Conferences – Page 2 – Digital Learning Dispatches

The outbreak of the Coronavirus has placed renewed attention on the value and potential of online education, particularly in terms of planning to keep teaching to campus-based students. In this regard, there is increasing reason to believe that online education is about to go mainstream.

In China, for example, with the opening of schools pushed back to March, millions of students have been asked to go online to continue their study. Accordingly, it’s estimated that China’s online education market is expected to more than triple by 2023 to a value of around $100 billion (Forbes, 2020). While there is a long history of distance learning, with more recently the MOOC movement having established itself as an evolving feature of the global higher education landscape, the focus is now on how to harness the potential of online education to fully support campus-based students should the need arise. Indeed, on Friday Stanford University announced that from Monday March 9th classes will not meet in person and where feasible teaching will be moving to online formats.

With the situation in most countries evolving on a daily basis, it’s important to plan for different scenarios. In Ireland, for example, most universities already have plans in place should they be needed to offer online classes and exams in case of campus closures (Irish Times, 3rd March 2020). This is certainly the case at Dublin City University (DCU) where through Loop and the DCU Connected platform we have a long history of online education.

Beyond Ireland, there is evidence from around the world to suggest that over recent weeks universities and educational institutions have been reviewing and updating their business continuity plans,. From a brief analysis of many leading university websites along with a published table of related continuity plans, it would appear that some institutions are better prepared than others. With this observation in mind, the examples below from five U.S. universities help to illustrate the different types of things to consider in terms of quickly scaling up for online education. They offer examples of how best to support people and present key information in order to keep teaching if campus access is restricted.

As already observed, the level of preparedness and type of information available to staff and students appears to vary greatly across universities. Therefore, the following guiding principles may be useful in helping to update your own institution’s Continuity Plan and in deciding what key messages and types of information you wish to communicate to your staff, students and wider community:

- Plan ahead for all scenarios
- Ensure everyone is plugged in
- Prioritise to cover the essentials
- Focus on already familiar online tools
- Offer both self-directed and real time options
- Promote awareness of open educational resources
- Keep it simple but don’t be afraid to go a bit further
- Ensure people know where to reach out for help
- Build an online community to share good practice
- Manage expectations and keep your students informed

Coincidently, later in the month the #OpenTeach project team in the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) at DCU is offering a free online course for anyone wanting to learn more about how to teach online. The #Openteach course which takes approximately 10 hours to complete starts on March 23rd and continues through to the start of April. The course aims to:

#1. Demonstrate awareness of teaching and learning pedagogy associated with online learning.

#2. Facilitate online communication and discussion forums that engage
students in learning.

#3. Create a supportive community of learners using online teaching
pedagogy.

#4. Develop and facilitate online collaborative activities that support
student learning.

#5. Design online teaching activities that encourage student
participation and learning and reflect on personal learning from this
activity.

#6. Use digital tools effectively to support online teaching.

You can register here to sign up for this free online course. If you want some reading before the course starts, then we suggest you download and familiarise yourself with our recent report which offers useful tips and suggestions for effective online teaching and learning.

Finally, online learning is not restricted to just students and with many educational conferences scheduled over the next few weeks and months, this draft workbook on how to successfully host an online academic conference in the backdrop of the Coronavirus may be useful. Already a number of high profile events have been cancelled, including the ASCD conference and American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference which both typically attract upwards of 10,000 delegates. Currently online options are being explored to ensure virtual conversations and meaningful professional dialogue can continue.

The upside, as some educators have begun to speculate, is that these revised plans and cancellations in the face of the current health situation may be the “black swan” for online education. Indeed, they may well spark a boom that no one could have foreseen or predicted as recently as the ICDE World Conference on Online Learning that DCU hosted in November 2019 in Dublin.

It’s time to pack your bags as Dublin is ready and eagerly awaiting your arrival. You might need a warm coat as we expect some spine chilling weather this week to conicide with Halloween, the celebration of Samhain and the world famous Bram Stoker Festival. If you’re one of the advance parties arriving in the next few days for the meeting of OERu partners or for one of the other NIDL pre-conference activities then you can expect a week of deadly adventures. It might be a little cooler outside by this time next week based on the long range weather forecast for Dublin but we can still guarantee you a warm Irish welcome and plenty of good Craic. The ICDE World Conferenceoffers an action packed programme over 5-days and the local NIDL team at Dublin City University (DCU) keenly awaits your arrival in the land of saints and scholars.

What’s New?

Over the last week we have been adding the polishing touches to the conference programme, with a team of volunteers from DCU working tirelessly to ensure that everything is ready for your arrival. We are also delighted to report that a great team of DCU Student Ambassadors will be supporting us throughout the conference. Last week the full Conference Book went off to the printer containing the final programme along with lots of useful information to set the stage for an impactful week. Also we released our conference app so that you can start engaging with other participants and some of the tools and resources we have available for you. We strongly encourage participants to download the conference app before you depart for Dublin in order to get ready for the event and to greatly enhance your professional learning and networking experience. To download the app:

Search for ‘The Event App by EventsAir’. Download to your device and enter the event code wcol2019.

Please enter the username and password you set when you registered for the ICDE World Conference. Note that login is case-sensitive so please make sure your device isn’t capitalising the first word. If you have any problems logging in to the app then please contact Celia or Judy from our great team at Happening Conferences and Events.

On other conference news we finalised the allocation of breakout session chairs and we are particularly grateful to the dozens of people who kindly volunteered to contribute to the ICDE World Conference in this important way. Without the volunteers we have drawn on over almost two-years the ICDE World Conference would not be possible. All paper sessions will have a dedicated chair to ensure that everything runs smoothly and presenters keep to time. We also received last week most of the digital poster submissions and successfully uploaded them to the conference app where you can already view and later in the conference vote on them. The scheduled to meet the poster author(s) to discuss their work appears in the conference book.

Preparations for Sunday’s pre-conference event on November 3^rd at DCU’s St Patrick’s campus are well in hand where we expect to welcome over 200 delegates to a busy full-day programme. A campus map with further directions to E Block where you will find the Registration Desk will be sent to delegates in the next few days. As your registration pack for the full conference will be available on Sunday morning when you arrive we encourage you to come early as tea and coffee will be available. Towards the end of Sunday’s pre-conference the #Openteach project team will be launching one of their key outputs, “Teaching Online is Different: Critical Perspectives from the Literature”. This report critically analyses the international literature about online teaching and professional development and a printed version of the work will be freely available to delegates attending the pre-conference. It argues that teaching online is different, evidenced by some of the unique roles, competencies and professional development approaches required to equip online educators to teach effectively. The #Openteach project is based in the Open Education Unit in the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) at DCU and the report is externally funded by the Irish National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, a valued Bronze sponsor.

Read more about next week’s ICDE World Conference in our final newsletter, including another informative speaker spotlight, an update for presenters and taste of Ireland section, before around 800 delegates from nearly 80 countries converge on Dublin next week.