Description: Come hear about Oklahoma higher education’s latest initiative, UpskillOK! In this session, staff from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will discuss a new opportunity available for Oklahoma employers to partner with our colleges and universities to find and develop talent through career-focused credentials. This session will help our partners develop an understanding of micro-credentials and digital badging, including brainstorming on how to leverage this program for your own workforce. Visit us online at https://UpskillOK.org!

Facilitators/Institution: Brad Griffith and Tracey Romano – Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Description: As educators, we are often asked to adapt as new technologies come out and new challenges emerge. It can feel overwhelming to continually change and keep up. This presentation discusses our attitudes toward change and how we can embrace the new while still keeping our course content and objectives intact.

Facilitators/Institution: Laura Dumin (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: COLE’s LMS and Tools Committee is a resource available to institutions throughout the state. The committee regularly engages with technology vendors and collects information from institutions about various tools in use. This committee provides the opportunity for Institutions interested in adopting a tool to collaborate with others, compare various tools, and discuss pros/cons. The committee exists as a resource for Oklahoma institutions!

Facilitators/Institution: Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University), Amanda Keesee (University of Central Oklahoma), and Margot Gregory (Cameron University)

Description: This workshop will provide you with an overview of what H5P is and how it incorporates the Community of inquiry Framework into online learning. Examples of various types of Interactive learning objects that can be created and added to your online course. In addition, a short demonstration of how H5P can be reused and is a wonderful OER tool.

Facilitators/Institution: Lora Pezzell, Nicholas Poss, and Kristen Gregory (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Attendees will learn the best practices that resulted from creating strategic partnerships between organizations and Northeastern State University. Topics include action learning, administrative processes, and differences between traditional students and workforce students.

Facilitators/Institution: Tena Wooldridge and Amanda Evert (Northeastern State University)

Description: Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines (CAST, 2018) as a framework for discussion, this panel will share strategies and best practices for the differentiation of student learning through technology and intentional course design.

Facilitators/Institution: Kyle Vareberg, Sophia Burch, Renee Cambiano, and Kari Henry Hulett (Northeastern State University)

Description: ChatGPT is not something anyone feels comfortable enough with to present on, or even be on a panel for yet, but we do want to talk about it! In a round table format, we discussed what this is, what we need to know, what concerns we have, and how to address those concerns. We may not come up with any solutions in this session, but we can all be part of the conversation!

Facilitators/Institution: Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: In a structured, faculty-designed immersive field experience, graduate nurse education students were embedded in an RN to BSN online course. After the experience, the graduate students felt better prepared as nurse educators, and the undergraduate students received timely, individualized feedback with more hands on deck in the online classroom.

Facilitators/Institution: April Nelson (Northeastern State University)

Description: This presentation includes an overview of our experience with designing, promoting, and scaling Student Success Workshops and micro-credentials at the University of Central Oklahoma College of Business. Participants are invited into our journey of building opportunities for students to engage, learn, and discover who they are as individuals and future professionals through workshops so they can develop life and career-critical competencies.

Facilitators/Institution: Niccole Miller (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Discover how to create short, targeted, high-impact training videos for nearly any type of campus or library software through a collaborative, iterative process that utilizes common computer tools and simple, easy-to-use workflow.

Facilitators/Institution: Simon Ringsmuth (Oklahoma State University)

Description: This session will help you expand your knowledge of the tools available in zoom and how to best implement them in your live sessions with others. Zoom has a variety of tools such as polls, whiteboards with templates, team chat, channels, and more! In addition, you will be introduced to some methods for moderating your zoom meeting as the facilitator and how to avoid screen sharing issues.

Facilitators/Institution: Lora Pezzell (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Utilizing Brookfield’s Four Lenses Model of Critical Reflection (2017), this session focuses on the benefits of critical reflection for developing career-critical competencies and share an authentic assessment tool for evaluating these reflections in the online environment.

Facilitators/Institution: Kari Henry-Hulett, Renee Cambiano, and Kathy Sebold (Northeastern State University)

Description: Creating and grading online discussion boards can be a daunting task. Many students just go through the motions and are not actively engaged with their fellow classmates. This session provides attendees with creative ways to make online discussion boards more engaging for students, and more fun for you to grade!

Facilitators/Institution: Kathleen Boothe (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: Did you know the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education has offered easy-to-apply-for faculty grants for the adoption and use of OER? Come hear how OSU faculty have earned grants for work they were already doing, or work that they were able to easily incorporate into their semester plans.

