Online Learning News - March 9, 2022

Free Contact North | Contact Nord Webinar

How to Improve and Promote Student Engagement in the Online Classroom

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Register Now!

As we explore the future of learning in higher education post-pandemic, what do we need to know about student engagement? How do we design our classes and the learning experience to balance what we need to teach with engaged learning?

In this interactive webinar, Dr. Amy Sloan, Lecturer in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Baylor University, investigates:

• Why student engagement is a critical variable in student success and what this means for course design and delivery
• Examples of effective student engagement
• The five Cs of student engagement: connection, consistency, content, community, and compassion
• The pitfalls of designs for engagement and the importance of tying active learning to learning outcomes

Blended Learning
Three Things to Stop, Improve and Start!

Blended learning is the future of higher education in a post-pandemic world. The third instalment of Stop, Improve, Start offers up bite-sized suggestions on how to make it work for everyone.

Read the Full Story

Dr. Tony Bates’ Blog:
Online Learning and Distance Education

In this blog post, Dr. Bates shares his reflections and views on the theory of connectivism.

Read Contact North I Contact Nord Research Associate Dr. Tony Bates’ blog post:

A review of Stephen Downes’ latest contribution to the theory of connectivism.

Leaders & Legends of Online Learning

Dr. Mark Nichols’ Podcast

Leaders & Legends of Online Learning is a podcast that brings first-person perspectives from online learning experts that inform and inspire. Each interview lasts about 30 minutes, and links to each guest's work and profile.

In this episode, Dr. Mark Nichols interviews Professor Michael Sankey, Director of Learning Futures and Lead Education Architect at Charles Darwin University in Australia.

Beyond the Basics:
Helping You Teach More Effectively
with Zoom’s Advanced Tools

You have mastered the basic features of teaching on Zoom, so now what?

Beyond the Basics is live training geared specifically to educators and trainers like you. Led by Contact North | Contact Nord’s e-Learning Training Facilitator, our FREE session will help you boost engagement and accessibility for all types of learners:

• Enable live transcriptions for added accessibility
• Use PowerPoint as a virtual background, as a more immersive way to present
• Use focus mode to help learners avoid distractions by only seeing the host's webcam
• Use immersive view for creative discussions
• Set up and use exit surveys for all types of feedback
• Set up advanced polling and quizzes for instant engagement

Register now for a one-hour live FREE training session!

This Week’s Must-Read Book
on Online Learning

The Distributed University for Sustainable Higher Education

By Richard Frederick Heller (2022)

There are several new books exploring the possible, probable, and preferred futures of colleges and universities. This one is free and available for download. It explores some key themes – the drift from purpose, the challenge for an educational institution of responding quickly to a volatile, uncertain, changing, ambiguous world, sustainable development and technological development.

Browse all Must-Read Books

Contact North | Contact Nord’s Directory
of 83 Online, Open & Distance Learning Associations and Consortia Throughout the World

Contact North | Contact Nord created this non-exhaustive list of online, distance and open learning associations and consortia around the world, providing links to websites (if available) to widen access to the valuable information offered by each.

Explore the Directory

Upcoming Events in Online Learning

Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Innovate

Virtual: March 28 – April 1, 2022
In Person - Dallas, Texas, USA: April 11 – 14, 2022

This conference challenges teaching and learning paradigms, reimagines the learning experience, and ideates on how disruptions in education today will shape the innovative classrooms of tomorrow.

Nine presentation tracks include:

• Blended Teaching and Learning
• Career and Technical Education
• Instructional Technologies and Tools
• Leadership and Advocacy
• Open Learning
• Process, Problems, and Practices
• Research: Designs, Methods, and Findings
• Teaching and Learning Practice

For More Information and to Register

About Contact North | Contact Nord

As Ontario's community-based bilingual distance education and training network, Contact North | Contact Nord helps underserved residents in 1,300 small, rural, remote, Indigenous and Francophone communities access education and training without leaving their communities.

Visit contactnorth.ca for more information

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