that environment.

This successor environment will be enabled by digital technology, driven by a vision of a learner-centered approach to higher education, and will demand a great deal of innovation and creativity to realize it. Together we’ll review some of the discoveries that informed the ideas in the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s white paper, and then we will collaboratively seek to unpack the five core functional domains of this next-generation environment. Participants will understand the scope of a next-generation digital learning environment, learn about the community’s consensus on what this environment needs to be able to do, and explore the alignments of the research with your institution’s academic strategies.

In this session, the facilitators will guide participants through two activities:

  1. a brainstorm to identify a set of LMS features to preserve and to identify a set of features to add to the next-generation digital learning environment, including a discussion of the results; and
  2. facilitate a discussion with participants to identify the impediments to establishing the next-generation digital learning environment.

About The Presenters


Malcom Brown Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Malcom Brown
Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Dr. Malcolm Brown has been Director of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative since 2009 and has initiated major ELI undertakings such as its Seeking Evidence of Impact program and the Learning Space Rating System. Prior to assuming the ELI directorship, he was the Director of Academic Computing at Dartmouth College, overseeing a team active in instructional technology, research computing, classroom technology, and pedagogical innovation. During his tenure at Dartmouth, he worked actively with the ELI, contributing chapters to the EDUCAUSE eBooks, helping to plan focus sessions, and serving on the ELI Advisory Board. He has been a member of the EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies committee and was the editor for the New Horizons column for the EDUCAUSE Review. Brown has served as a faculty member of the EDUCAUSE Learning Technology Leadership program. He has been on the Advisory board for the Horizon Report since its inception in 2004 and served as Chair of Board of the New Media Consortium.

Veronica Diaz Director, Online Programs, EDUCAUSE Associate Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Veronica Diaz
Director, Online Programs, EDUCAUSE
Associate Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

Since 2014, Dr. Veronica Diaz has served as the Director for EDUCAUSE online programs advancing the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development division’s overall strategic priorities and member needs with excellence in online learning experiences. Dr. Diaz has also been the associate director of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative since 2009 conceptualizing and developing resources that support its 300+ member institutions in integrating teaching, learning, and technology on campus. She provides leadership to various ELI programs: Seeking Evidence of Impact, the 7 Things You Should Know About series and management for EDUCAUSE teaching and learning leadership development programs, such as Leading Academic Transformation and the Next Generation Learning Challenges. Active in the field of online and blended learning and instructional innovation, Diaz serves on various national teaching and learning advisory boards, presents seminars nationally, and has authored articles on faculty use of instructional technology, blended learning delivery models, intellectual property policies for distributed learning environments, privacy, and emerging technologies.

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