OLC Advisory Council

Preston Davis, Director of Instructional Services, Northern Virginia Community College

Dr. Davis is responsible for Educational Technology and Online Instructional Services at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). He created and leads NOVA’s award winning Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative and manages the instructional technology training and certification programs. Preston has developed several innovative instructional technology initiatives at NOVA including OER Degree pathways, digital badges for faculty professional development, and the first community college mobile app developed specifically for distance learning students.

Preston has served on the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) Steering Committee, the Open Virginia Advisory Committee (OVAC) of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV), and the Executive Council of Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) where he currently serves as Vice President of Partnerships and Policy. Preston has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Philosophy and Educational Leadership, and he regularly delivers presentations and workshops on 21st Century Teaching and Learning, Instructional Technology and Innovation, Open Education, and Social Justice/Ethics at international conferences including AACC, WCET, OEC, OLC, OpenEd, eLearning, Educause, and Innovations.

Preston holds BS and MA degrees from Old Dominion University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration & Policy from The George Washington University. Preston has served in a variety of positions in higher education including Faculty, Program Manager, Dean, Director and Consultant.

David Dannenberg, Director of Academic Innovations and eLearning, University of Alaska Anchorage

David is the Director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Academic Innovations and eLearning. Reporting to a Senior Vice Provost, he leads UAA’s efforts to innovate teaching through the use of instructional technology. In this role, he oversees the instructional design, eLearning, professional development. online student and ePortfolio Services. David has expanded online student service offerings, established new and innovative professional development pathways, established an ePortfolio initiative, and redesigned the unit’s instructional design and development processes. In 2015, David led UAA’s efforts to write and secure a U.S. Department of Education Title III, Strengthening Institutions grant. The 5-year $2.25mil grant focuses on activities designed to develop an infrastructure to develop, pilot and evaluate distance education services that reflect UAA’s strategic priorities, addresses chronic problems (low graduation rates, retention of minority students, declining enrollment and credit hours), meet the NWCCU accreditation standards, and strengthen UAA’s financial stability.

Formally, David spent 14 years working for The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s leading environmental non-profits. While there, David worked his way through the IT Services team, as a regional information systems manager, technical writer, and training developer. In his last role, he was a Learning Manager responsible for building, managing and growing TNC’s external learning portal (ConservationTraining.org). One of his proudest accomplishments was building a global learning community of 10,000 members working in 200+ countries. David completed his Ph.D. in Instructional Design and Technology from Virginia Tech in 2013, with a research focus on how online technologies enhance K-12 education. Specifically, he is interested in how online virtual worlds are used and leveraged to deliver collaborative learning environments.

His education also includes a Bachelor of Science from Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, and a Masters in Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is also a graduate of the 2014 OLC IELOL (Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning) cohort. David is Co-Executive Editor of The AAEEBL ePortfolio Review and has multiple publications on the use of technology in education. He has presented at regional, international, and online conferences on topics including instructional design, wearable technologies, online/distance education administration, leadership, and management.

OLC Advisory Councils

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