Leadership Network Summit - Part 1: Institutional Roles in Upskilling the Workforce

Concurrent Session 1
Streamed Session Leadership OLC Session

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Brief Abstract

From upskilling to workforce partnership solutions, opportunities are ever expanding to meet the needs of the next generation of the workforce. Learn about partnerships, non-profit initiatives in this area, and what it means for institutions that want to explore this focus area. This discussion will carry over on site in October.

 

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Jill Buban, EdAssist Solutions

Co-presenter: Luke Dowden, Alamo Community College District

Dr. Luke Dowden joined the Alamo Colleges District as its Chief Online Learning Officer and Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs in April 2018. Through Alamo Colleges Online, he will lead and support capacity building initiatives at all five Colleges so each may gain a greater market share of online learners in their respective service areas. Prior to joining Alamo Colleges Online, Dr. Dowden founded the Office of Distance Learning at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2010 and served as its Director for 8 years. Under Dowden's leadership, the Office of Distance Learning earned the 2013 Online Learning Consortium Award for Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Teaching. Dowden was honored in 2014 as the inaugural recipient of the Online Learning Consortium Bruce N. Chaloux Award for Early Career Excellence in Online Education. Aside from creating and implementing the university's ULearn faculty professional development for online teaching program, significant achievements under Dowden's leadership include the creation of an electronic course design and certification process, facilitating the development and delivery of 13 new online degree programs, and creation of a suite of instructional technology tools for online course delivery. Prior to joining UL Lafayette, Dowden founded the Division of Accelerated Learning at Bossier Parish Community College. He led creation of 6 online, accelerated degree programs with wrap-around student support services. During this time, the Louisiana Board of Regents tabbed him to found the Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana. As Executive Director of CALL from 2008-2013, he worked primarily with 6 community colleges and regional universities to create and launch over 18 accelerated online degree programs, introduce prior learning assessment policies and strategies, and coordinate marketing the programs statewide to the over 500,000 adults with some college and no degree. He is a past Steering Committee and Executive Council Chair for the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). WCET is the leader in the practice, policy, & advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. Dowden earned a bachelor's in History and a master's degrees in Adult Education from Northwestern State University before earning his Doctorate of Education in higher education administration in 2009 (Nova Southeastern University) He is a 2010 Graduate of the Penn State and Online Learning Consortium Institute for Emerging Leaders in Online Learning (IELOL). He also is a member of the graduate faculty in the College of Education at UL Lafayette.

Co-presenter: Michael Torrence, Motlow State Community College

Michael Torrence, Ph.D. serves as the President of Motlow State Community College. The college has campuses in Smyrna, Tullahoma, McMinnville and Fayetteville, Tennessee. President Torrence has spent his career embracing the use of technological literacy as a platform to increase student engagement and success. He has served in roles in support of online, accelerated, and mode neutral learning, engaged with TNeCampus and as a Tennessee Board of Regents statewide team leader for the integration of Emerging Technology and Mobilization in the areas of Gaming, VR, AR, and MR into teaching and learning. He has trained faculty, students, executives, and community members and developed immersive curriculum focused on STEAMB (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Aviation, Mathematics, and Business) for all grade levels and utilized these platforms teaching undergraduate and graduate students in his own classes where VR and entrepreneurship have become a norm. Currently, through researching and developing a platform for OER through support of Hewlett-Packard and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he hope to utilize the findings to support workforce development and student success. He earned a doctor of philosophy degree, with a major in exceptional learning, at Tennessee Tech University, and master of arts and bachelor of arts degrees at South Dakota State University, both with a major in English. President Torrence, a veteran, served in the U.S. Air Force.

Extended Abstract

From upskilling to workforce partnership solutions, opportunities are ever expanding to meet the needs of the next generation of the workforce. Learn about partnerships, non-profit initiatives in this area, and what it means for institutions that want to explore this focus area. This discussion will carry over on site in October.

About the Leadership Network Summit

The Leadership Network Summit brings digital leaders from academics, non-profits, and the private sector together to discuss digital education strategy and to grow their network.  We see ever increasing demand for cross-sector collaborations led by digital leaders across an increasingly diverse educational landscape. Join us at this virtual half-day summit for featured panel presentations and discussions focused on workforce education, student services, and institutional innovation. Together we will identify new partnership opportunities and solutions, discuss challenges and strategies for increasing student satisfaction and retention, and learn from top leaders in the academic innovation field on how they’re continuing to move their institutions forward through change and opposition.