WCET is the national leader in the practice, policy, & advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education.
Even before the COVID-19 global pandemic, higher education was struggling to make sense of what David La Piana and Melissa Mendes call a VUCA world in The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution: Real-Time Strategic Planning in a Rapid-Response World. Originally coined by the US military to describe a post-Cold War world, VUCA stands for: Volatile– The world […]
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I have long marveled at how quickly and effectively WCET pivots to support its members when we most need assistance. Remember the announcement of new guidelines that regional accreditors were going to use to evaluate distance education (CRAC-2001)? State authorization enforcement by the Department of Education? WCET helped us navigate around those icebergs. The Coronavirus […]
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I don’t know about you, but the last few weeks (months?) have felt surreal. Not only on a professional level, but on a personal one as well. That uncanny feeling I have about ‘these times’ has continued as our local and state leaders and our federal governments are discussing what it will take to start […]
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Today we provide our second installment of the “What’s Next” stories, featuring the experiences of colleges and universities moving from the initial rapid deployment phase to the next phase of planning for how to deal with the reality of medium-term impacts of COVID-19. Using Russ Poulin’s metaphor, just as we have just finished bailing out […]
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**Update: On 4/2/2020, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it amended the public comment period timeline. The text below has been updated to reflect this update.** The third package has arrived! In the midst of managing rapid conversion of face-to-face courses to online to maintain academic continuity during a pandemic, we received the third […]
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On March 5, 2020, the Department of Education issued guidance to institutions facing possible interruptions of study because of COVID-19. WCET’s Cheryl Dowd, Director of the WCET State Authorization Network, provided an overview of the guidance for WCET Frontiers. As of the morning of March 12th, a growing number of institutions, especially those on the […]
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Last week we welcomed Lynn Wahl, Instructional Designer for UNC Charlotte, to discuss how they used design thinking to create online faculty development workshops. In a continuation of the topic, Lynn joins us today to talk about how to assess a learning opportunity such as the online workshops to ensure they continue to engage attendees […]
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Have you heard of design thinking? This process is a non-linear, iterative process that focuses on understanding users and redefining problems to create innovative solutions and prototype said solutions to make them even better (interaction-design.org). We can use design thinking in a variety of arenas, not the least of which is to design courses. Today’s […]
Read MoreMany of us have an interested in increasing the opportunities for our students to work collaboratively. An excellent way to help facilitate group work is to make sure our learning spaces are conducive to group conversations, work, and study. Many in higher education are also interested in making sure our learning spaces are equipped with […]
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As a new generation of distance education leaders emerges, it is incumbent on all of us to help these future leaders develop their leadership skills. The MarylandOnline consortium has taken great steps to ensure the success of future leaders through its new Leadership Institute. Thank you to Doug Gray and Jessica Young for sharing their […]
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