This week, I am attending the Annual ITC Leadership Academy in Eugene. Oregon.  Lane Community College is this year’s host – and Ian Coronado is our “host with the most”.  Somehow, Ian has persuaded the Northwest weather to be outstanding, and the sessions are off to a wonderful start.  And you can only imagine how picturesque the Lane Community College campus is. 

The ITC Board views the annual leadership academy as perhaps our best benefit of membership.  The academy was launched in 2009, partnering with Costa Mesa Community College in California.  In the years since, we have traversed the country to bring the academy closer to our members in all regions of the US.  We even hosted an academy in Charlottetown, PEI Canada in 2014. Over the past seventeen years, we have held academies in California, Maine, Colorado (2), Nevada, Oregon (2), Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina (2), and Florida (2) and Prince Edward Island Canada. 

I had a wonderful conversation with our campus Distance Learning administrator yesterday.  We share a number of EdTech interests that most recently has included AI.  The conversation turned to how crazy busy she has been – not just this summer – but for the last several years. 

It has been relentless in terms of the big issues to address.  This past year, we served together on an accessibility taskforce to address the new regulations.  It was great that they were postponed BUT we had to assume the deadline was real and it required some heavy lifting to get it done on time.  And the Canvas cyberattack during your last week of spring classes really piled on what she had to deal with.  Not to mention program-related efforts to update online teaching standards, explore microcredential solutions, and work to structure quality improvements to our online classes.  All of that is layered on top of the normal online program workload in support of half of our campus enrollment. 

As a recovering administrator, I don’t spend as much time on campus as I used to.  Then, I seemed to spend all of my time on campus.  And one of my many roles was being the “Dean of Darkness” – responsible for the campuses after regular business hours.  As a community college, we offered classes weeknights and on Saturdays, but my role normally became relevant after 5:00 pm and before 8:00 am.  I’d be called to campus for a wide variety of reasons.  Things got easier when we created a police department – then I just got a lot of phone calls.

Now, when I am on campus, it feels very different.  As I review various sources each week to identify relevant articles to share with you, I have come across a growing number of “New Normal” articles – describing the many changes we are experiencing in higher education.  As we think about the “new normal” on our various campuses, faculty being less present on campus is a “new normal”.  Between the growth of online learning and the pandemic, faculty have become enamored of working from home.  Some institutions continue to allow telecommuting for administrators as well, so the halls just seem empty much of the time.  And it is easier to get a parking place closer to the buildings.

This is the last week the ITC is accepting applications for the 2026 Leadership Academy – the deadline is June 22^nd.  We have a great class of participants, but took advantage of some marketing of the event at the recent AI Teaching and Learning Conference hosted by Central Florida University.  So I wanted to make sure our members are aware of the extension as well.  The Academy is being hosted by Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.  Ian Coronado is our “host with the most”.  The dates are July 13-15.  You can use this link to learn more about the Academy as well as the specifics of applying:  https://www.itcnetwork.org/distance-education-leadership-academy

Leslie Van Wolvestear, from Oakton College in Illinois, is responsible for getting the Academy together each year; the curriculum of the Academy is always reviewed and updated.  We have an amazing faculty again this year – and we are looking forward to our time together in Eugene.  This will be the 16^th year of the Academy; I always like to recognize the pioneering leadership of Ronda Edwards and Mickey Slimp; they co-chaired the Academy from its inception in 2009.  The ITC Board of Directors believes deeply in the Leadership Academy; launching this level of Professional Development was designed to better prepare Distance Learning leadership at community colleges.  Over the years, the Academy has attracted candidates from a variety of backgrounds and with an equal variety of career goals.  Consequently, the Academy has adjusted and now focuses on preparing leadership for careers in higher education.

I have a passion for “strained metaphors” and use them on a regular basis in the classroom.  Students sometimes audibly groan, but that only encourages me!   Metaphors provide more “aha” moments than most other teaching strategies.  It is important to know this so as to understand the following story - - metaphor.  

The Strained Metaphor:   My wife and I took a drive a week ago.  As we passed this pasture, I noticed the situation captured in the photo – essentially, a large number of cattle were grouped under the only shade tree in the pasture.  But there were a lot of cattle that apparently didn’t fit under that tree, so they were scattered hither and thither – and totally ignored by the cattle grouped under the tree.

