Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday was an informative day at the OLC Blended Learning Conference. I attended sessions presented by Paige McDonald and colleagues who discussed the implementation of blended learning at the School of Health Sciences at George Washington University;  and Cathy Cheal who spoke about the MOOC development at San Jose State University. The keynote address was given by Mike Milliron (Civitas) who presented very effectively on learning analytics. As posted in his abstract:

“This message is a deep dive into Insight Analytics—hindsight work (e.g., data mining) and foresight work (e.g., predictive modeling) brought together to gain insight into student success patterns. These insights can then power Action Analytics, when these data and analyses are used in apps that go directly to the front lines of learning: faculty, advisors, and students. Brought together, insight and action analytics strategies can help struggling students succeed and strong students take their learning to the next level in on-ground, online, and blending modalities.”

I was part of a panel discussion with colleagues Patsy Moskal, Chuck Dziuban, and Charles Graham. The title of our presentation was Seeking Evidence of Impact in Blended and Online Learning which explored effective approaches for determining the impact of blended and online learning in educational environments. We used material from our recently published book, Blended Learning Research Perspectives, Volume 2. The session was well-attended and in my mind well-received.

In sum, a stimulating day at a first-rate conference.

Tony