Facilitators/Institution: Kathy Essmiller and Christina Colquhoun (Oklahoma State University)

Description: Remote work is becoming more common in businesses, nonprofits, and government offices. Yet, little has been written about how to most effectively implement virtual mentorship programs designed to increase employee morale. In this session, discover tips and tricks to maximize your virtual mentorship efforts using relationship management tactics.

Facilitators/Institution: Amanda Evert and Tena Wooldridge (Northeastern State University)

Description: Research data is presented from three of the faculty’s online courses in which preservice teachers were asked to identify online teaching strategies, assignments, and procedures they found particularly useful in helping them learn course material – and which were not.

Facilitators/Institution: Anita Ede (Northeastern State University)

Description: In collaboration with instructors, course-specific library services and tools can be designed for distance students. With more focused information literacy instruction, an embedded librarian is able to empower students to sharpen research skills for more successful results, allowing the instructor to focus on the course subject rather than library skills.

Facilitators/Institution: Jayanna Greenwood (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: To kick off OKLIS 2023, join us to hear about the latest news in Oklahoma online education! First, we will discuss the latest data trends for online learning in the state system of higher education. Then, you will hear updates on the past year of progress from the Online Consortium of Oklahoma (OCO), Council for Online Learning Excellence (COLE), and Oklahoma Quality Matters (OKQM) consortium. During the session, we will also announce the winners of the 2023 Oklahoma Online Excellence Awards!

Facilitators/Institution: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: This round table brings together all types of practitioners to talk about tangible ways we incorporate accessibility into every role, responsibility, and process. This discussion is a space to learn alongside one another as we share accessibility best practices and resources. Bring your experiences, questions, and curiosity!

Facilitators: Cristina Colquhoun and Dr. Kathy Essmiller (Oklahoma State University)

Description: Southeastern’s Center for Instructional Development and Technology has a student led social media team that strives to find ways to reach our online community and help them feel connected to our institution. In this panel, you meet students and staff who serve on this team and hear about the initiatives they have taken.

Facilitators: Christala Smith and Max Hamblin (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: Required peer reviews are challenging! This session describes our experience implementing a peer review process to support those new to online instruction at the pandemic’s beginning. We discuss how the internal review works and why we adopted the process as an annual event for all who teach online.

Facilitators: Jennifer Campbell and Greg Stone (Tulsa Community College)

Description: This session is an overview of what humanized online learning is and how it can help students succeed in college and university courses. Tips are provided for instructional designers and faculty to use in their courses to help make their online offerings have more relevant content that in turn helps to improve student motivation.

Facilitators: Lora Pezzell (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Get started with podcasts! It is a free, simple way to reach people without having to worry about finding time for meetings between classes.

Facilitators: Ally Sharp (Langston University)

Description: Southeastern’s LMS Transition Committee has greatly benefitted from collaboration with faculty, staff, and students at SE as well as colleagues around the state. This presentation demonstrates the power of networking and collaboration in important technology decisions.

Facilitators: Christala Smith, Kate Shannon, Karl Frinkle (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: How do you know if a student is truly ready for an online learning format? Come join a panel of industry experts to learn what higher education institutions are doing in Oklahoma to help ensure students’ success by assessing learners’ readiness

Facilitators: Jeni Maple and Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University), and Amanda Keesee (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: The Oklahoma Teacher Connection (OTC) is a division of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education that focuses on linking resources and transforming education. In this morning session, we will explore adaptive strategies, highlighting seven categories of “lessons learned” during the pandemic years 2020-2022.

Facilitators: Dr. Melissa Brevetti and Dr. Goldie Thompson (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: This presentation discusses proven strategies for building a workable balance between ensuring consistency and standardization throughout an online program while maintaining faculty academic freedom.

Facilitators: Dr. Nancy Gwin (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of creating a sense of community in classroom environments, but this is difficult to do when teaching online. This session will demonstrate successful methods of using simple technologies and teaching practices to create a community of connected, engaged learners in online classes.

Facilitators: Simon Ringsmuth (Oklahoma State University).

Description: Converting an interactive activity from a F2F to an online environment can be a rewarding experience. Using a case from a Victimology course, this presentation explains how the instructor and web developers adapt a domestic violence activity to a simulated experience.

