OLC Volunteer Spotlight: A Conversation with Allison Rief
An Educator’s Evolution: From the Classroom to Leadership Allison (Ali) Rief has dedicated her career to education, beginning in a pre-K classroom in South Los Angeles and now serving as a higher education leader. A National Board Certified Early Childhood Educator and former Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year, Ali has spent the past […]
AI in Education: Teaching Transformation, Educator Skill Development, Ethical Considerations
An EvolvEX Summit Panel Discussion Experience and Reflections The EvolvEX Summit, hosted by the University of Economics – Varna, brought together global experts to explore AI-driven transformation across industries, with a particular focus on education. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the panel titled “AI in Education: Teaching Transformation, Educator Skill Development, […]
A Primer on the Evolving Landscape of Digital Learning Modalities
In the world of digital education, the vocabulary we use to describe how learning happens has expanded and shifted dramatically over the past decades. Terms like online learning, hybrid learning, asynchronous and synchronous learning, remote learning, HyFlex, and more have become common, yet their meanings can overlap or evolve with technological advances and changing educational […]
June 2025 Snap Survey Results: ID-Related Professional Upskilling
The Online Learning Consortium launched its monthly Snap Surveys in May 2025 as part of the OLC Today newsletter. These brief surveys aim to gather quick feedback on timely topics relevant to our member community. The results are intended to spark ideas, generate research questions, and inspire new projects. The June Snap Survey was distributed […]
From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs: A Scalable Model for Course Development
“My course isn’t going to be ready in time…can I get a few more days?” We heard this more often than we’d like from participants in our instructor-led course development Seminar. Despite our best efforts—weekly meetings with instructional designers, hands-on support from educational media consultants, and a well-designed online resource hub—many instructors struggled to finish […]