For many of us, the recent Canvas Ransomware attack was ill-timed (right at the end of our spring term) and unsettling.  Regardless of our LMS solution, we have had an odd complacency – because we had never had a disruption like this, we assumed immunity.   That complacency was seriously disrupted with this attack. 

It was reported that half of all colleges and universities are now on Canvas.  Since the disruption, a number of institutions have been looking to cancel contracts and pivot to another LMS solution.  To be honest, it really doesn’t matter what LMS you are using.  Actually, it doesn’t matter what third-party solution you are using for anything on your campus – be it your student information system or your accounting program.  Seemingly everything is vulnerable – cybersecurity has become a major concern.  And with the arrival of Generative AI, the variety and complexity of attacks are expected to increase exponentially.

The US Department of Education released the final regulation for the Workforce Pell Grant Program. This has been monitored closely since the launch of a major “redesign” of the program, and the related reduction in funding. The estimate is that $11 billion will be directed to this new approach, but that is substantially reduced from previous commitments AND there are numerous associated expenses that states are expected to cover (filling any funding gap from previous program, cost of collecting data from employers, students, etc. the actual certification process each governor must now put in place and the increased demands on program eligibility/requirements). 

I wanted to share some information – this is certainly not an EdTech issue – yes, online learning is used in some of the approved programs – but this is a big issue for our institutions. Given the changes, the number of Pell eligible career programs has been substantially narrowed.  There is also an accountability factor – ROI – for these career tracks.  There is a logic for doing this – but we have historically supported programs that are critical – like childcare  - even though the ultimate income does not correlate to the degree expected.

As you know, ITC has offered an outstanding Leadership Academy for the past eighteen years.  We have now had nearly 300 complete the training, and have offered the Academy from St. Petersburg FL to Milwaukee, Wi; from Asheville NC to Portland, ME; from Reno, NV to Costa Mesa, CA; from Minneapolis, MN to Buffalo, NY;  from Portland OR to Ft. Worth TX; and from Glassboro, NJ to Charlottetown PEI Canada. 

This year, the ITC Leadership Academy will be hosted at Lane Community College in Eugene, OR.  The three-day training has a robust schedule of sessions designed to prepare the next generation of leadership.  Over the years, we have had a wide variety of participants with a wide variety of backgrounds.  Certainly, we do include Distance Learning and Technology, BUT we prepare leadership to lead ANY program or department. 

The recent Federal Government announcement that Title II Accessibility compliance was being delayed for a year was quite a surprise.  I know so many of you had been working so hard this past year to ensure you would be ready by the original deadline – I actually heard more frustration than relief.

Why?  For those who work directly in the world of accessibility compliance, it has often been hard to get others on campus to buy into what is needed to comply.  The Federal deadline had finally gotten everyone on the same page – and the unexpected delay, may now be counter-productive to the progress made.   There can be no expectation that the new deadline for next year will be extended, so it remains “all hands on deck” in identifying deficiencies and framing a set of solutions most appropriate for your institution.  

When I served as our campus’ dean of WebCollege, I was able to enshrine a set of “Standards for Teaching Online”.  Honestly, it was edgy for the time.  And the proposal met with headwinds from those that wanted as limited set of expectations as possible.  Nonetheless, the Online Standards were adopted and have provided a baseline of quality for the past several years.

Fast-forward to this semester, and the WebCollege Committee – now a standing committee of the Faculty Senate – has been developing a set of updates and timely improvements to the original document.  I had the opportunity to review their draft – and was very pleased to see how they had further strengthened – and expanded the document.  It still has to go before the Faculty Senate for approval, but keeping my fingers crossed.

For those of you that joined us in Austin, Texas for the ITC Annual National Conference – thank you!!!  It was a wonderful conference – and represented the ITC’ return to staging our annual conference on a community college campus.  A major “tip of the ITC hat” to our host, Matt Evins, the director of Academic Technology at Austin Community College. He, and his wonderful staff, made everything work and flow so well. The tech support was wonderful, the food and refreshments were wonderful, the Highland Campus (one of twelve campus locations) was gi-normous but worked well for our conference.  As you can imagine, most of the board members were immersed in selecting session applications, arranging for keynote speakers, coordinating the Grand Debate or the Awards Ceremony, hosting/participating in our “power panel session, recruiting exhibitors, creating awards and give-aways, planning receptions and facilitating sessions.   And the ITC board leaders were “everything, everywhere, all at once” for the entire conference.  All deserve a hale and hearty “Hizzah!!” for a fabulous job!

