ITC Program Activities - July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010
- ITC held its annual professional development conference, eLearning 2010, in Fort Worth, Texas, which attracted 314 registrants, and 19 exhibitors. Many participants stated eLearning 2010 was the best eLearning conference they had ever attended - 98 percent of attendees deemed it good or excellent. eLearning 2010 featured nearly 60 professional development concurrent sessions, 10 pre-conference workshops, general session speakers, and an exhibit hall. ITC presented 11 awards for excellence in eLearning: for outstanding eLearning program, outstanding online course, outstanding blended course, outstanding eLearning faculty, outstanding use of new technology and/or delivery system, outstanding student services, outstanding technical support and service, and the ITC award for outstanding eLearning student. The host organizations were the Tarrant County College District and the Dallas County Community College District. The regional partners are the North Texas Community College Consortium and the Northeast Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities.
- ITC offered distance educators the opportunity to participate in 32 professional development Webinar programs in the 2009-10 fiscal year. The series featured three topics on distance learning administration, instructional design and teaching each month. ITC invites distance learning administrators and faculty to share their best practices, tips and challenges for teaching at a distance. ITC invites authors to share their distance learning research; copyright gurus and government officials to explain the policy guidelines educators must follow; accreditation experts and grant administrators to inform about timely and hot topics. The cost for ITC members is $30-$35, these charges are double for non-members.
- ITC held its second annual ITC Distance Education Leadership Academy on July 25-27, 2010 in Portland, Maine. The 18 participants worked with academy speakers and members of the ITC board to understand their home institutions, create a sound leadership strategy for their environment, develop a leadership model to fit their institution, identify and acquire key tools for successful leadership in distance learning, and gain a network of practitioners.
- ITC surveyed and reported on the state of distance education at ITC-member institutions. ITC published and distributed the ten-page report, “2009 Distance Education Survey Results: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges” to ITC members, community college presidents, and inserted a copy into the 2010 AACC convention participant bag in Seattle, Wash. This report is freely available on the ITC Web site.
- ITC worked with the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition to advocate on behalf its members and inform them on how the Obama administration’s broadband stimulus program could help their distance learning operation. ITC submitted comments to the FCC on the need for broadband access for community colleges and universities “to provide robust, quality, instructional programming, in an online environment, to their students who might be located in rural areas, working adults, caregivers, disabled, returning veterans, or simply students who want to earn their educational credentials to expand their job skills, educational and career opportunities."
- Informed ITC members on distance learning issues and trends through the bi-weekly postings on the ITC list serv and ITC Web site.
- Sponsored the forum, “Administrators and Distance Education - Dealing with 21st Century Challenges,” at the AACC 2010 Convention in Seattle, Wash. on April 17-20, 2010.
- Attended and presented at the following local conferences: MarylandOnline’s Distance Learning Directors' Affinity Group on July 10, 2009, Maryland Community Colleges Technology Advisory Board (MCCTAB) on Dec. 11, 2009, Maryland Distance Learning Association Fall Conference on Nov. 3, 2009, and Maryland Distance Learning Association College of the Air Ninth Annual Spring Conference on March 4, 2010.
- Wrote the following articles in AACC’s Community College Times, “E-learning Trends for 2010,” on January 19, 2010, “Federal Grants That Could Fund Online Learning Efforts,” on January 19, 2010, and “Teaching Those Difficult Courses Online,” on April 27, 2010.
- Conducted monthly “quick polls” of ITC members to learn about and share the distance learning practices and programs and ITC member institutions.
- Conducted a membership recruitment campaign that resulted in 41 new ITC institutional and corporate members.