Facilitators: Dr. Jaime L. Burns (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Every semester I ask myself, how do I bring an in-person teaching experience to the online environment? While I get better at it every semester, in this session I focus on the use of videos for humanizing the online experience to communicate about assignments, discussions, expectations, and feedback.

Facilitators: Dr. Niccole L. Miller (University of Central Oklahoma).

Description: This problem-posing workshop presents actionable steps including facilitation, collaboration, and breaking down communication silos to support institutional growth through enhanced workforce development initiatives, micro-credentialing opportunities, and online curricula.

Facilitators: Thomas Horne (Oklahoma City Community College)

Description: This session teaches you how to create an interactive syllabus for your students. The syllabus is an important document in your course and it contains valuable information. When students can find the information they need, they are able to access your online course materials more quickly and thus engage more as a student.

Facilitators: Lora Pezzell (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Brainstorm with colleagues on how to provide opportunities to students to develop lifelong learning competencies. Learn about the lifelong learning competencies identified in research by a 3-year federally funded grant project and how there are many opportunities to develop them with Open Education.

Facilitators: Marla Lobley (East Central University) Kathy Essmiller (Oklahoma State University) Jamie Holmes (Tulsa Community College)

Description: Laura Garrett discusses the most successful methods to enrich Zoom and outlines the pitfalls. These methods allow participation in engaging ways, sometimes more than in a live classroom. Personal engagement creates greater feelings of community and lessens feelings of isolation. More responsive exchanges between students and instructors can prevent miscommunication. There can be advantages for students who have difficulty with many challenges.

Facilitators: Laura Garrett (Tulsa Community College)

Description: Each year, the Learning Innovations Summit kicks off with an update from OK higher ed’s leaders in online learning, including: Council for Online Learning Excellence 2021-2022 Chair, Brett King (University of Central Oklahoma), Online Consortium of Oklahoma 2021-2022 Chair, Joy Bauer (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College), Oklahoma Quality Matters System Coordinator, Dr. Dana Lindon-Burgett (Rose State College), State System Liaison for Online Education, Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education). Chancellor Allison Garrett also made a guest appearance!

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: In this session, the University of Oklahoma’s College of Professional & Continuing Studies Curriculum Services Team address utilizing innovative learning for career preparation. The focus of the presentation is on the design and use of applied simulations, micro-credentialing certifications, and ePortfolios.

Facilitators: Morgan Myers, Michele Haynes, Matthew Mackintosh, and Kara Stanley (University of Oklahoma)

Description: Two most important learning outcomes in STEM courses are critical thinking and problem solving. I talk about course design technique and applied methodology for active learning in online STEM courses. I share ideas to humanize an online STEM course to provide students with engaging classroom experiences.

Facilitators: Susmita Hazra (Cameron University)

Description: Are you hesitant to call on your college students in class? Are you looking for a way to include more students in your synchronous online discussions without embarrassing anyone or causing anxiety? This presentation will help you develop a method for increasing student engagement and participation in your class in a non-intrusive manner. Most college instructors are looking for ways to bring learner-centered pedagogy and high-impact practices into the classroom, especially strategies that prioritize diversity and inclusion. This session will help you to build relationships and trust with your students in a short amount of time, and more students will be actively engaging in classroom discussions. The percentage of students participating in your class will dramatically increase! If you’re looking for a way to move from a traditional lecture format to more of a discussion format, this session is for you!

Facilitators: Tracy Jackson (Tulsa Community College)

Description: Create an area in your online classroom for brain breaks so that students have the option to take a break without leaving the online classroom. Look at a module with links and suggestions so that you can get ideas to create an optional resource module to guide students through a quick breathing exercise, screen break, a stretch, or music for focusing.

Facilitators: Ally Sharp (Langston University)

Description: E-Learning and the science of instruction: proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning.

Facilitators: Lora Pezzell (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: To promote the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Oklahoma, members of COLE’s OER subcommittee have developed two sets of modules – OER: 101 and OER: A Deeper Dive, as well as an open textbook – Open Educational Resources: Basics & Beyond.

The self-paced modules frame the objectives and refer the learner to the textbook, which contains most of the content and includes interactive quizzes to reinforce concepts. Upon completion of each chapter, learners return to the course site, where they can complete an activity to demonstrate deeper understanding and earn a digital badge, which can be used to show competency in this area.

