Online Learning – Page 60 – Digital Learning Dispatches

In November 2016, the Student Success Toolbox project under the leadership of Dr James Brunton was a successful recipient of an Effective Practice Award at the Online Learning Consortium’s Accelerate conference in Orlando. OLC is one of the largest professional bodies in the United States for higher educators with an interest in harnessing the potential of new digital technologies.

The award was presented during a gala luncheon event which attracted a large audience.

The NIDL has a close relationship with OLC with Professor Mark Brown contributing over several years to their well known leadership development programme and during the conference he also served on a high-level panel discussion, including professors Terry Anderson, Peter Shea and Karen Swan, exploring some of the lessons from the research literature on online learning. The room was full to capacity and generated favourable feedback in the conference evaluation.

In October 2016, Dr James Brunton gave the final presentation on the outputs and deliverables of the Student Success Toolbox project to the National Forum’s International Expert Panel. This DCU-led project has been very successful in producing a suite of online tools for flexible part-time learners that current research suggests are lacking in early stages of the study lifecycle. The project team has produced numerous outputs and publications beyond the original scope of the project and recently developed and piloted a MOOC called Head Start Online in order to embed many of the tools in a facilitated learning experience for prospective flexible learners. We hope to fully embed these tools in the future for prospective students as part of our wider orientation to the DCU Connected experience.