PADLA From Start-up to Success: Bringing Your Learning Tech Vision to the Marketplace

The PA/DE/NJ Distance Learning Association is pleased to invite you to join us on February 23 from 8:30 to 11:30 AM in an entrepreneurial journey guided by an esteemed panel of regional experts made up of a Technology and Intellectual Property counsel (Fred Wilf: Wilftek) a prominent Venture Capitalist (Chad Stender: Seventy Six Capital), and a successful Learning Tech start-up company (Donna DeMarco: Viddler). Through real-world examples, based on their extensive experience, the panel will address the challenges and essential steps necessary to bring a Learning Tech vision to the marketplace.

Register Now!

The panel discussion will be followed by a presentation by Jill Sitnick, representing Microsoft, and will focus on their Learning Tech tool, One Note.

The topic for this event is most appropriate due to the location of the meeting in the new Microsoft Reactor Center located in the University City Science Center. Both of these organizations are committed to the success of Technology Start-ups.

USciences to Host PADLA Annual Conference

University of the Sciences will host the Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey Distance Learning Association (PADLA) 14th Annual Conference and Expo on December 20, 2016.

The PADLA is the regional chapter of the United States Distance Learning Association and is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas and information with other distance and e-learning professionals concerned the myriad of issues and technological changes in the field.

The conference will include 25 presentations, with several presentations from USciences faculty and staff, including one from Phyllis Blumberg, PhD, director of the teaching and learning center, about assessing and improving your online teaching, and another from Andrew Esposito, instructional designer in the office of academic technology, on developing an online course and the balance between the student load and regulatory demands. 

“One of the best things about PADLA is that it serves both the corporate and academic worlds,” said Rod Murray PhD, executive director of academic technology services at USciences and PADLA board member. “It’s fun to hear about learning technologies our corporate friends use and no doubt they learn from us as well.”

For the keynote, Jim Scherrer, founding director of the Compuseum, will interview Bill Mauchly, son of one of the ENIAC inventors, founder of the first computer company and the first computer programmer, about Philadelphia’s place in Computer History.

For more information about the conference visit the PADLA website or reach out to Dr. Murray at r.murray@usciences.edu. USciences faculty and staff are invited to attend for free.

Montgomery County Community College's 22nd Annual Technology and Learning Conference

Join us for Enhancing the Educational Environment

Montgomery County Community College's 22nd Annual Technology and Learning Conference

on October 7, 2016, from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

To see sessions and register for the conference, go to mc3.edu/techday

NMC Beyond the Horizon > The Hybrid Experience - Register Now!

In this online event, panelists will explore how the hybrid approach is fostering independent learning and collaboration, as well as cultivating more channels of communication among students and instructors. Panelists will reveal how the integration of online tools also provides instructors with the ability to track student success and engagement, rearranging face-to-face instruction around more active, hands-on activities.

• Date: April 20, 2016
• Time: 1:00-2:00 PM
• Place: Google Hangout
• Register for Webinar

The cost is $125. If you plan to participate, please let me know. I have a limited number of Coupon Codes.

The Panelists:

• Moderator: Rodney Murray (University of the Sciences)
• Terra Graves (Washoe County School District)
• Cathy Littlefield (Peirce College)
• David Schönstein (Smart Sparrow)

This online event is a program of the NMC Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI), supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the NMC PLI, the NMC is working to scale the adoption of innovative personalized learning practices and solutions in US higher education. In this series of online events, the NMC convenes key influencers and leaders in the field to move the most innovative ideas and solutions from the foundation’s vast network of grantees and partners into practice. Learn more at go.nmc.org/pli.

NE eLearning Consortium Conference on May 5th - REGISTER NOW!

Wilmington University is hosting the 2016 Northeast E-learning Consortium. The event will be held on Thursday, May 5, 2016 from 8:30am – 3:30pm. The theme will be Teaching and Learning with Technology.