The presentation will introduce the course and textbook, how to gain access, and explain how they work together. The presenters will also share their own process of adapting these OERs from “Texas Learn OER,” an open course produced by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) and licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

Facilitators: Jamie Holmes (Tulsa Community College), Dr. Pamela Louderback (Northeastern State University), Ann Raia (Oklahoma City Community College)

Description: This continued introduction to OPEN OCO Pressbooks will provide an overview of how to find existing Pressbooks, how to import your own existing content into Pressbooks, and how to navigate the dashboard of an existing Pressbooks OER.

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education), Jamie Holmes (Tulsa Community College)

Description: This session will provide an overview of some of the more advanced features of the Pressbooks platform, focusing on its available plugins. Participants will hear about H5P, Hypothesis, LaTeX, MathJax, and TablePress. Best practices will also be provided for ensuring digital accessibility of Pressbooks OER.

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education), Jamie Holmes (Tulsa Community College)

Description: Virtual reality and virtual worlds (VWs) are powerful technologies currently helping to define the digital world. These technologies are characterized by user control, immersion, and sense of presence or “being there.” They have been examined from a variety of theoretical perspectives, technical and user variables, and psychological approaches. The purpose of this study was to extend VW research relating the roles of user age, gender, and technical characteristics such as screen size, directly to the VW-critical features of immersion and perceived presence. This study used a photo-real, on-screen, first-person VW in which users “enter” and “walk through” a VW via mouse navigation, viewing it through their own eyes rather than through an avatar. It used a quasi-experimental design with 35 adult subjects who were tested for perceived immersion and presence in a VW showing a 360-degree city panorama using different screen size treatments. Data were analyzed using mixed methods (e.g., interview comments and responses to questionnaires) to examine relationships among age, gender, immersion, presence, and screen size in the VW. Findings supported conclusions relating to the relevance of age and gender as user variables in VWs and the role of technology characteristics in VWs’ effective use. The study also opened a potential new line of inquiry by raising previously unaddressed questions about the importance of the psychological trait vs. state nature and measurement of immersion and presence in VWs. Implications and recommendations for instructional design and delivery and further research are offered.

Facilitators: Dr. Jon Martens (Analytics Journey, LLC), Dr. Robert Dionne (University of Oklahoma (ret.)), Dr. Ina Agnew (Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology), Dr. Chuck Baukal (John Zink Institute), Dr. Lynna Ausburn (Oklahoma State University), Dr. Floyd Ausburn (Oklahoma State University)

Description: This session will cover the importance of organization, consistency, and communication in supporting online learners’ self-regulation in asynchronous courses.

Facilitators: Dr. Kalianne Neumann (Oklahoma State University)

Description: Grading feedback is only effective in the learning process if it is reviewed and used by the students. For my Composition class, I have re-designed the rubric to contain instructions for a follow up assignment, personalized to what they individually need to work on to improve their writing skills. In this session, I will show the rubric I have made and how it is used in my class. Participant discussion of how this could be improved or how a similar approach might be used for other subjects will be welcome!

Facilitators: Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: In 2020, the K20 Center’s 24th annual Innovative Learning Institute (ILI) was held virtually for the first time. ILI is traditionally focused on sharing best practices and cutting edge technology for teaching and learning for a variety of educators and school types. This year, pandemic restrictions made addressing innovative learning more important than ever. The K20 Center used various online platforms to build and create an online community for ILI, keeping strong the network of educator support and collaboration cultivated through the previous Institutes, but expanding to create an interactive, collaborative and sustainability professional learning experience while aligning ILI with existing K20 Center virtual resources including the online lesson repository, digital educational games, and free online professional development. Despite the challenges of 2020, the K20 Center created a conference that facilitated mentorship, innovation, and shared strategies using the center’s foundational partnerships and resources. The K20 Center set out to do this all while holding the 2020 Innovative Learning Institute 100% virtually.

Facilitators: Dr. Jackie Mania-Singer, Dr. Dawn Pearce, Danny Mattox, Lacy Pennington

Description: Women are often underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professions. Without access to equitable opportunities to explore careers, acquire interdisciplinary contents, and develop the 21st century skills that can further impede women’s abilities to participate in the highly competitive global workforce; and succeed in fast-growing, STEM-related emerging careers (e.g. analytics, data science). This multi-tier STEM Career Builder grant (2018-2021), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aims to discover what partnership models, strategies, and innovations can effectively support female high school teachers and students through the research, development (R&D) and implementation of five multi-tier interventions: (1) teacher professional development (PD), (2) a summer academy, (3) job shadowing, (4) mentoring, and (5) internships, and research fellowships.

