Through Every Learner Everywhere (a network of twelve partner associations focused on improving student outcomes for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, poverty-affected, and first generation students), we’ve collectively determined that through intentional collaborations, we must identify and operationalize critical support initiatives for equity within digital learning environments. The OLC Ideate format, which consists of a series of provocations, discussions and hands-on activities, emerges as a way to bring together thought leaders, practitioners, and scholars around how we might amplify effective practices for digital learning equity.

Over the course of five days (December 7-11), the OLC (in partnership with Every Learner Everywhere) will hold a series of open salons (a casual and inclusive space with discussions organized and facilitated by a salon leader) that offered educators of all levels the opportunity to listen to emerging ideas and effective practices from their peers.  These casual discussions are designed to specifically encourage reflection, co-creation, and synthesis, with connections to future OLC events for further collaboration.

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Overview

How It Works

Schedule

Register

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Overview 

The Online Learning Consortium constantly strives to create new points of engagement amongst educators across the field of online, digital and blended learning. The OLC Ideate format was born of the opportunity to engage our diverse and robust community of educators in conversations and collaboration around best practices for ensuring quality in online teaching and learning. This particular Ideate event brings together the work of countless educators in our field who are exploring key questions around diversity, equity and inclusion within digital learning environments. Through five days of both live and asynchronous activities, this event seeks to answer the following driving question:

How might we create infrastructure, resources and support to ensure that our digital learning environments are equitable and inclusive of ALL learners?

OLC Ideate makes its goal to both surface and model effective online engagement to educators, designers, practitioners and leaders of all levels and arenas.  Moving past the notion of a passive, “sit-and-get” online experience, each salon will focus on inspiring participants to leverage the power of online and digital learning with the goal of extending impact and access to education.  The OLC wants to support educators in creating a landscape where institutions are able to serve their learners without obstacles or disruption, particularly in this time of increased conversations of emergency preparedness and instructional continuity.  Our hope that in bringing people together for these salons, the effective practices and methods shared will serve as a model of what is possible in terms of collaborative and constructivist engagement in the online learning environment, staying with educators well beyond times of crisis.

Additionally, the connections made in each salon will become a springboard to the larger conversations and collaborations held in a connected OLC Ideate event in Spring 2021, and we invite you to join us there as an attendee, fueling the fire of the ideas sparked in the salon discussions.

We invite you to learn more about OLC Ideate as well as the work of Every Learner Everywhere.

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How It Works

This OLC Ideate event borrow from the same structure as the previous two events held on Effective Methods for Online Teaching and Labs for Online STEM. Each salon is structured as a working session that requires each salon leader to consider how they might balance the following elements in forty-five (45) minutes:

• A brief explanation or provocation that ends with a challenge or driving question
• A series of activities to engage participants in reflection and collaboration
• A synthesis of the collaborative work of the group with a closure or call to action
• The production of some sort of new idea, resource or artifact to be shared out after the salon

Part lightning talk and part collaborative session, each salon is structured to be highly interactive and participatory.  Salon leaders will guide participants through discussions on topics related to a series of themes that are anchored around a week long design sprint.  

These themes include: 

• Mon Dec 7 – Orientation: Mapping the Landscape of Digital Learning and Our Work Together at OLC Ideate
• Tue Dec 8 – Inspiration: Surfacing Where We’re Collectively At
• Wed Dec 9 – Ideation: Charting a Path for Where We Want to Go
• Thu Dec 10 – Implementation: Determining Our Needs for Meeting Our Outcomes
• Fri Dec 11 – Operationalization: Identifying the Concrete Steps and Collaborations Required Moving Forward

Over the course of five days, OLC Ideate will collaboratively generate a charter for ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion within digital learning environments, connecting to a follow-up event in Spring 2021. Participants will leave with new connections to advocates and allies in this area, as well as resources that institutions and associations can use to improve access and impact of education for all learners.

