

February 16, 2017 at Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront
Hosted by Academic Sponsor California State University
OLC is going to San Francisco to meet with online learning professionals, educators and administrators to address the opportunities and challenges we all face in online higher education today.
Join your fellow online learning professionals, educators and administrators to hear from the experts and collaborate on solving the challenges we all face in online higher education today. You’ll get the chance to hear from regional experts regarding current and emerging trends in online learning, collaborate and network with your regional peers during group discussions on top-of-mind challenges that may impact the future of online learning – and your career.
*A $25 fee will be charged for all cancelled registrations. There will be no refunds within 1 week of event date. If you are not able to attend, a substitute may attend in your place. The name of the substitute must be emailed to the conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
Not yet a member?
Non-member fee is $175*. You will also receive a free, three-month OLC professional membership (new members only; not applicable for renewals) as a part of your registration so you can get to know OLC and our community better! Details will be emailed post-conference. Lunch is included in registration fee.
We will take a deep look at the challenges and impact of online learning in higher education today and work together to collaborate, define and help shape the changing university.
Presentations will be followed by facilitator-led discussions that will allow participants to delve into each topic in greater detail.
Textbook affordability is one of the most pressing education issues of our time. The 2015 College Textbook Affordability Act (AB 798) provides the California Communities Colleges and the California State University a $3 million opportunity to save their 3 million students money on the cost of the course materials. As more higher learning institutions delve into the textbook affordability landscape, it is becoming more important that there are spaces for sharing insights and best practices for navigating campus and state policies, developing effective program strategies, and utilizing outcomes data to make informed decisions. This conference will offer presentations, templates, online resources, and facilitated planning activities in these areas for participants from any state and institution to learn and adapt for their own textbook affordability programs. Learn more about the work that is happening across California institutions as models that you can apply to your own institution.
General presentations will be followed by facilitator-led breakout sessions that will allow you to delve into each topic in greater detail. Breakout sessions will offer small group discussions between participants from state community colleges and 4 year institutions and privates), between participants in different regions (e.g. rural, suburban, and urban), and between participants at different stages of program planning and execution (e.g. just starting to plan to experienced implementing programs). OLC Collaborate session archivists will document the discussions throughout the day, culminating in a regional response to the changing university. Though especially beneficial to higher education in California, we have designed the conference to benefit any higher education institution.
Dr. Gerry Hanley
Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology Services
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Dr. Gerry Hanley
Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice
Chancellor for Academic Technology Services
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
The California Higher Education system has been leading the way in textbook affordability for years. Join Gerry Hanley as he reviews the legislative and policy landscape in the State of California related to textbook affordability which has enabled large scale programs and millions of dollars in student savings. His presentation will include the California Open Online Library for Education (www.cool4ed.org) community building and collection building services that are freely available, along with the recent AB 798 strategy to support campuses implementing their textbook affordability programs and applying for their next round of state funding in June 2018. The requirements of SB 1359 for campuses to identify the course sections where the course materials have zero cost will also be reviewed. Gerry will be joined by LeBaron Woodyard Ph.D., Dean of Educational Resources and Professional Development at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. LeBaron will highlight the CCC’s Zero-Textbook-Cost-Degree Initiative and how it is helping campuses achieve their textbook affordability goals. Participants will be prepared to discuss their campus-specific plans and how to leverage the free and open educational resources and services as well as bookstore services for their success in the breakout sessions.
Gerard L. Hanley Ph.D. is the Executive Director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) and Assistant Vice Chancellor, Academic Technology Services for the California State University, Office of the Chancellor. At MERLOT, he directs the development, delivery, and sustainability of MERLOT’s organization and services to enhance teaching and learning with academic technologies. At the CSU, Gerry oversees the development and implementation of integrated digital library services and resources, academic technology services, and the accessible technology initiative supporting the CSU’s 23 campuses. Previously held positions in the CSU include Professor of Psychology, Director of Faculty Development and Director of Strategic Planning. He received his BA, MA, and PhD from SUNY at Stony Brook in Psychology.
TJ Bliss, Ph.D.
Program Officer, Education
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
TJ Bliss, Ph.D.
Program Officer, Education
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Open Educational Resources (OER) have become a cornerstone to a wide range of textbook affordability programs across the nation. The Willian and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been on the forefront on the OER movement for almost 15 years and its investments are having significant impact across the nation, especially within higher education’s textbook affordability programs. Join TJ Bliss as he discusses the variety of strategies being used to promote and support OER adoption in higher education across the country as well as research findings on OER awareness and adoption that are being produced by Hewlett-supported projects. OER degrees are providing campuses opportunities to set measurable targets for significantly improving affordability of higher education. Dr. Bliss will provide an overview of the OER degree strategies being deployed across the nation, and in California in particular, and comment on the ever-increasing and critical need to measure the effectiveness of OER/textbook affordability program investments. Participants will be provided exemplary models that can be adopted and adapted on their campuses.
TJ Bliss is a Program Officer in Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He oversees grantmaking to expand the reach and efficacy of Open Educational Resources.
Before joining the foundation, TJ was the director of assessment and accountability at the State Department of Education in Idaho. In this role, he served as the delegate for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a group of states working together to develop a next-generation assessment system to measure student achievement of deeper learning skills.
Previously, he was a member of the Open Education Group, a research team focused on understanding the impacts of OER at all educational levels. He was also an OER Policy Fellow at the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, where he conducted research on state education policies friendly to OER. TJ has a master’s degree in biology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. in educational inquiry, measurement and evaluation from Brigham Young University. He lives in San Jose with his wife and four children.
