USDLA NEWS — April 9, 2024
Congratulations to our
2024 International Distance Learning Award Winners
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Happy Tuesday, USDLA friends!
USDLA recognizes innovators and leaders within the distance/digital learning industry each year as part of our International Award program.
"These highly coveted awards are presented annually to organizations and individuals who compete across several categories of excellence," says Awards Chair Wendy Pate, noting the USDLA International Distance Learning Awards acknowledge major accomplishments in distance learning and to highlight those distance learning instructors, programs, and professionals who have achieved and demonstrated extraordinary achievements through the use of online learning techniques, innovation, and video delivery technologies globally.
Eighteen winners in five categories will be presented with awards at a special ceremony on Wednesday, June 19, at our 37th annual national conference, which will be held this year from June 17-20 in St. Louis. Click here to register!
“Our international awards program recognizes the best of the best in distance learning," says Chuck Sengstock, President of USDLA. "USDLA is proud of this year's winners and pleased to recognize their accomplishments."
Scroll down to meet the winners — and for more USDLA News, including:
We'll talk to you again on Thursday in our USDLA Brief! — All our best, USDLA's Communications team
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Meet our 2024 Award Winners
And check out our video of the 2023 recipients (pictured right) on USDLA.tv.
2024 Leadership category
Higher Ed
Gold: Dr. Don Olcott, HJ & Associates at the Unversity of South Africa
Silver: Michelle Jungbauer, WGU
K-12 Gold: Dr. Peter J. Noonan, Falls Church City Public Schools
Government Gold: James Woolsey, President, Defense Acquisition University
2024 Research category
Higher Ed
Gold: WGU Labs
Silver: Dr. Rebecca Blankenship, Florida A&M's College of Education
Bonze: Shelly Wyatt, University of Central Florida
2024 Rising Star category
Higher Ed Gold: Rebecca McNutly, University of Central Florida
2024 Teaching/Learning category
Higher Ed
Gold: Paula Bramante, Cambridge College
Silver: Alexa Cormier, University of Texas at San Antonio
Bonze: Paula Lathan, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Not-for-Profit Gold: CILC Pinnacle Education Collaborative Group
Corporate Gold: Rachel Bolton, Lucy Duncan, Lynnda West, WESCO
2024 Trendsetter category
Higher Ed
Gold: SCAD Education Technology, Savannah College of Art and Design
Silver: Western Governers University
Bronze: Tracey Fairless, Darren Denham, University of Central Oklahoma
Not for Profit Gold: Tiffany Morgan, Iowa PBS
Government Gold: Defense Acquistion University
2024 USDLA Eagle Award: Cheryl Dowd, State Authorization Network (SANS)
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Distance Learning Industry News:
Stopping Out — It's Not About Academics
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In a 2023 report by the National Student Clearinghouse, the “some college, no credential” population
stood at 40.4 million in 2021, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier. Of this population, more than half (21 million, 52%) were 25 or older at their last enrollment.
National Student Clearinghouse data show that the persistence rate has consistently tracked below 50% for the past five years. Adult learners also take longer to complete their programs, with the six-year completion rate (for any institution type) standing at 52%, compared to 62% for all students. Both these data points have underlying cost implications — stopping out before attaining a credential or taking longer to complete a program will make it harder for adult learners to advance in their careers even as they are shouldering the added costs related to that education.
A recent CAEL study on how adult learners finance their education also explored the topic of stop-out patterns, among a group of adult learners having diverse backgrounds (35% were lower-income Pell Grant recipients, 71% were parents, and 41% were first-generation college students), races and ethnicities (14% Black, 8% Hispanic), and types of credentials they were pursuing or had recently completed (50% bachelor’s degrees, 28% associate degrees, and 22% short-term credentials). CAEL found the reasons for stopping out were far more likely to be related to health or personal issues, money, and time constraints than academic reasons. Notably, many adult learners viewed stopping out as taking a break rather than dropping out completely. Click here to download the report.
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REGISTER FOR OUR NEXT FREE FRIDAY WEBINAR | |
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Implementing Telemedicine in Libraries: Barriers and Strategies for Success
When: April 12, 1-2pm
Register: usdla.org/webinars
About this webinar: Public libraries offering telemedicine provide a critical lifeline to patients, particularly those who live long distances from sites of care. In this session, Dr. Pam DeGuzman will provide a comprehensive overview of research to date on the implementation of telemedicine in public libraries. She will share commonly encountered barriers, and review models linked with successful outreach to patients. She will provide information about the recently developed Telemedicine in Libraries Pre-Implementation Workbook that guides librarians and community partners step-by-step to build the foundation for a successful program.
About the presenter: Dr. Pamela DeGuzman is the Nurse Scientist at UVA Health and an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Virginia School of Nursing where she conducts research on innovative models to improve access to care for vulnerable populations. Her research is grounded in her experience as a bedside nurse, during which she observed firsthand the disparities those from rural areas experience when trying to access specialized care at large urban-centered healthcare systems. She has developed and evaluated CARING (Comprehensive Assistance: Rural Interventions, Nursing and Guidance), which is a nurse-led telemedicine-delivered intervention aimed at connecting rural cancer survivors with specialized oncology care. This experience led her to work toward improving access to telemedicine visits for patients who lack home-based broadband, through public libraries. Since 2019 she has been studying the implementation of telemedicine video visits in public libraries and has written the foundational research agenda aimed at studying this practice. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in high-tier journals across medicine, public health, nursing, and library and information science.
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DON'T MISS THIS IMPORTANT EVENT | |
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A.I. for ALL: Open Education Summit
When: June 5-7
Where: Tennessee State University, Avon Williams Downtown Campus, Nashville
About: Dive into the heart of innovation at the AI for ALL Summit, where inclusivity meets the cutting-edge of artificial intelligence (AI). Our vision is a future where AI technologies are within reach for everyone, fostering an environment of growth, learning, and empowerment through Open Educational Resources (OER). More: ai-tnstatesmartcenter.org/aiforallsummit2024
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Thank You to Our National Sponsors
D2L, Instructure, Google, Verizon, Carolina Distance Learning, Harmonize, IAP, Nearpod, Wolfvision, Anatomage, InScribe, GoReact, Huddly, BocaVox, Softchalk, NC Sara, Simple Syllabus, VDO360, Symbiosis, VirtualCare, Waldorf University, Merlot, IntelliBoard, Flo-ops, Upswing, Questionmark, Perlego, Padlet, BrightThinker
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Thank you for supporting USDLA, our Sponsors, and our State Chapters.
Chuck Sengstock, President
Valary Oleinik, President-elect
About United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)
Formed in 1987, USDLA is a 501(c)3 non-profit association formed in 1987. Our weekly newsletters reach more than 100,000 people globally, including our members and sponsors working in industries including pre-K-12 education, homeschooling, higher education, continuing education, corporate, military, government, and telehealth. Our mission is to promote the development and application of distance learning for education, training, advocacy, and networking: USDLA.org
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