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General Schedule

OLC Ideate will take place from Dec 7-11, 2020 with Monday and Friday primarily consisting of self-paced asynchronous salons, and Tuesday-Thursday for live salons and social saloons. All blue shaded sessions are live salons taking place in Zoom.

Upon registering for this free event, you will be sent instructions to access the online portal for all of the sessions, including the links to enter the Zoom room, as well as full session descriptions and speaker bios.

	Mon Dec 7 Orientation	Tue Dec 8 Inspiration	Wed Dec 9 Ideation	Thu Dec 10 Implementation	Fri Dec 11 Operationalization
9:00-9:45am ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Official Welcome Kim Cliett Long, Kate Jordahl, Jennifer Mathes, Maddie Shellgren, and Angela Gunder	Official Welcome Kim Cliett Long, Kate Jordahl, Jessica Williams, Maddie Shellgren, and Angela Gunder	Official Welcome Kim Cliett Long, Kate Jordahl, Jennifer Mathes, Maddie Shellgren, and Angela Gunder	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
10:00-10:45am ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Trauma-Aware Teaching Karen Costa	Self-Care, Vulnerability, and Online Communities in Personal and Professional Practice Carly M. Lesoski	Strategies for Equitable Engagement in Online Classes Tazin Daniels	Closing Event Maddie Shellgren and Angela Gunder
11:00-11:45am ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Addressing DEI Issues in STEM Education Through Environmental and Climate Justice Elaine Villanueva Bernal	Danger: Digital Destitution Ahead! Francine Alkisswani	Developing a Focus on the Complexities of Hidden Meanings and Underlying Values Ariel Jagusztyn	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
12:00-12:45pm ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflecting on our Equity Journey Janue Johnson	Centering Identity as a Cognitive Tool: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Strategies in an Equitable Digital Learning Environment Susan Adams and Ruanda Garth-McCullough	Determining Our Needs for Meeting Our Outcomes: Effective Practices and Tools Angela Gunder and Maddie Shellgren	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
1:00-2:00pm ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
2:00-2:45pm ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Maslow Before Bloom Applied: How Application of Maslow Before Bloom Strengthens Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Digital Learning Angela Gibson and Madison Hanson	Moving Beyond Diversity and Inclusion to Equity and Justice Jeanine L. Williams	The Story is the Impact: Amplifying the Humanity of Technology Samantha Adams Becker	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
3:00-3:45pm ET	Opening Kickoff and A Very Happy Happy Hour Maddie Shellgren, Angela Gunder, and Tanya Joosten	Leveraging Sociocultural Knowledge to Humanize Online Learning Experiences Cherise McBride	From Reactive Support to Structural Change: Lessons from a Student Perspective Jessica Lemond	Small Steps for Big Impact: Developing an Ecosystem for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Sherri Restauri and Roxanne Russell	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
4:00-4:45pm ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Beyond Design Thinking: New Tools to Redesign Learning for Racial Justice and Equity Jennifer Nichols	Charting a Path for Where We Want to Go: A Process for Planning Change Angela Gunder and Maddie Shellgren	Connecting with Purpose: Proven Techniques for Strengthening Inclusivity Gerry Hanley, Brett Christie, and Carrie O’Donnell	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities
5:00-5:45pm ET	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities	Evening Social: Building Community, Taskmaster Style Maddie Shellgren and Angela Gunder	Evening Social: Draw This and Describe That! A Team-Based Digital Drawing Game Jessica Lemond, Maddie Shellgren, and Angela Gunder	Evening Social: Escape Room Fun! Our Stories Will Save Us Maddie Shellgren and Angela Gunder	Asynchronous: Self-Paced Activities

 

Live Session Types

We have three distinct ways for participants to connect during OLC Ideate:

 

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More Information

We’re delighted to be able to extend the OLC’s suite of offerings to include this new opportunity to deeply engage with your colleagues in a series of salons.  If you have any questions or would like to share comments or ideas on how we might make this event as impactful as possible, please reach out. We welcome your suggestions, and cannot wait to see you at the salons!

More OLC Ideate Info

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