Dr. Dianne Van Hook
Chancellor
Santa Clarita Community College District
Dr. Dianne Van Hook
Chancellor
Santa Clarita Community College District
College of the Canyons has moved OER from an idealistic discussion to concrete actions that benefit students and increase faculty collaboration. Over 40 courses use OER in lieu of commercial textbooks, saving students $1.5 million per year. Both the Academic Senate and Student Government have unanimously endorsed the use of OER. In August 2017, the College will launch an OER pathway in Sociology; by December 2017, the College will complete development of a CTE certificate in Water Technology. An overwhelming percentage of students who use OER in their classes report being very satisfied with OER. Dr Van Hook will describe how the College’s culture of innovation has enabled its OER initiative to be embraced across the institution in ways that make a concrete difference for students. In addition, Dr. Van Hook will make the case that OER should be seen as integral parts of student affordability, completion and equity initiatives.
As California’s longest serving community college chief executive officer marking 25 years of service in 2013, College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne Van Hook has established a reputation for innovation and collaboration during her four-decade career as a higher education leader in California. Her leadership centers on making dreams a reality—removing barriers and building opportunities. When she first learned about Open Education, she recognized it as a social justice imperative, which would enable community colleges to bring their promise of open access closer to reality. She passionately and concretely supports OER by embedding it within College of the Canyons’ culture of innovation. She has awarded a faculty sabbatical devoted to authoring OER, has dedicated innovation funding to professional development around OER, and identified development of an OER degree pathway as a College goal. Perhaps most importantly, she states clearly that removing the barrier of textbook costs is a key to providing access, enhancing equity, and increasing completion for real people.
Kathleen Ives
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Online Learning Consortium
Kathleen Ives, D.M.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
Online Learning Consortium
Gerry Hanley
Executive Director of MERLOT and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology Services
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
TJ Bliss
Program Officer, Education
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Dianne Van Hook
Chancellor
Santa Clarita Community College District
Moderated by Kathleen Ives, OLC Executive Director and CEO, participants from the discussion sessions will be selected to share their ideas, plans, and predictions of the effects of the textbook affordability initiatives on different stakeholder groups (e.g. students, faculty, and staff) and campus operations (e.g. bookstores, libraries, learning management systems, business relationships with publishers, etc.). The General Session presenters will comment on the presentations as well. The panel will be open to questions from the audience concerning the plans and expected impacts of AB 798 on the California Community Colleges and the Cal State University.
Kathleen S. Ives, D.M. has worked in online technology for over 20 years and is currently the Online Learning Consortium’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director where she oversees the organization’s strategic direction. Dr. Ives assumes this leadership role after serving as interim CEO and Executive Director since October 2013. Additionally, she serves as faculty for the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (sponsored by Penn State and OLC) and on the Leadership Advisory Board for the Center for Learning Innovations & Customized Knowledge Solutions (CLICKS).
Formerly, Dr. Ives oversaw all forms of alternative instruction at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA (distance learning, accelerated programming). She serves as adjunct faculty for University of Phoenix, Denver-based American Sentinel University, and Bay State College in Boston.
Dr. Ives began her career at CBS and helped to develop the service that evolved into Prodigy. She then spent fourteen years designing and implementing consumer online information services, first at AT&T and then at Verizon where she spearheaded the development of the nation’s first online Yellow Pages product, now called superpages.com. Dr. Ives has degrees in communication, communication management, and organizational leadership from the University of California at Davis, the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication, and the University of Phoenix-Online, respectively.
Participate in the regional OLC Collaborate discussion on the “Making Textbook Affordability Programs on Your Campus Work” and share in an open dialogue with other colleagues from around the region.
Keynote speakers will offer insightful views of the changing university through short, focused presentations. This will bring together how the use of technologies, the dictate of economic realities, increasing regulatory oversight, the need for constant innovation, and new societal expectations of what colleges can and should be are bringing change to higher education.
Presentations will be followed by facilitator-led discussions to allow participants to delve into each topic in greater detail. OLC Collaborate session archivists will document the discussions throughout the day, culminating in a collaborate regional response to the changing university.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
General Sessions are 30-45 minutes long, followed by a 45 minute Breakout Session.
Attendees will select one of three Breakout Sessions to attend following each general session.
All sessions are considered BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). There are 15 minute breaks between concurrent sessions.
All sessions are in the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront. All Sessions are in Pacific Time (PT).
Joining us for the day? Come directly to Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront.
Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront, 600 Airport Blvd., Burlingame CA 94010
Staying the night or for the CSU meeting?
Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront
Rooms for OLC Collaborate attendees are available at the special attendee rate of $199+/night.
The California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 47,000 faculty and staff and more than 460,000 students. Half of the CSU’s students transfer from California Community Colleges. Created in 1960, the mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity, and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 100,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 3 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU at CSU Social Media.
To find out more about CSU, visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
To find out more about MERLOT, visit our website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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To find out more about D2L, visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
If you are an education technology or distance learning company, this intimate one-day session will give you the chance to collaborate with educators, administrators, and online learning professionals – your potential clients in discussion forums, at lunch and in our small exhibitor showcase.
To learn more, contact our Manager, Sponsorship Sales, Brenda Weiss-Pesta by email, brenda.pesta@onlinelearning-c.org or by phone, 617.716.1417.
This is the only meeting where we can collaborate with and talk to folks doing the same good work we are in Affordable Learning Solutions.
Laura Sederberg
CSU Chico
The OLC conference was fast-paced and on topic, with the right balance of presentation, break-out sessions, and networking.
Aline Soules
California State University, East Bay