Facilitators: Dr. Joselina Cheng, Alexia Benson (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Group work in many college courses is necessary but often difficult due to scheduling, time constraints, and other demands on student schedules. In this session I will demonstrate the procedures and technologies I have implemented in my upper-level Project Management course throughout the 2020-2021 school year that have yielded outstanding results for students. By setting simple guidelines and utilizing some basic frameworks for structure and expectations, group work can be transformed from stressful to successful.

My student feedback about groups includes comments such as “We were all very satisfied with our group and decided to continue with this group going forward.” and “This is probably the best experience I’ve had with a group during my time at OSU.”

Facilitators: Simon Ringsmuth (Oklahoma State University)

Description: Online learning can be very impersonal and distant. In our program, which is totally online, I’ve found a method that allows for professional dialogue among classmates who are taking graduate level courses and who sometimes feel overwhelmed with returning to college in order to complete an advanced degree. This method revolves around spending an extra hour (after class) getting to know my students on a personal level and letting them share about what’s causing them stress. Judging from the emails I’ve received from students, this approach has yielded positive results and has been very rewarding for all involved, including the professor.

Facilitators: Dr. Todd Williams (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: This session will provide an overview of Rogers State University’s offering of concurrent college courses at a distance broadcast through RSU TV.

Facilitators: Royal Aills (Rogers State University)

Description: Get ready! Higher education in Oklahoma is about to reach an entirely new summit through a brand new initiative coming later this spring. This session will help you develop an understanding of micro-credentials and digital badging, including brainstorming of how to apply this opportunity to your own programs and offer students a greater connection to workforce opportunities. You will also hear some hot-off-the-press updates on new system-wide pilot led by the Online Consortium of Oklahoma (OCO) to equip Oklahoma higher ed institutions to develop these exciting and nimble new programs!

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: As an online business communications instructor, my quest every semester is to find more innovative and creative ways to engage students in online learning – how can I bring a face-to-face experience into an online platform? While I continue to learn more and more every semester, I would love to share some of the creative solutions I have drummed up over the last couple of years. Join me for a preview of my business communications course and the technology and resources I am using to breathe LIFE in my online classes!

Facilitators: Dr. Niccole Miller (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: This presentation will look at the foundation of the online course design and look at some of the ideas and steps you can take before actual course design. They are steps in backward design, the basic foundation of online courses such as interactivity, discussion, effective feedback, modules, and navigation. It also presents some ideas for designing online courses based on other’s experiences and findings.

Facilitators: Dr. Abe Soltani (Langston University)

Description: Following best practices and processes in instructional design is key to a quality course. Looking at rural areas where broadband access is limited, download times of images are important to the learning process and supplanting visual ques. When file size of images exceed norms and are detrimental in the download process when broadband is not available. In this session you will learn little tricks of the trade preparing imagery for online course content delivery, sizing, layout, adding accessible tags, etc.

Facilitators: Dr. Gary Dotterer (Rogers State University)

Description: Whether you are an OER champion or just discovering the magic that is open education, we have opportunities to share with you! Join the co-chairs of COLE’s OER subcommittee and OSRHE’s director of online learning to hear how you can get involved. Plan to come away with a plan for how you could embark upon your own journey with OER with the support from your friends throughout the state. We will discuss who in Oklahoma is collaborating on OER, professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, and resources from the Council for Online Learning Excellence (COLE) and Online Consortium of Oklahoma (OCO) available at zero cost!

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education), Dr. Kathy Essmiller (Oklahoma State University), Marla Lobley (East Central University)

Description: In October 2020, the Online Consortium of Oklahoma launched OPEN OCO, a shared instance of PressbooksEDU. This dynamic platform provides 30 initial open textbook project spaces to OCO members, in addition to an option for unlimited access for individual institutions.

During this session, you will gain an understanding of Pressbooks and explore some OER developed using the system. You will also be some of the first in OK higher ed to hear about our upcoming opportunities for project funding.

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: The easier it is for students to access and understand your content,​ the easier it is for students to engage in and learn from your course. Office 365 has tools to help everyone.

