Free Contact North | Contact Nord Webinar

How to Reach (Almost) All Learners with Universal Design for Learning

Thursday, August 25, 2022

2 – 3pm (Eastern Time)

Register Now!

As technology-mediated learning becomes part of the new normal across college and university curricula, it’s important to interact with students in a way that supports their continued learning, shows compassion and flexibility for varied circumstances, and fits within existing time and prep demands.

In this webinar, our host, Dr. Thomas J. Tobin, Teaching, Learning, & Technology Specialist II at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shares low-effort “do-them-right-now” design techniques that reduce student anxiety and pressure, reduce your instructor colleagues’ frustrations (and your own), and allow you to focus on engaging student interactions, especially for those living in small, rural, remote and Indigenous communities. 

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. Learn how to:

• Use PowerPoint as a virtual background  
• Use breakout rooms
• Create exit surveys 
• Create advanced polls and quizzes
• Use persistent whiteboards

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

Online Learning Post-COVID-19:
Five Possible Realities

As most of the pandemic restrictions are removed and we learn to live with COVID-19 as an endemic virus, what happens to higher education?

Contact North | Contact Nord examines the higher education landscape and identifies five possibilities that emerge for the future:

1. Back to before
2. Blend to learn
3. Hybrid times
4. Online is the new normal
5. Mix and match

To find out more, read: Online Learning Post-COVID-19: Five Possible Realities

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

In this blog post, Contact North I Contact Nord Research Associate Dr. Bates revisits a previous blog post, So you want to be an educational technologist…, and adds to this commentary with current information on how to get into the field of corporate training.

Read Dr. Bates’ post: 

Getting into the online learning industry

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, Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Executive Director Dr. Mark Nichols chats with Dr. George Veletsianos, professor in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. George talks about his history and research in online education, and his ongoing challenges to the false dichotomy of online and in-person learning.

This Week’s Must-Read Book
on Online Learning

Design for Learning: Principles, Processes and Praxis

By Jason K. McDonald and Richard E. West (2021)

Designing learning experiences informed by the instructional objectives for a course is a challenge. This big book (432 pages) is a treasure trove of resources for those new to this work. Using a practice framework (understand, explore, create, evaluate) and many case studies and examples, it outlines what it takes to design, deploy and deliver an effective course. Immensely practical but evidence-informed, this book is a must-read for anyone starting their journey in instructional design. It is also a valuable reference resource for new instructors asked to create a new course, whether online or blended.

Browse all Must-Read Books

Contact North | Contact Nord’s Directory
of 75+ Ontario EdTech Companies

Ontario is a major hub in the fast-growing EdTech market, with more than 75 established and recent start-ups in educational technology and corporate training.

With this searchable directory, Contact North | Contact Nord provides colleges, universities, training providers and investors from the around the world with information on how to find the latest products and services from Ontario-based EdTech companies. Their products and services often lead to improved learning experiences.

Explore the directory

Upcoming Events in Online Learning

European Association of Distance Teaching Universities
(EADTU)

Innovating Higher Education Conference (I·HE2022)

October 19 to 21, 2022

Hosted by Hellenic Open University, Athens, Greece

The Innovating Higher Education (I-HE) conference focuses on trends and high-impact factors in global and European higher education. This year’s theme is: Digital Reset: European Universities Transforming for a Changing World

Topics include:

• Blended education
• Online and distance education
• Synchronous hybrid education l
• Student readiness and student support
• Diversity & inclusion in open and online education
• Micro-credentials for continuous education
• European university networks, internationalization and virtual mobility
• Internationalization and virtual mobility
• Quality assurance in blended and online education
• Artificial intelligence in teaching and learning
• Staff support services in online and distance education
• Open education and MOOCs, European MOOC Consortium
• Online assessment
• Recognition and qualification of micro-credentials, short learning programs and MOOCs
• Access to online, open and distance education for refugees
• Changing the educational landscape: Towards resilient European universities
• OER and sharing content
• Digital courses in 21st century skills

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

Most Popular Resources on teachonline.ca

1. A New Pedagogy Is Emerging… and Online Learning Is a Key Contributing Factor 
2. Searchable Directory of 1,900+ Upcoming Education and Technology Conferences From Around the World 
3. COVID-19 and the Impact on Online Learning
4. Ten Facts You Need to Know About Micro-Credentials
5. Ten Guiding Principles for the Use of Technology in Learning