• Full Agenda PDF
• Cool Door Prizes

The schedule for the 2016 Northeast E-Learning Consortium is now available! Over 40 sessions have been organized that are beneficial to these 5 major job functions:

• Instructional technologists/designers
• Leaders in online learning
• Learning management system administrators
• Educational and classroom technology specialists
• Adjunct and full-time faculty

You will have the opportunity to attend any of the sessions. Expect to walk away with real world examples of innovative projects and creative strategies that will help you more effectively use web 2.0 tools and pedagogical strategies within your own institution. Together we can transform higher education through collaboration!

If you haven’t signed up yet, Register Now!

PADLA: Instructional Design and Techniques for Creating Effective eLearning

Join us for this PADLA (PA/NJ/DE Distance Learning Association) half-day event featuring two presentations on Instructional Design and Effective eLearning:

Instructional Design and Techniques for Creating Effective eLearning

Collaborate with your PADLA professional community by going back to the basics of sound instructional design and techniques to create effective eLearning. Too often we become so focused on the technology that we tend to lose sight of our main mission of creating effective education and learning.

• Presenters:

Victor Yocco, PhD, Philadelphia-based researcher, learning strategist, and the author of Design for the Mind

Rich Herbert, Program Manager, Mortgage Academy at PHH Mortgage

• Location:

PHH Mortgage1 Mortgage WayMount Laurel, NJ 08054-5452

• Date: 16 Feb 2016
• Time: 8:30 to 11:30

REGISTER NOW - SEATING IS LIMITED

Drexel 2016 eLearning 3.0 Conference - Call for Proposals

On behalf of Drexel University, the 2016 e-Learning Conference, which is being held on Thursday, March 24th in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building on Drexel University’s University City Campus, is currently accepting proposal submissions. Proposals are for presentations that will run for 45 minutes on topics related to the use of technology in teaching and learning. 

Proposal Submission Form

Proposals are now due by Friday, February 5, 2016 and will be reviewed after that deadline, with final decisions on which have been selected being sent out in mid to late February. Please forward this along to your colleagues who might be interested in presenting. 

Conference Website

Thanks,

Michael Shelmet

Associate Director of Instructional Technology

Office of Information Resources and Technology

Drexel University

National Distance Learning Week

National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) will be celebrated from November 9 -13, 2015.  During NDLW, Higher Education and other sectors will educate their constituents on the amazing growth in distance learning and showcase their accomplishments.

As expected, there are many online workshops and webinars, but there are also face-2-face gatherings to learn and celebrate - some right in our back yard. Follow these links to learn what is available:

• Drexel Online Events
• Online Learning Consortium Events
• USDLA Events

Note: Unfortunately, some sessions are closed, but most will be recorded, stay tuned for links. Instead, come to our USciences Online Learning Viewing Party.

PADLA Meeting: Microsoft Technology Center Tour & Software/Hardware Demos

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

You are cordially invited to join the PA/DE/NJ Distance Learning Association for a visit to the truly state-of-the-art Microsoft Technology Center in Malvern, PA. Whether you are in Corporate, Non-Profit, Higher Ed, or K-12, there will be something for everyone to see and learn.

During this visit, Microsoft Mid-Atlantic representatives will be conducting tours of their impressive facility and discuss some of the emerging Windows 10 based technologies such as Surface Hub and Hololens. This will be followed by in-depth presentations of software products including the PowerPoint MIX add-in allowing users to easily create and share interactive online e-Learning videos and OneNote Class Notebook Creator software to develop lessons in digital notebooks for educators/trainers.

ABOUT OUR HOST

The Malvern MTC has been in operation since 2011, and is co-located with the field sales offices for the northern contingent of employees representing the Mid-Atlantic Sales District of Microsoft. The facility is an executive-class showcase designed to highlight the great solutions that Microsoft has to offer for all types of customers. Tim Pash, the Director, has a team of Architects who are experts in their field and that collaborate to ensure customers understand what our capabilities are and can clearly map them to the business issues they face. Besides enterprise customers, the facility hosts Professional User Groups, Community and K-12 student events, etc. One of our goals is to keep high utilization and to make a positive impression of Microsoft to as many people as possible.   Please consider the facility for the next team offsite, customer event, or executive meeting you need to conduct.  

