Higher Education
Columbia Southern University and Waldorf College Host National, Virtual Conference
Columbia Southern University (CSU) teamed with Waldorf College to host the 2015 Creating a Culture of Excellence National Virtual Conference in October. The two-day conference offered more than 20 sessions presented by online educators, administrators, and higher education staff. Topics of discussion included the online student experience, student exceptionalism, and faculty and student engagement.
Attendance was excellent with concurrent sessions averaging more than 60 attendees. Presentations for the event featured keynote addresses from Columbia Southern University President Robert Mayes and Waldorf College President Dr. Bob Alsop. Special presentations were given by CSU Assistant Provost Dr. John Weidert and United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) Chair of State Chapters Kenneth Conn.
“This conference really encapsulates what we are trying to do here at CSU, to change and improve lives through higher education,” Dr. Weidert said. “We wanted to have a conference that informs educators about proven practices, pushes the leading edge of the profession, and motivates the pursuit of creating a culture of excellence.”
The CSU 2016 conference, Education Beyond Tomorrow: Innovation in Pedagogy and Practice, will be held in April. All members of USDLA are encouraged to submit presentation proposals for this national, virtual conference. Some suggested hot topics for the conference are andragogy, adaptive learning, gamification, socialization of education, interactive learning design, media literacy, and mobile learning.
Source: Peter Eggebraaten
Training and Development Coordinator
Columbia Southern University, Faculty Development