Facilitators: Ally Sharp (Langston University)

Description: SEOSU partnered with OneNet to produce approximately 50 VR enabled modules for 12+ faculty in multiple departments at Southeastern. The first few are in the final stages of development. We will share our experience thus far and discuss how others might begin similar projects at their own institutions.

Facilitators: Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University)

Description: Use Microsoft Stream, part of Office 365, to create screen recordings and videos with automatically generated, searchable transcripts. Learn to embed and share the videos.

Facilitators: Ally Sharp (Langston University)

Description: UCO’s IDEA team was task to develop four virtual experiential learning assignments to allow students to virtually experience projects that were previously only possible in person. The assignments focus on allowing students to virtually collaborate to build and restructure essays, receive tangible feedback on persuasive speeches, turn their paper presentation poster into a robust online presentation, and simulate first-hand experience of what it is like to lead a team to climb a dangerous mountain.

What kind of lessons did we learn? How were did we get our faculty involved? What kind Technologies were used and how did we use them? Did all of the students make it up the mountain? Come by and have all of your questions answered.

Facilitators: Robert Wall, Drew Stephenson (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: Marla Lobley is the winner of the 2021 Oklahoma Online Excellence Award for Individual Leadership. This session discusses what elements of an OER initiative at East Central University have worked well and what mistakes have turned into learning opportunities.

Facilitators: Marla Lobley (East Central University)

Description: Online students miss out on the informal interactions which are typical on campus. In a F2F session, students and professors have non-course related talks which relate the professor as a person to the students. Everything from current events to (sometimes awful) jokes are shared. Heightened because of COVID – students need more interactions. Students want more interactions. The human is a social being and the isolation from online classes can be minimized (not eliminated). You can add these to your online course without trying to be a standup comic.

Facilitators: Dr. Marty Ludlum (University of Central Oklahoma)

Description: This session discusses the use of visual rhetoric to increase learning comprehension and engagement in online and hybrid courses. In particular, I will share examples using free graphic design software, such as Piktochart and Canva, to demonstrate how transforming traditional text- only assignment instructions to visual assignment instructions (aka “infographics”) impacts student engagement and understanding. l will also present research on best practices and results of this and similar uses of visual rhetoric on student engagement.

Facilitators: Pamela Rollins (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Description: In March 2020, the First Year Math Team at OU, like many others in higher education, transitioned from in-person to online instruction. Much of the online instruction and tutoring carried over into the fall 2020 semester. In this presentation, I will focus on the team’s efforts to allow meaningful student engagement and rigorous assessments in online environments while trying to take into account the additional stress both instructors and students were encountering. The presentation will cover lessons learned and what we hope to take away from this experience.

Facilitators: Dr. Deborah Moore-Russo (University of Oklahoma)

Description: A demonstration of how Articulate Rise is used to increase learner engagement in self-paced online courses offered by OSU Extension.

Facilitators: Joan York (Oklahoma State University)

Description: Hear annual updates from the Online Consortium of Oklahoma, Council for Online Learning Excellence, and Oklahoma Quality Matters.

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education), Christala Smith (Southeastern Oklahoma State University), Dana Lindon-Burgett (Rose State College)

Hear updates about online education in Oklahoma and meet our online collaboration group leaders. This session features:

Mr. Brad Griffith – OSRHE Director of Online Learning Initiatives
Dr. Gary Dotterer – Chairperson, Council for Online Learning Excellence (COLE)
Ms. Christala Smith – Chairperson, Online Consortium of Oklahoma (OCO)
Dr. Dana Lindon-Burgett – Co-Lead Coordinator, Oklahoma Quality Matters

Description: All hands on deck! With the spread of COVID-19 this spring semester, many institutions have answered the unexpected call to action to continue operations by bringing online education to all students. This session will ask attendees to dig in and explore ways to maintain the quality of online learning and innovation within this record-paced transformation of interactions, environments, strategies, and cultures. During this collaborative session, we will develop a toolkit with resources to help you promote innovation in teaching, course design, program design, and learning culture at your institution.

Facilitators: Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education), Bucky Dodd (University of Central Oklahoma)

Friday, April 10, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: This session will provide attendees a pathway forward for increasing availability of low/no-cost course materials for students within Oklahoma institutions.  Lessons from the field will help you expand your “why” of OER and envision where we can go as a system through harnessing current resources and future opportunities.