Space is limited so register early!

 

ApprenNet Gather & Learn 2015

Join us for ApprenNet’s inaugural user conference, Gather & Learn. Join ApprenNet’s community of power users, new users, and interested users to help each other maximize learning outcomes on the world’s most robust platform for teaching and learning real-world skills – the kinds of skills you have to practice to master.

Wednesday, August 12th, 2015
9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Drexel University
Thomas R. Kline School of Law
3320 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Learn how ApprenNet can help you take your learners to the next level from this impressive panel of speakers:

• Dr. Carol Okupniak (Keynote)
  Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing, Drexel University College of Nursing & Health Professions
• Dr. Drew Ross
  Dean, Open College @ Kaplan University
• Dr. Craig Loundas
  Director, Leadership Development and Talent Management, University of Pennsylvania Health System
• Deirdre Woods
  Executive Director of Penn Open Learning Initiative, University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Susan Aldridge
  Senior Vice President of Online Learning, Drexel University

View Complete Agenda and Register NOW!

Last Chance to Register for the e-Learning 3.0 Conference Next Wednesday!

If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for?  Over 200 people from more than 50 institutions and organizations have already signed up to attend, so reserve your spot today!  Now in its 13^th year, the conference will be held on Wednesday, March 25^th from 8 am – 4:30 pm in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building at Drexel (33^rd & Chestnut Streets).  Presentations will focus on a variety of topics, including instructional gaming, using mobile devices in the classroom, digital pedagogy, student peer evaluation, producing videos for online courses, Twitter as an instructional tool, and much more!  To access the full list of speakers and topics, review our conference program.

Your registration fee includes welcome materials, access to the presentations and keynote speaker session, a continental breakfast, a $10 card to spend on lunch at local restaurants, afternoon refreshments, and entry into the door prize drawing at the conclusion of the event (winners must be present).

This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Frank Lee, Associate Professor of Digital Media in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel and co-founder of Drexel's Game Design Program.  His most recent project, Skyscraper Tetris, earned the Guinness World Record for largest architectural video game display, covering nearly 120,000 square feet on two sides of the Cira Centre, one of Philadelphia’s tallest skyscrapers.  Dr. Lee will be speaking about "Informal Learning at the Entrepreneurial Game Studio," where students are encouraged to form teams, create an LLC, and ship a game within 6-9 months.

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to learn from and network with your colleagues from around the region!  If you have any questions, email olt@drexel.edu.  We look forward to seeing you at the conference next week!

Online Learning Team

Drexel University
Korman Center, Room 109Philadelphia, PA 19104

Drexel eLearning 3.0 Conference - Discount Admission!

The eLearning 3.0 Conference at Drexel University is one of the premier regional events focused on teaching and learning in an online environment.  For 13 years this conference has been bringing together eLearning professionals from across the region to learn about emerging technologies and exchange best practices and creative approaches to engaging learners in online settings.

Registration

Drexel has extended a special invitation to PADLA members this year, offering a 25% discount off the regular price.  The special $75 fee for PADLA members can only be obtained through registering:

Register for eLearning 3.0 at PADLA for Discount

Keynote Address

Dr. Frank J. Lee is an Associate Professor of Digital Media in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University with appointments in Psychology, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering.

Lee co-founded Drexel's Game Design Program in 2008, currently ranked as one of the Top 5 Best Game Design Programs in U.S. He is also the founding director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio in the Excite Center at Drexel University.

Past projects have won national and international awards and recognitions and have received extensive national and international media coverage. His most recent project, Skyscraper Tetris, had over 1500 articles and mentions and a world record as the Largest Architectural Videogame Display.

