The OLC Field Guide program is designed to enhance the conference experience for first-time conference attendees and provide opportunities for anyone who is looking for additional OLC conference networking opportunities.
Engagement Maps | Power Hours
Join the Discussions | First Time Attendee FAQ
New to OLC Accelerate? Interested in connecting with others to discuss particular topics like instructional design, blended learning, faculty development, emerging technologies or digital literacy before, during, and after the conference?
The OLC Field Guide Program is designed to enhance the conference experience for first-time conference attendees and anyone looking for additional networking opportunities at OLC conferences.
Join our volunteer Field Guides for the Field Guide Power Hours where they will help you plan your conference experiences based on your areas of interest. The Power Hours are also a great opportunity to ask any additional questions you may have about participating in the conference. Throughout the conference in November, our Field Guides will also be available through chat discussions to help answer your questions to help you navigate the conference venues and resources.
Engagement Maps are curated conference guides centered around a popular theme or movement in the world of online, blended, and digital learning. These guides, crafted by seasoned conference volunteers, can help you decide how to best navigate the conference. Engagement maps are designed to help you plan your conference experience based on your areas of interest.
| Red | #TEACH | Online Teaching and the Faculty Experience | |
| Navy | #ID | Instructional Designers | |
| Light Pink | #OPEN | OER and OCW | |
| Burgundy | #TRAIN | Faculty and Staff Development | |
| Yellow | #LEARN | Online Learning and the Student Experience | |
| Hot Pink | #BLEND | Hybrid, Flipped, & Blended | |
| Turquoise | #SVCS | Student Services | |
| Beige | #DATA | Data, Analytics, & Research | |
| Light Gray | #GEEK | EdTech Geeks | |
| Kelly Green | #LEAD | Administrators & Emerging Leaders | |
| Lime Green | #E&I | Equity & Inclusion | |
| Royal | #UDL | Accessibility & Universal Design | |
| Purple | #CC2 | Community and Two Year Colleges | |
| Blue | #C19 | COVID-19 & Remote Transitions |
Navigating a new conference space can be challenging, especially when the conference is virtual! The OLC Accelerate Field Guides are here to provide short, asynchronous conference tour videos of important Engagement Spaces. Watch these videos to learn more about the space, meet the volunteers, and get comfortable with navigation!
Note: All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time Zone
Questions? Contact us at conference@onlinelearning-c.org.
| 8:00am - 9:00am |
Hosts: Dorothy Loftin & Romana Hughes |
Come join other conference attendees and create an OLC Accelerate game plan. During this power hour, you’ll have the chance to organize your conference schedule and select presentations and activities you want to attend. The OLC Field Guides will be there to suggest interesting presentations and activities, train you on the use of the OLC site/mobile app, and pass out Engagement Maps. We’ll also discuss ways to participate virtually–including Slack and Twitter! Meet up with old friends, make new acquaintances, plan your schedule. We can’t wait to see you there! |
| 1:00pm - 1:45pm |
Hosts: Dorothy Loftin & Romana Hughes |
Come join other conference attendees and create an OLC Accelerate game plan. During this power hour, you’ll have the chance to organize your conference schedule and select presentations and activities you want to attend. The OLC Field Guides will be there to suggest interesting presentations and activities, train you on the use of the OLC site/mobile app, and pass out Engagement Maps. We’ll also discuss ways to participate virtually–including Slack and Twitter! Meet up with old friends, make new acquaintances, plan your schedule. We can’t wait to see you there! |
Sponsored by
The field guide program made it so much easier for a first time attendee to navigate the conference and network with others. I had a lot of fun at the conference. Thank you so much!
Justina Or, Grand Canyon University
I initially took a chance on becoming an OLC Field Guide because I felt that it would be a good way to get to know a wider group of attendees, and to give back to a community that I value greatly. I appreciate the fact that the OLC offers all of us in the online education space two opportunities each year to see how the environment is evolving, and being able to offer my time to help others have a great experience is rewarding.
Andrew Rourke, DigitalEd
I really appreciate all of the things the Field Guides have done to help us newbies. If I get approved to go to an OLC conference in the future, I definitely will engage in these activities again.
Katie Bush, Rochester Institute of Technology
Please meet up with us on Slack! Slack is a “Team Communication Platform” (TCP), basically a chat client, but more expansive, since you can join “channels” or groups about various topics of interest, rather than just chat one-to-one. Slack can be used via a web browser, or as its own application on desktops, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. For the uninitiated, please watch a short video demonstrating what Slack can do.
We have set up a Slack team to be used before, during, and after #OLCInnovate. We highly recommend you download the Slack applications for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, etc.
Join the OLC ACCELERATE Slack Team
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Once you have set up your account login/password, you can visit https://olcaccelerate.slack.com to sign in with your new credentials on any of your devices. (Please note that you will need to sign in to the team separately on every device on which you use Slack. So, if you sign in on a phone, that doesn’t mean you’ll also be signed up when you open up the application on your desktop. You’ll need to add the team (olcaccelerate.slack.com) on each device, and sign in on that device to get started.) Once you have signed in, you’ll see a few default channels you have been added to. To see what other channels are available to join, click the “Channels” link in the left navigation to browse all channels. (Channel names may not exactly match what you see in this image.) You’ll find a list of channels you can join, channels you belong to, and the number of participants in each channel. You can join as many channels as interest you – and you can always leave and re-join channels later based on your needs. You can also configure different types of notifications for each channel so that you aren’t constantly inundated with notifications. Here are a few of the default channels and how they might be used:
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You’ll also find channels for various personas or special interests in order to connect with like-minded folks, share ideas, and informally network (keep in mind some of these may be sparsely populated until we get close to the conference): Specific channels have been created for things like Instructional Design Summit, OLC Leadership Network, OLC Research Summit, Equity & Inclusion, and more. |
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Once you have joined some channels – you can start by introducing yourself in a channel or two, perhaps posting a link to an interested or inspiring article or a question that is on the top of your mind. Share information about the conference, upcoming sessions, sessions you are excited to see, things you plan to do during the conference, etc. Just keep in mind that communication in Slack may be somewhat synchronous, but may be entirely asynchronous, too, depending on when others are online and participating. If you have other ideas for channels or connected apps, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.
Some Slack Video Resources to get you started:
We are inviting everyone to start joining the Slack channels whenever you like leading up to the conference. You can share session tips, ask questions, plan meet ups and your conference schedule, etc.