There were many highlights at the conference, but some of our best news concerned the introduction of our new ITC management team as well.  No surprise here – you’ve been interacting with our team:  Craig and Holly, as they helped with membership renewals and conference registrations over the past eight months – as well as fielding any questions or needs from our membership. But to make this sound official, we formally introduce:

As you know, I have been connecting with you every week for a long time now.  This adventure started in November 2015 – I’ve mused in the past that I have a knack to commit to projects that just keep going. I did the first ITC National Distance Learning Survey in 2004 – had Ian Coronado and I just reported out the 21^st survey results at the recent ITC conference (the results will be shared with all members – Ian has developed a wonderful infographic! And this weekly endeavor is like a Timex watch – it just keeps ticking!  

One of my absolute joys is seeing so many of you at the annual conference. And you have been so kind to indicate your commitment to reading the weekly tomes. I appreciate any feedback, and I feel that the weekly communication has pulled us closer together over the past 10+ years.   I’ve been told that especially career and job related topics seemingly are so well-timed and resonate just when you needed to know that you weren’t alone. I get it. I’m a recovering administrator and have dealt with an abundance of crazy over time. I’ve been lucky over the years and enjoyed the many administrators I worked with. But enrollment downturns and budget cuts are brutal.  As the need to consolidate vacant positions accelerates, remaining administrative positions transform into an amalgamation of responsibilities – and workload.  For me, it hit after the 2008 recession. My dream administrative job became overwhelming.  At ITC board meetings, I often updated what my job entailed – it kept changing and represented such an eclectic combination of responsibilities. The list would not fit on a business card, and I indicated my title had become the “dean of stuff”. 

We fully understand that many community colleges are dealing with budget issues right now, and that attending a national conference is not possible/no travel funds available. That said, we did have a wonderful conference in Austin, Texas last week (March 13-15). It was hosted at the Austin Community College Highland Campus. The location was unique and is known nationally because it was a failed retail mall complex that ACC has been revitalizing for the past 10 years.  It was downright exciting to spend the entire conference in that space, along with the fantastic hospitality of ACC staff. 

This was our first conference hosted at a community college. Like many national organizations, the ITC has taken a financial hit at hotel-based conference space. It has become so expensive – OLC actually filed bankruptcy because of this reality last year. The ITC Board of Directors decided to return to a practice the ITC has used originally – meeting at community colleges. It is essential to have a hotel within walking distance (or to have a transportation plan), but the result was a wonderful experience for attendees as well as a significant cost-savings from the traditional hotel conference model.

We have devoted a great deal of space to AI-related articles this past year.  AI is seemingly everywhere these days. Every week, we learn of a new application or adaptation of AI –and AI has been doing a lot of growing and becoming in the past year. AI is having a greater impact than ever – and is now coming to our online class LMS! I wanted to share a few recommendations to help you “move the needle” in addressing faculty/staff concerns as well as helping those learn how to effectively use AI.

AI Coming To Your LMS

There is an opinion piece this week that discusses the critical need to re-examine the traditional LMS in light of the arrival of AI. AI is – or at least should be – redefining what we teach and how we teach. This is true in the traditional classroom and needs to occur in the online classroom as well. I’d encourage checking out this article and then schedule a conversation with your LMS account representative to learn how your LMS is using/will be using AI and when these adaptations will occur. You need to plan and prepare – yes, your job and what you do is evolving as well. Ultimately, AI will help our faculty and instructional designers create ADA-compliant content, develop more engaging student material, provide assistance for your creation of content and for student projects and assignments, help create more complex course discussions, and will help faculty provide informed/detailed assessments of student work.  

‘Tis the Holiday Season – as your fall term rushes to the finish line, this is a great time of the year to let those you work with just how much you appreciate them! Certainly, you can do this anytime during the academic year, but the Holiday Season provides a wonderful backdrop to your efforts.

For years, our online program distributed an electronic greeting card at this time of year (usually a Jib-Jab primarily because it was fun-loving and we could include everyone from our department in the card. It can be a great way to express good wishes and appreciation to everyone you work with in a given year. There is a free version and also a subscription option.  Otherwise, there are also free ecard solutions to at least facilitate distribution.