Program

1. Helping Faculty Get Beyond Lectures
2. Taking a Risk: Using Technology to Foster Collaboration, Encourage Creativity and Engage Students
3. How to Make a Successful Technology-based Instructional Game
4. From Distraction to Engagement - Integrating Mobile Devices into Teaching
5. Reclaim Class Time With VoiceThread
6. Online Course Development: Balancing Student Load and Regulatory Demands
7. Tweet2Learn: 10 Ways Teachers Tame Twitter
8. Teaching Digital Pedagogies: Two Cases
9. The Director and the Professor: Timelines in Academic Video Production
10. When Teams Aren’t Fair – Empowering Student Peer Evaluation
11. Incorporating Open Educational Resources into Your Online Classroom
12. Online Course Design by the Numbers: Leveraging Analytics to Improve Course Delivery
13. Enhancing Learning Through Collaboration Between Instructional Technologists and Faculty
14. Creating Community in the Online Classroom: Lessons Learned and Strategies for Success
15. Diversifying Discussion: Organization and Function in Online and Blended Learning
16. Can An Online Learning Platform Mimc a Highly Interactive, Engaging, and Efective  Live Classroom Experience?
17. Video Roulette: Making a Deceptively Complex Undertaking Easier for Faculty and More Useful for Students
18. Engage, Captivate and Inspire – Creating a Multi-Platform e-Learning Classroom
19. Web-based Evaluation of Trainee Knowledge and the Quality of Our Educational Program
20. PADLA Introduction

Learn more about this one-day conference at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/elearnconf.  

PADLA: Going Mobile - Case Study & Technology Review

Join us for this PADLA (PA/NJ/DE Distance Learning Association) event.

PADLA cordially invites you to attend our next meeting featuring two presentations on Mobile Learning:

Date: 24 Feb 2015
Time: 8:30 to 11:30

Devereux Ronald P. Burd Conference Center
444 Devereux Drive
Villanova, PA 19085

Cost: Free for Members ($25 for non-members)

LIMITED SEATING - REGISTER NOW!

Mobile-ized Information Transfer: Mobile Learning in the Parking Management Industry

Presented by Donald E. Hurford, Vice President, Human Resources @ Parkway Corporation

Info-on-demand is the new status quo for the mobile generation.  Content at one’s fingertips is now taken for granted, and workers now expect that level of access from their employers, particularly in the realms of training and development.  The Parkway Corporation has collaborated with TrainByCell to develop a customized mobile learning site that provides this level of accessibility to our parking operations managers.  Use of this platform has also aided in formalizing transfer of previously “tacit” knowledge within the Parkway Corporation.   Applications of the mobile site that will be demonstrated in this presentation include short job aids, learning videos, long form standard operating procedures,  electronic forms and workflows.

Introduction to m-Learning

Presented by Stu Maleeff, Dir of Development/Founder @ Mobile Info Pros

In a world where more and more powerful devices are at everyone’s finger tips, how do you effectively deliver training to an audience that’s not always in front of a desktop computer? mLearning is not a replacement for traditional classroom instruction or eLearning, but it can be a great complement to either or both.  Mobile Info Pro’s technology allows instructional designers (or functional managers) to rapidly deploy content to the devices that their people are constantly carrying; smart phones and tablets. The platform uses a device's native browsers instead of having to incur the expense and time of developing mobile apps for each different mobile platform. In addition, people are notified of available content via text messaging while managers can use engagement tools to monitor and log progress. mLearning is now available to organizations of any size at any time, from any place, on any mobile device.

PADLA Distance/e-Learning/Ed Tech Challenges Workshop

In the PADLA spirit, you are cordially invited to share your expertise, insight, and ideas to help our Corporate, Non-profit, Higher Ed, Ed Tech, and K-12 presenters who are facing real-world Distance/e-Learning/Ed Tech problems within their organizations.

