The Online Learning Consortium Invites You to Submit 

In light of the ongoing difficulties with the COVID-19 pandemic, and understanding the uncertainties and challenges institutions are currently facing, we are relaunching our Call for Presentations for our fall OLC Accelerate 2020 conference with flexible presentation options that accommodate both onsite and virtual participation.

We invite you to submit a proposal for Accelerate 2020 – 20/20 Vision:  Envisioning the Future of Online, Blended and Digital Learning.  New for 2020, OLC is pleased to announce that presenters will have a choice to present onsite in Orlando, or in a virtual presenter to virtual audience format.  Additionally, we have moved Discovery Sessions to a completely virtual format in order to accommodate for social distancing needs in this presentation format.  OLC has also added a new and exciting session type, Lightning Talks, that allow presenters to share big ideas in a compressed time frame.

The OLC Program Committee seeks proposals that reflect and showcase our vibrant community of practice — promoting theory, research, methodology and/or applied effective practices in online, blended, and web-enhanced teaching and learning. Both research and evidence-based proposals are encouraged for submission.  

Timeline of Important Dates: 

  • Proposals due by 11:59pm ET Monday, June 1, 2020 (extended from Wednesday, May 20)
  • Notification of acceptance by July 20, 2020 (moved up from July 27)
  • Deadline for presenters to accept is August 3, 2020
  • Schedule to be posted by August 12, 2020 (scheduling adjusted to occur after claiming)
  • Deadline for presenters to register is September 23, 2020
  • Final date for presenters to edit abstracts is September 23, 2020
  • Final presentation upload date is Monday, November 2, 2020

Notifications are sent to all presenters listed on each submission. All submissions are sent notification emails, regardless of acceptance status. Please be sure to “whitelist” emails from the @onlinelearning-c.org domain. If you do not receive a notification email by July 23, please contact us at conference@onlinelearning-c.org.

For presenters submitting for onsite presentations, while the registration timelines remain, please know that if there is a government shutdown of large group gatherings this fall, the online program will be converted and added to the all-virtual program, with refund or credit (your choice) of the registration fee difference between onsite (Full Access Pass) and virtual (Full Virtual Pass).  In this case, the presenter will also be allowed to fully cancel their registration for refund or credit should they choose not to participate in the all-virtual program.  Our goal:  to give you the confidence to submit your proposal to present and register for the conference, without the financial worry should the program change due to circumstances beyond our control.  We are excited about the fall conference and meeting again, whether it is onsite in Orlando or online in the virtual program!

Essential Information

Be sure to read through all of the information before you submit your proposal.  Ensuring alignment with submission requirements and guidelines will positively affect the quality of your proposal.

  • Align submission to the session type as shown on the Session Types and Details page. Be sure to align your abstract with any special requirements outlined in the session type requirements. 
  • Also pay close attention to the Selection Criteria located on this page. Presentations are selected according to ratings in five major categories:
    • Relevance to the conference
    • Clarity
    • Audience Appeal
    • Interactivity (Active Engagement)
    • Alignment to Session Specific Criteria

* Presenters should include active engagement methodology during presentations to encourage audience/participants to ask questions

  • Review the Track Descriptions to ensure your proposal aligns with the correct conference track.  We have updated a number of the tracks for Accelerate 2020, so you will want to carefully review the track descriptions and keywords before you ensure you submit your proposal to the correct track.
  • Review the Submission Checklist for proposal components, requirements and helpful tips.
  • Review the Presenter FAQs.
  • Note that each individual is limited to no more than three (3) submissions, including the roles of presenter, co-presenter, panelist, or workshop facilitator.

 

Step 1: Login or Create an OLC user account. You need to be logged in to your OLC user account in order to submit a proposal. Once you have logged in to your OLC user account, select “Conference Profile” from the left-hand sidebar menu. You will be directed to the OLC Conference Management System to submit your proposal and update your conference profile. 
OLC Profile_Conference Profile Link

Step 2: Ask Co-presenters Ensure Their OLC Conference Profile is Complete. All additional co-presenters also need to have OLC conference user accounts and should be added to the proposal at the time of submission. Please keep in mind that once you have registered or submitted a paper, all conference-related information can be found here at the OLC Accelerate 2020 website.

Step 3. Navigate to the Conference Management System. Proceed to the conference management system, you will be able to submit a proposal by clicking on “OLC Accelerate 2020” in the top menu navigation within the CMS.

Step 4: Select the Correct Conference.  Select “OLC Accelerate 2020 > Submit Proposal” to begin.  

Step 5: Submit Your Proposal. Fill out the submission form.

Step 6: Fill out/Update Your OLC Conference Profile. When submitting, please include as much information as possible in your OLC conference profile, including your biography, a profile picture, and most current contact information. (*Note: Your conference profile is housed in the conference management system and is separate from your OLC user profile at this time.) 

Step 7: Click “Save” to submit the submission form. Clicking save submits your proposal. Note: You may edit your proposal up until the submission deadline, after which all submissions are considered final.