Presenter: Kathy Essmiller (Oklahoma State University)

Thursday, April 9, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: AI is the next evolution of big data’s use in education. As more institutions develop their capabilities and architecture to obtain more data on their students, mining this data to better serve the student will become the focus of getting students to completion. Yet, the process to “hire” AI and implement it at scale should be guided by thoughtful conversations from administrators, faculty, students, and staff. While the promise of specific AI technology will be discussed, the leadership required to advance AI enabled strategic change will be a focus of the conversation.

Presenters: Luke Dowden (Alamo Colleges District), Karen Srba (St. Francis University)

Wednesday, April 8, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central

Description: The world is in unprecedented territory. You’re being asked to move your classes online, and seeing enrollment in existing distance education climb. Students are not on campus. How do we make sure that we keep our obligations to students with disabilities in the middle of all of this change? During this session we will discuss how critical it is, especially now, to build accessible educational environments. We will share some tips and guidance and leave you with resources to help.

Presenter: Rob Carr (Oklahoma ABLE Tech)

Wednesday, April 8, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: Each of us has a finite amount of mental bandwidth for all the tasks in our lives. By bandwidth, I’m referring to attentional resources. This isn’t about how smart a person is, but about how much of their cognitive capacity is available for learning. One of the most powerful bandwidth stealers is uncertainty. In this public health crisis, our students – and our instructors – are living in a situation where uncertainty is the only constant. What can we do, within classes and as institutions, to provide environments of certainty for our students so they can recover a bit of bandwidth for learning?

Presenter: Cia Verschelden (Malcolm X College)

Tuesday, April 7, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central

Description: This session will provide an overview of un-grading, a movement in both K-12 and higher ed to put the focus on feedback, not grades. The goal: increase motivation, decrease stress, and advance learning by providing students with actionable feedback instead of number/letter grades.

Presenter: Laura Gibbs (University of Oklahoma)

Tuesday, April 7, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: Best practices to keep students involved and moving through an online course.

Presenter: Akram Taghavi-Burris (University of Tulsa)

Monday, April 6, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: This event will showcase the 2020 Oklahoma Online Excellence Award winners.

Facilitator:  Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Guest Presenters: Jason Stone, Breeman Ainsworth, Dorothy Weaver (OSU-OKC Division of Liberal Arts)

Friday, April 3, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: Learn what skills are critical for online instructors, and how to develop those skills while also motivating online instructors to stay active and engaged in their courses right alongside their students.

Presenter: Simon Ringsmuth (Oklahoma State University

Thursday, April 2, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central

Description: From the humble beginnings of automating a paper statistics report to predictive analytics, the KPI Dashboard (custom built by the IDEA Team at UCO using Blackboard Analytics) has had its share of growing pains as well as triumphs. This session will discuss some of the features (room search, schedule toxicity, enrollment projection, and department and university profiles) and the pitfalls, both hit and avoided, along the way.

Presenter: Liz Crowell (University of Central Oklahoma), Sean Gausman (University of Central Oklahoma)

Wednesday, April 1, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: The U.S. Department of Education is redoing several regulations regarding distance education and educational innovations offered by colleges and universities. This session will explore those that you most need to understand and take your questions.

Presenter:  Russ Poulin, Executive Director (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technology)

Tuesday, March 31, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: This presentation highlights key trends, issues, and updates related to online and blended learning in Oklahoma.

Presenters: Bucky Dodd (University of Central Oklahoma); Dana Lindon-Burgett (Rose State College); Brad Griffith (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Monday, March 30, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Central

Description: This presentation highlights key trends, issues, and updates related to online and blended learning in Oklahoma.

Facilitators: Bucky Dodd (University of Central Oklahoma); Kyle Foster (Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education)

Description: Learners formulate their first impression of a course before they even step inside. In the typical online course, the syllabus can be very telling of what one can expect to learn and experience. It can be follow the standard “terms of contract” approach or it can be designed in a way that grabs attention, engages, and initiates the learner’s interest. This session will present design methods that can be used in the course syllabus to maximize the value of the learner experience.

Facilitators: Tracy Fairless (University of Central Oklahoma), Steve Covello (Granite State College)

Description: Beginning with the end in mind, this workshop will take a look at measurable course objectives and how they provide the foundation for much of the design, including types of learning activities and assessments that are necessary to help learners achieve the desired outcomes. We’ll consider course mapping and module mapping and how participants might share those in their online course designs. The emphasis throughout this session is on alignment.