This is our annual "Challenges" workshop. Past presenters and attendees have found this peer-to-peer interactive workshop to be very valuable in meeting their own challenges and gaining additional insights into how others solved theirs.

REGISTER NOW 

Date: 23 September 2014
Time: 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Place: Peirce College, Philadelphia, PA

Challenges include:

• Sunoco Corporate University: "Winning the Race: How will Sunoco University Implement Project Management?"
• The PA College of Health Sciences: "Temporary Teaching Technology Troubles"
• Viddler: "Controlling Interaction on a Smartphone"
• d'Vinci Interactive: "Bringing Interactive Technology to the Common Core"

View the details and register NOW!

PADLA: Social Media in Online Learning

Join us for this PADLA (PA/NJ/DE Distance Learning Association) event.

PADLA cordially invites you to attend our next meeting to be held on 5/1/14 at the Devereux Foundation Ronald P. Burd Conference Center in Villanova, PA, featuring two presentations on the use of Social Media in Online Learning:

REGISTER NOW 

• Date: 1 May 2014
• Time: 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Social and Mobile Shouldn't Be Distant from Learning

Presented by Shelly Blake-Plock, President & CEO at  An Estuary, LLC

Just as social and mobile technologies have changed the face of communications, entertainment, politics, and business networking, so too are they changing the ways we learn online. Join in this conversation as we take a look at what’s going on “under the hood” of social and mobile technologies and discuss what these developments mean for academic institutions and corporations looking to maximize the accessibility and impact of online learning offerings.

Beyond Likes and Hashtags: Leveraging Social Media for Learning, Training and Networking

Presented by Dr. Kimberly Wilson, College of Education at Temple University

This presentation will help socmephobes (those who fear social media) and experienced users alike get more out of social media.  In this informative and interactive program, participants will be introduced to the basics of social media for the purposes of training, learning, and networking. The program is divided into three areas:

1. Best practices
2. Case studies and examples
3. Suggestions and guidelines for using social media effectively

The effective use of social media in these contexts will be discussed using case studies and real-life examples.  Participants will learn how to incorporate social media such as Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube into their training even if they have little or no experience with it.  Whether you love social media or fear it, you’ll leave the program with a whole new outlook and concrete actions you can take immediately to elevate your work to the highest level.

Tech Day at AOTA: An Innovative use of ApprenNet

You don't have to be an Occupational Therapist to learn about ApprenNet and other elearning technologies. Tell us about your innovative uses of technology in teaching. At the same time, you will learn how ApprenNet works.

Join our "Meet", upload your video and see peer videos

ApprenNet works in 3 simple steps:

1. Drive Skill Practice: Instructors post videos that ask Learners to practice skills by responding to real world challenges.
2. Create Meaningful Review: With a few clicks, Instructors design peer review for Learners to observe each other and give and get feedback.
3. Share Expertise: Capture your organization’s know-how by empowering your Experts to share best practices quickly and easily.

For our Tech Day "meet", 1) watch our short video instruction, 2) post your own ideas to share, and 3) view other submissions and give them feedback. 

Tell us how you are currently using technology in your classroom.  We are especially interested in any problems you see in face to face instruction that you think technology might be a solution for!  For example, if a snow day prevents face-to-face instruction, technology might offer a way to deliver content without missing instructional days. Once you upload your video, you will be able to return to the program and view the videos of other participants.

Come by to see us at AOTA Tech Day (Saturday Morning, 4/5, 9:30 am - 11am, Baltimore Convention Center, Ballroom I-II) and lets talk about technology, teaching and this program ApprenNet!

Rondalyn V. Whitney, PhD, OTR/L
Assistant Professor
Samson College of Health Sciences
Department of Occupational Therapy
University of the Sciences

and

Rodney B. Murray, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Office of Academic Technology
University of the Sciences

eLearning 3.0 Conference at Drexel University

Save the date: Thursday, March 27, 2014.

