Unlocking The Unconference: The Ideate Formula

Concurrent Session 6
Streamed Session Equity and Inclusion OLC Session

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Brief Abstract

Even in the world of online, digital, and blended learning, not every organization, institution, or unit has figured out how to translate what they know about effective teaching and learning into the context of large community-wide professional development or convenings (like a conference). In this panel-style session, we will discuss a salon based discussion model called OLC Ideate that the organization has created to bring educators together in active collaboration. 

    

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Madeline Shellgren, Online Learning Consortium

Pronouns: she, her, hers Twitter: @MaddieShellgren As the Director of Online Engagement, Madeline (Maddie) Shellgren serves as the lead innovator, designer, and project manager of the OLC's portfolio of online engagement opportunities. Known for her love of storytelling, play, and all things gameful, Maddie thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for people to connect, learn, and grow together. Within the OLC, she has served on steering and operations committees for several of the organization’s conferences (including as Technology Test Kitchen and Innovation Studio lead, as well as Engagement Co-Chair) and has had the distinct honor of being the mastermind behind the OLC Escape Rooms. She looks forward to continuing supporting OLC community building efforts, is committed to sustainable, equitable, and anti-oppressive ecologies within education, and is genuinely excited to leverage her interdisciplinary scholarly and professional backgrounds as she helps lead the OLC towards truly innovative and transformative models for what’s possible for online and digital engagement. Maddie joins the OLC from Michigan State University (MSU), where she has served as the lead on numerous student success initiatives related to instructional design and technology, accessibility, and equity and inclusion. Over the past eleven years, Maddie has dedicated her professional life to teaching and learning related initiatives and has strategically sought out opportunities that give her a multi-dimensional perspective on teaching and learning, including working as a Standardized Patient training medical students, serving as Program Director for Teaching Assistant development, taking lead on a number of cross-institutional educator onboarding and professional development projects, and teaching across online and face-to-face contexts. She most recently worked as an Assistant Rowing Coach for the MSU Varsity Women’s Rowing Program. There she was given the opportunity to help redesign a community from the bottom up, story the team's new journey together in fun and multimodal ways, lead in the co-construction of community expectations and norms, help ensure alignment across a variety of stakeholders and initiatives, and develop and operationalize strategic structures for long-term sustainability (such as entirely new social media, marketing, communications, and content management strategies). She had the privilege of seeing the impact of her human-centered and equity-oriented approach each and every day as the team reimagined what it meant to be a Spartan on the MSU Rowing Team. With her move to the OLC, she will continue on as a volunteer coach, still supporting these efforts and the team, and is excited to get back on the water.

Extended Abstract

Even in the world of online, digital, and blended learning, not every organization, institution, or unit has figured out how to translate what they know about effective teaching and learning into the context of large community-wide professional development or convenings (like a conference). In this panel-style session, we will discuss a salon based discussion model called OLC Ideate that the organization has created to bring educators together in active collaboration.

OLC Ideate makes its goal to both surface and model effective online engagement to educators, designers, practitioners and leaders of all levels and arenas.  Moving past the notion of a passive, “sit-and-get” online experience, each session (or “salon” within the Ideat model”) focuses on inspiring participants to leverage the power of online and digital learning with the goal of extending impact and access to education. Thus far, we have held three OLC Ideates, each with a different focus. Last Spring we gathered for the inaugural OLC Ideate around effective practices for online teaching (with the particular recognition of increased conversations around emergency preparedness and instructional continuity). Fall 2020 saw two OLC Ideates. In August, STEM educators came together to discuss how to deliver STEM laboratory experiences in online settings. In December, the community convened to discuss and operationalize our efforts to ensure equitable and inclusive access to digital learning environments.

Having brought over 3000 educators together over the course of these three OLC Ideates, we invite you to reflect with us on what we have learned along the way.. Those who attend this session will leave with a number of resources, including strategies for online collaboration. You will learn how to incorporate storytelling and dialogue into an event, as well as how to design with community-driven change in mind.