Facilitators: Dana Lindon-Burgett (Rose State College)

Description: We will take some time to discuss how accessibility in technology spans across traditional higher education silos and some of the people that are key to moving accessibility from a project or add-on to a sustainable program.

Facilitators: Rob Carr (Oklahoma ABLE Tech)

Description: This presentation takes a look at the new Oklahoma Learner Readiness Tool and how the tool can assist first time online students. The tool covers areas such as organizational skills, time management, learning preferences, and more. In many cases students are overwhelmed with self-directed learning. This tool will help first time online students to be successful in online courses.

Facilitators: Gary Dotterer (Rogers State University)

Description: If you have never taught online, recently began teaching online, or would just like a refresher, consider joining us for this 2 hour session focused on helping educators begin their online teaching journey. The session will be interactive and include several examples. Some of the topics that will be covered are: • Faculty readiness • Needed technical skills and how to strengthen those skills • Creating an online community • Re-thinking the instructor’s role in an online class • Ideas to help student’s start strong in an online class • Examples of consistent organization & navigation

Facilitators: Randy Dominguez (Tulsa Community College), Dana Lindon-Burgett (Rose State College)

Description: This presentation will focus on experiences gained through implementation of the OpenStax OER in a community college science course. Tools that have assisted with this implantation will also be presented and discussed.

Facilitators: Amanda Carlisle (Beaufort County Community College)

Description: Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality are powerful and fundamentally different from existing communication mediums. Ken Parker will explain them and how can you potentially use them for education.

Facilitators: Ken Parker (Next Thought)

Welcome to the 2019 Oklahoma Learning Innovations Summit! 

Next week we kick off the 2019 Oklahoma Learning Innovations Summit. Here’s what is coming up!

Wednesday we gathered for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to honor a group of individuals who demonstrate excellence in online learning across Oklahoma. The 2018 Online Education Excellence Awardees are the pillars of leadership, innovation, teaching, and teamwork in our state. Below is a summary of each awardee.

Description: This session will be an interactive exchange of ideas and effective practices from expert online educators across Oklahoma. Topics will include online teaching and course design practices as well as questions from the audience.

Facilitators: Bucky Dodd, moderator (UCO); Maria Christian (NSU); Randy Dominguez (TCC); Gary Dotterer (RSU); Brett King (UCO); Stacy Southerland (UCO)

Description: This session will be a discussion of the characteristics of online learners and tips and strategies for supporting them as they prepare to enter the world of online learning. Please come join the conversation as we discuss ways to prepare students to enter the world of online learning.

Facilitators: Glenne’ Whisenhunt (OCCC)

Description: Identifying barriers to accessibility may not be as difficult as you think. There are tools and techniques that you can use, for free, to test your web and non-web content for accessibility. Join Steph Rogers from the University of Central Oklahoma and Rob Carr from Oklahoma ABLE Tech to learn some of the basics of testing websites, PDF and Microsoft Office content for accessibility.

Facilitators: Steph Rogers (UCO); Rob Carr (Oklahoma ABLE Tech, OSU)

Description: Open licensing, open access journals and open educational resources provide the foundation for a world in which universal access to education is possible. Governments are supporting this shift with a move toward open policies: requiring public access to publicly funded resources. Dr. Cable Green, Director of Open Education at Creative Commons, will provide an overview of open licensing and OER, and discuss specific examples where faculty, institutions and governments have moved the default on practice, culture and funding from “closed” to “open.”

Facilitators: Cable Green (Creative Commons)

Welcome to week 2 of the Oklahoma Learning Innovations Summit.

Here are some exciting events happening this week!  

Description: When developing an online course, there are different third-party programs and software that can be used to help enhance the students experience. The University of Oklahoma’s College of Professional and Continuing Studies will discuss and demonstrate the following products: SoftChalk, Salas, GoAnimate, Google Drive, and others.

Facilitators: John Boekenoogen (OU)

Description: This session is a virtual panel discussion on lessons learned from administration, faculty, and Instructional Design perspectives for those who are just beginning to teach online. Issues addressed will include training needed, course design considerations, managing an online course, and communication tips. Join us for a panel presentation and then open discussion on how to get started with teaching online.”

Facilitators: Randy Dominguez (Tulsa Community College)

I hope you are enjoying the 2018 Oklahoma Learning Innovations Summit!

I want to provide a few updates and information related to the summit.