Katie Blot, senior vice president of education services at Blackboard, will give the Keynote at 9am.

View Conference Program  

This conference features presentations on a range of e-learning topics including:

• Best Practices
• Pedagogy
• Learning Management Systems
• Support
• Administration

Share best practices and creative approaches for learning enrichment and student engagement. Join colleagues from across the region to learn how to utilize existing and emerging technologies, and develop engaging strategies to augment face-to-face classes, teach hybrid or online classes.

Register Now!

PADLA: eLearning Legal Issues and ApprenNet

I'd like to alert you to two presentations this week concerning eLearning Legal Issues and ApprenNet. If you are doing more teaching online, I'm sure you'd like to know how to make it interactive, engaging, social and legal!

Register NOW for PADLA this Wednesday, March 19, to learn about eLearning legal issues. It's being held at our neighbor Drexel University School of Law.

We are pleased to have Dina Leytes, Practice Group Chair, Intellectual Property and New Media, at Griesing Law, give a presentation entitled:

Understanding Content Ownership Issues in Online Education

This interactive presentation will address issues that pertain to content ownership in online education:

• Using third party copyrighted content with permission
• Fair use theory and practice
• Creating contracts that address ownership of multi-media materials
• Updating work-for-hire and institutional IP policies for online learning
• ApprenNet

The second presentation at PADLA this Wednesday is on ApprenNet.

We are happy to have Karl Okamoto the co-founder and CEO of ApprenNet LLC give a presentation entitled:

How to Make E-Learning Interactive, Engaging and Social

The heart of many e-learning solutions is a video presentation which is often passive, isolating and dull. Professor Okamoto has developed a training method that retains the efficiency of traditional e-learning while re-inserting the interaction, engagement and community that face-to-face and small group learning offers. He will demonstrate this innovative training method and share use cases from both corporate training and academia.

PADLA Free Event: Micro Instructional Design for Problem-Based and Game-Based Learning

Join us for this FREE PADLA (PA/NJ/DE Distance Learning Association) event.

Register now to join us either in-person or online for an exploration of some of the most advanced Learning Methodologies & Technologies in our region. Those who attend in-person will also have the opportunity participate in an exciting tour of the Harrisburg University of Science & Technology to experience these technologies first-hand.

REGISTER NOW 

Micro Instructional Design for Problem-Based and Game-Based Learning

• Date: 30 Jan 2014
• Time: 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM
• Location: Harrisburg University (or online)

In this session you'll explore David Merrill’s Pebble in the Pond (PiP) instructional design model for problem-based learning and consider how it can also be applied to game-based learning design.

The presenter, Andy Petroski, coordinates the Learning Technologies Master of Science (LTMS) program and learning technologies at Harrisburg University as Director of Learning Technologies and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies. His work at Harrisburg University has included efforts in the areas of educational technology strategy, games and simulations, classroom technology, web 2.0, patient education, social learning and faculty development.

Save the Date (12/16/13) for our first Northeast E-Learning Consortium Un-Conference

Click Graphic to Register

Please save the date of Monday, December 16, 2013 for our first Northeast E-Learning Consortium Un-Conference. The event will be hosted by the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA. The event will also include the first Philadelphia stop on Blackboard's "Never Stop Learning Tour". 

In a departure from a conventionally structured program of events, the Consortium has decided on a modified unconference format, a loosely structured conference emphasizing the informal exchange of information and ideas between participants.

VIEW PROGRAM SCHEDULE

While there will be some traditional presentations from our sponsors, and other select topics, the bulk of the agenda elearning topics are created by the attendees when they register for the meeting. Attendees with a high level of expertise or knowledge in the topic who want to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a session slot to lead. 

Our unconference sessions will feature open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk. Alternately, session attendees will be given a few minutes to present in a “panel” format.

PLEASE REGISTER ONLINE NOW! 

Blackboard's "Never Stop Learning" Tour in Philly will be an "Un-Conference"