Another item from Friday’s inbox.
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USDLA 2013 Annual Conference
Distance Learning: A New Era of Openness
The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is pleased to
announce the 2013 Annual Conference Call for Proposals. Proposals are now
being accepted based on the conference theme,
“Distance Learning: A New Era of Openness”
April 28 – May 1, 2013
The Hilton at the Ball Park, St. Louis, MO
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Submission Deadline: Sunday, December 16, 2012 by (11:59 PM)
We welcome proposals from all corporate, education (higher and K-12),
healthcare, government and military organizations on distance education topics
related to:
* Opportunities and Challenges in Open Education
* Leadership Challenges
o Federal regulations and policies
o Administrative issues and concerns
* Opening Doors with Creative Strategies, Technologies, and Techniques
* Distance Learning Research
* Global Delivery through Distance and Open Learning
* Meeting the Needs of Today’s Learners
o Understanding and working with the adult learner
o Understanding and working with the military student
o Engaging the K-12 learner
o Strategies for implementing a flipped classroom
* Professional Development for Online Faculty
* Instructional Design for an Open Market
o Learning science – the interdisciplinary field that works to further
scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the
design and implementation of learning innovations, and
improvement of instructional methodologies.
o Linking theory and practice in course design and development
o Learning analytics and data-driven course design
o Online pedagogy best practices
* Distance Learning Ethics and Copyright
* Online Recruitment and Retention Strategies
o Best Practices for developing and providing support services to
online students (i.e. tutoring, remedial assistance, student
orientation, academic advising, etc.)
o Engaging online students to increase retention
o Preparing new students for the online learning experience
There is also a continued opportunity this year to present your session in our
virtual classroom setting, which means your session will be viewed by face-to-face
attendees as well as those attendees joining us virtually. You will be able to
note your interest in the call for proposal link below.
There are several ways to participate:
* Concurrent information sessions provide an opportunity for you to give an
interactive presentation in one or more of the conference topic areas.
Conference attendees expect sessions to provide practical advice and the
sharing of experiences. The committee seeks high quality, thought provoking
and interactive sessions, not lecture format. Co-presenters are
encouraged. (60 minutes)
* Poster sessions allow presenters to prepare a standing table-top poster
that describes a project, process, research or other activity. This will be an
opportunity to meet and network with a majority of conference attendees
and USDLA Award Winners as these sessions are held during the Award
Dinner Reception. The poster presenters will be grouped by topic to provide
an even more in-depth discussion and comparison of the various issues. (60
minutes)
* Panels of “like topics” are a new option and allow attendees to hear about a
topic from several points of view. The program committee may select your
proposal to be featured in a panel along with other presenters. (90 minutes)
* Collaborative Sessions will be highlighted throughout the conference and
feature an expert leader on a particular topic. If you would like to lead a
collaborative session, please select the collaborative session option in your
proposal. You will be directed to a form to: (1) identify a hot or controversial
topic for discussion; (2) note your credentials as an expert in this subject; (3)
state how you would engage the participants in the discussion, and (4) note
your willingness to turn the discussion into a short white paper for publication by USDLA. (90 minutes)
* Pre-conference Workshop – (3 hour session) Sunday, April 28th from 2:00-
5:00 pm – Pre-conference workshops are offered as a vehicle to get the
conference started, set the stage for the conference theme, and discuss
relevant issues in the field of distance learning.
We recommend that proposals be specific about what will make your
presentation valuable to attendees. Any proposal that is perceived to be a “sales
pitch” will not be considered. Your proposal should be focused on innovative
issues, working solutions and should address the conference theme. All
presenters are expected to register for the full conference.
Equipment
The conference will provide a standard set up (LCD data/video projector and
screen). You will need to provide your own laptop computer. If you require
Internet access for your session, please state that clearly in your proposal.
Please note that we are unable to provide audio resources (house sound or
speakers) for concurrent and/or poster sessions.
Preparing Your Proposal
All Conference proposals should be submitted using the online submission form
by clicking on the following link:
http://www.conconnect.net/rfp.aspx?yr=2013&id=001
For your information, the automated proposal submission system will ask you for
the following information:
Please be prepared to provide the following:
1. Contact Information: the name and full contact information for the lead
presenter and any co-presenters
2. Session Title: a succinct, but descriptive title of no more than ten
words
3. Format: concurrent, poster, collaborative or panel .
4. Abstract: 50-word (or less) description of the session
5. Content: a clear summary of learning objectives and session content
in 300-500 words
6. Conference Topic(s): session can cover more than one topic
7. Audience Focus by Constituency: USDLA serves multiple
constituencies, including K-12, higher education, corporate,
government, military, telehealth, and international. Please tell us who
would benefit from your session (may be more than one group).
8. Audiovisual: needs that are beyond the standard setup of projector
and screen. If you need Internet access for your session, you must
include that information in your proposal. We cannot accommodate
requests made during the conference.
9. Virtual Session/ Live Feed: opportunity to offer your session in a virtual
classroom with live feed from St. Louis.
Review Criteria
Conference participants will expect well-delivered presentations containing
quality information that is of practical value to their day-to-day professional lives.
Members of the USDLA 2013 Conference Program Committee will review each
proposal. Reviewers will look for clear descriptions. Considerable weight will be
given to proposals that specify session learning objectives and clearly describe
why the content will be valuable to attendees.
Specifically, reviewers will look for the following:
* Relevance to the conference theme
* Quality of the presentation: substance, clarity, organization
* Evidence of innovation and effective practice
* Audience appeal and opportunity for discussion
Status of Proposals and Notification
The 2013 Program Committee will review proposals and you will be contacted
about the status of your proposal by January 31, 2013. If your proposal is
accepted, the lead presenter will receive an email containing information relevant
to your presentation. Lead presenters are responsible for forwarding all
information to their co-presenters. Presenters are eligible for the Early Bird registration rate (even after the close of Early Bird registration).
About United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)
The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is a non-profit association formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts. The association reaches 20,000 people globally with sponsors and members operating in and influencing 46% of the $913 billion dollar U.S. education and training market. USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance learning and training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling as well as business, corporate, military, government and telehealth markets. The USDLA trademarked logo is the recognized worldwide symbol of dedicated professionals committed to the distance learning industry.
http://www.usdla.org