Hi everyone, if you have not already done so, PLEASE take a few minutes to complete the 2025 ITC National Survey—we have greatly reduced the number of questions—and will instead conduct several (smaller length) surveys throughout the year. The data generated will help you to compare your program to national trends and practices.  PLEASE participate!!

How can it already be early December??  The terms seem to fly by. Our roles are complicated and demanding. It can be very challenging to keep track of time, and I’ve often found I thought I had more time for a project—and didn’t. 

The 2025 Fall term has raced by, AND you have never felt so overwhelmed with work, right? You are not alone. I hear from a surprising number of you. For some, it is the unexpected uptick in workload after a promotion. The surprising "7 days a week" attitude as you move up the administrative ladder is common. But the most common complaint is that the workload continues to increase – more online sections to serve more online students – and the need to train and support more online faculty, with no additional budget or staffing. Sadly, that too is VERY common.

We are, after all, unicorns. The administrative and staff roles of a Distance Learning program are still rather undefined. We don't really fit in the organizational chart either. We seemingly support everyone in academics and work with everyone in administration. We are NOT a silo operation; quite the contrary, we are everything, everywhere, all at once.

As we cycle through the fall national conferences and meetings related to EdTech (chief among them being Educause and WCET), the emerging consensus regarding AI in higher education includes:

• Generative AI is here to stay—as you will recall, I teach Political Science (Government) – I tell my students you may hate politics—you don’t have to like it, but you do need to understand it and get involved. The same is true for AI.
• Faculty are exercising strong influence over the specifics of implementing AI on our campuses. There are debates over appropriate parameters amongst faculty, on the administrative side of the house, not so much. Administrators tend to accept the inevitability of AI.
• Students want our colleges and universities to get our collective act together and help them to better prepare for the expectations and needs in the 21^st Century workplace
• AI will seemingly be everything, everywhere, all at once for the foreseeable future. Every software will eventually have an AI component.
• Users do not like the excessive power needs of AI and expect the industry to find ways to greatly reduce the power drain
• Effective, adaptive AI professional development training is needed for students, faculty and administrators

Given the rapidly changing nature of AI, attending a national edtech conference every year is highly recommended. If you are relatively new to attending a national conference. It is important to find the conference(s) that fit your specific needs. I remember attending a conference early in my career that was sponsored by a major brand—turned out to be a waste of time. It was excessively university-centric and solutions required a very large (40+) staff. I quickly learned that “right-sizing” was important to maximize the experience. For me, the ITC has always been my preferred annual conference.  It is community college focused, it is more affordable than the “big conference”, and I have been able to more effectively network. I also come back every year with great ideas, proven solutions and probably 15 new friends.  I hope you will consider joining us in Austin, T March 13-15. Take a minute to check out the specifics about the conference on our webpage.

We’ve discussed before the profound impact of The Pandemic on our community college online programs. I’ve had numerous conversations with administrators, designers and faculty – all have shared the trauma of the rapid full shift to online, the lack of staff and training to facilitate this, and the overwhelming day-after-day workload this represented. 

We are now “years” away from The Pandemic, but a variety of stress points are still present in our online programs. Specifically, the shift to fully online led to an increase in the number of faculty that wanted to teach online (it also increased the number of students as well). This fostered greater demand BUT our programs have not experienced increases in staffing, and especially have not been able to increase the number of instructional designers needed to address chronic issues with our online classes. Chronic issues????  Yes, for most of use, our online classes lack consistency, often are not compliance checked (ADA), are woefully lacking the benefits of professional design, and many of our faculty lack the training needed to create a learning experience that is engaging and embraces the unique needs of learning online. As a result, we have actually witnessed a decline in online student learning experience and completions.

Leading from the middle requires timing, and a sense of how to influence decisions.   It is a valuable skill-set and can help on a number of fronts, from maintaining staff  morale during difficult times to seizing on an opportunity – or addressing a problem - that many simply don’t recognize.

I wanted to speak to leaders this week.  Who qualifies?   All of you!!  Regardless of your role or position, anyone can step up to help advance the institution’s priorities.  Many may know this style of leadership as “leading from the middle”.   Authors like Scott Mautz focused on middle management positions, but honestly, anyone can ultimately influence the decision-making process.  Often, leading from the middle is most needed when the institution’s leadership team is distracted but it is also needed to enable new ideas that help the institution better serve its students.  It can and does take a village to keep an institution focused and functioning.