My thoughts of World Conference on Online Learning (1) - Our presentation

This is the first of a series of blogs I am hoping to do on my experience of the World Conference on Online Learning.

The World Conference on Online Learning was held at Sheraton Centre, Toronto, Canada last week (16-19 October). This was the 27th biennial conference of the International Council for Distance Education.

This was 'the' conference I always wanted to attend and I was delighted when our proposal "Online, Flipped, Blended Approach to Apprenticeship Education: A case study of UCEM's Surveying Technician Diploma" was accepted to be presented at the conference. The conference theme for this time was "Teaching in a Digital Age: Re-thinking Teaching & Learning" and under this umbrella theme we went for Track 5 - Redesigned Institutional Business Models.

Our presentation was on the second day of the conference and was well attended. We had an engaging session with lots of interesting questions. I also created a sway presentation including some interview clips to give a better idea of our project. We are in the process of writing it up for publication.

Don't take my word about the success of the course. Listen to what a student has to say about our approach to apprenticeship education. Here is what students who have gone through the Surveying Technician Diploma has to say ...

Online, Flipped, Blended Approach to Apprenticeship Education

I have been working with Nick Moore, Dean Learning and Teaching at University College of Estate Management (UCEM) on an exciting project, investigating UCEM's new online, flipped, blended approach to apprenticeship education.

The proposal we put forward to the World Conference on Online Learning to present our work was accepted and now we are getting ready for the presentation in Toronto (according to the conference website meaning “meeting place” in Huron Indian), Canada.

As we only have a few minutes to talk about our project, I felt it would be useful to give some background information on the project. Below is a sway presentation I created with some video clips. Here Ashley Wheaton, UCEM Principal, talks about the need for apprenticeship education and why UCEM took up this challenge. You can also hear Lynne Downey, Dean Online Education, talking about the pedagogy behind the approach UCEM took.

Looking through the draft schedule there are lot of interesting sessions with a whopping eleven parallel sessions on Monday afternoon alone! I am looking forward to participating in my first World Conference on Online Learning.

Please maximize the presentation before viewing.

Proposal accepted for the World Conference on Online Learning

I was delighted to hear from the conference committee of the World Conference on Online Learning that the proposal we put forward, Online, Flipped, Blended Approach to Apprenticeship Education: A case study of UCEM’s Surveying Technician Diploma is accepted to be presented. Well to be honest, the news came way back but it is not always so straight forward to find funding to travel such a long distance to an expensive city. I am so lucky my employer, University College of Estate Management, is kindly sponsoring us.

The proposal was put together by Nick Moore and myself. Nick is the Dean - Teaching and Learning at University College of Estate Management and had been the chief architect of the new apprenticeship programme blue print developed under the new government apprenticeship education scheme.

In this work we have adopted an action research methodology, something new to me, though I have studied it in my PhD research training. Having not previously written an action research piece, I was delighted to see that  ELESIG's #LERMOOC on EMMA had a whole section dedicated for action research.

The World Conference on Online Learning: Teaching in a Digital Age - Re-thinking Teaching & Learning http://onlinelearning2017.ca/en/is the 27th International Council for Distance Education's biennial conference. This time it is held 16-19 October 2017 in Toronto, Canada. The conference has five tracks:

• Emerging Pedagogies and Designs for Online Learning
• Expanding Access, Openness and Flexibility
• Changing Models of Assessment
• New Delivery Tools and Resources for Learning
• Re-designed Institutional Business Model

and our presentation will be under the track "Re-designed Institutional Business Model". 

Since being a PhD student researching educational technology for distance education, I thought this event was the most prestigious conference in the field of distance and online education. I am delighted that I am able to attend the conference and I look forward to learning and networking opportunity that this event will present: making new links and strengthening already existing links.

Toronto