AC22 - Program Welcome

It is our pleasure to invite you to the 28th year of the Online Learning Consortium’s Accelerate Conference. This year’s OLC Accelerate conference will take place both virtually (November 1-3, 2022) and onsite in Orlando, FL, back at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin (November 14-17, 2022).

This year’s conference theme is Reflecting Onward: Evidence for a Changed World. As online and blended learning continue to advance us into the future of education, OLC Accelerate provides the opportunity to reflect on the challenges of the past and look ahead to what’s on the horizon. This year’s program promises to be filled with thoughtful discussions aimed at innovating our methods, challenging the status quo, and broadly sharing effective practices for online and blended learning. OLC Accelerate 2022 provides a path both for those new, as well as those returning to the world of online to not only engage in these conversations, but, importantly, drive where they lead next. The OLC Accelerate 2022 program centers an important dialogue and focus on “evidence,” as we seek collaboration around how we identify, measure, and assess continuous improvement over time within and across the field of online, blended, and digital learning. In this way, OLC Accelerate 2022 serves as a collective call for educators, administrators, and allies to engage in deeper thinking and a sharing of collective wisdom that helps us all hone our craft and identify strategies for the future. 

We invite you to join us in this look ahead to a whole new world of online and blended education. With our virtual program, we will convene countless educators from around the globe and discuss the ways that our work intersects as a larger community. Then, we’ll convene onsite two weeks later for more programming, including conversation, networking, and ample opportunity to engage with ideas and one another, with a focus on digital learning leadership, strategies for centering equity and quality in online education, and blended learning as the future of higher education. Come join our community and experience the magic of OLC Accelerate 2022!

We are excited to announce the conference tracks for this year, including the introduction of a new Student Support and Success track that we think will be valuable for folks to share their expertise. The Accelerate 2022 tracks are:

• Access, Equity, and Open Education
• Blended Learning Strategy and Practice*
• Engaged and Effective Teaching and Learning
• Instructional Design
• Leadership and Institutional Strategy
• Research, Evaluation, and Learning Analytics
• Student Support and Success
• Technology and Future Trends

* Note: Highly-rated submissions to this track will be marked for inclusion in the onsite Blended Learning Symposium (Nov 14-17) held in conjunction with the OLC Accelerate 2022 Conference.

OLC continues to be known for session formats that offer innovative approaches to engagement in both face-to-face and online environments, including:

• Gamified Sessions that connect the audience with the presenters and content in new and exciting ways. Presenters in the past have drawn from murder mystery themes, Price is Right games, Jeopardy, etc. for their session. These sessions tend to draw a large audience and are fun to be a part of both as a presenter and participator! 
• Our 90 minute Workshops offer in-depth exploration and activation of topics, with meaningful and measurable participant learning outcomes. Our Express Workshops offer practical, hands-on learning activities to participants eager to acquire new skills in a shorter 45 minute session.  
• Discovery Sessions will again be offered in both onsite and asynchronous formats to allow for flexibility of preferred presentation modality. These sessions help to drive forward innovative models for connecting with audiences.
• Graduate students currently enrolled or recently graduated from their program (Master or Doctoral) have a special opportunity to present asynchronous Graduate Student Discovery Sessions on their research relevant to online teaching and learning. 

OLC is known for high-quality and engaging programming and OLC Accelerate will be no different. From our general sessions to our volunteer-led engagement programming, OLC Accelerate 2022 will be a conference experience (and community) to remember. If you are still considering submitting to this year’s Call For Proposals, know that the OLC is here to support you, including through our unique and robust OLC Presenter Services program.

As you can see, OLC Accelerate is primed to provide an opportunity for the higher education online community, both new and returning, to come together and share their expertise. We look forward to learning from your experiences as we collectively reflect on what we might build together as a promising new future for online and blended learning.

Hope to see you there! 

Adam Davi and Dorothy Loftin

The OLC Accelerate 2022 Program Chairs

Angela Gunder

Chief Academic Officer

Online Learning Consortium