DLIAward recipients will be announced during the OLC Accelerate conference, Nov. 15-17, in Orlando.
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (Sept. 20, 2017) — The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) today announced Manuela Ekowo, policy analyst with the Education Policy Program at New America, will present the 2017 OLC Digital Learning Innovation Awards (#DLIAward) during an awards luncheon, on Nov. 16, at the OLC Accelerate conference, which takes place Nov. 15-17, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, in Orlando.
Now in its second year, the DLIAward program recognizes exemplary higher education faculty-led teams and institutions for advancing student success through the adoption of digital courseware in undergraduate programs.
As policy analyst with the Education Policy program at New America, Ekowo provides research and analysis on policies related to higher education including innovations in higher education delivery, the use of technology, open educational resources (OER), and ensuring equitable outcomes for underrepresented students. She is also a contributing columnist for EdSurge, writing about how technology can foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in colleges and universities.
“The mission of the OLC DLIAwards is to discover student-centered active learning solutions that advance the world of digital learning for all students,” Kathleen S. Ives, D.M., CEO and executive director, Online Learning Consortium. “Manuela’s background and interests reflect the essence of this mission, and we are honored to have her joining us in Orlando to present our 2017 DLIAwards.”
A Range of Institution Types Tackling a Variety of Challenges and Barriers
The submission class for the 2017 DLIAwards was comprised of 60 entries, represented by a range of institution types, with the largest share coming from public 4-year or above institutions (38%), followed by public 2-year (28%); private nonprofit 4-year or above (22%); private for-profit 4-year or above (8%); private nonprofit 2-year (2%); and private for-profit 2-year (2%).
Entries demonstrated innovative approaches in addressing important challenges or barriers, including:
- Improving student outcomes (35%)
- Altering instructional approach and pedagogy (27%)
- Minimizing costs of textbooks and tuition (15%)
- Increasing convenience and flexibility (7%)
- Improving learning efficiency (5%)
- Enhancing student support (3%)
- Decreasing time to course credit and degree completion (3%)
“This year’s DLIAward entries showcased the innovation and passion that is being applied to increase access, support implementation, improve outcomes, enable accessibility, and promote sustainability in the use of digital courseware,” Nori Barajas-Murphy, Ed.D., grant project director, Online Learning Consortium. “We congratulate and thank all who submitted their work, and we look forward to sharing the winning approaches with the OLC community when the award recipients are announced in November.”
Awards were determined by two rounds of review, first by a review team of institutional-level and higher education organization-level reviewers, who narrowed the field of submissions for final review by a national panel of judges. Visit the DLIAwards webpage for names and profiles of all judges and reviewers, as well as detailed information about the DLIAward program at https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/DLIAward.
Information about the OLC Accelerate conference can be found online at https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/attend-2017/accelerate/.
About Online Learning Consortium
The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is the leading professional organization devoted to advancing the quality of online learning worldwide. The member-sustained organization offers an extensive set of resources for professional development and institutional advancement of online learning, including, original research, leading-edge instruction, best-practice publications, community-driven conferences and expert guidance. OLC members include educators, administrators, trainers and other online learning professionals, as well as educational institutions, professional societies and corporate enterprises. Visit http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/ for more information.