Dear Commons Community,

I am heading to Orlando today to the Sloan Consortium’s Conference – Online Learning:  A Universe of Opportunities.  Approximately 2000 people will attend the conference in person this year with several hundred more attending virtually. This conference is very strong on research.  See the piece below from the conference chair, Eric Fredericksen, for highlights.  I also have a featured session on Thursday at 10:45 am entitled, Pioneering Higher Education’s Digital Future: An Evaluation of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Anytime, Anyplace Learning Program.  Originally I was to give this session with Bruce Chaloux, who passed away suddenly on September 28th.

I hope to see some of you in Orlando!

Online Learning:  A Universe of Opportunities

With so many definitions and a variety of models, online learning in higher education provides a wide range of opportunities for faculty, students and institutions. Our three keynote addresses will help raise many important questions for us to consider.

What are the national trends and issues and how is the US Department of Education responding? Hal Plotkin of the U.S. Department of Education, will kick off our conference with a national perspective on online learning.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have emerged as a new opportunity in online learning with the potential to impact millions of students. Daphne Koller, Stanford Professor and Co-Founder of Coursera, will share her insights about the progress and promise of Coursera in the Thursday keynote address.

A new partnership of highly respected universities are embracing online learning, including the opportunity to have a dramatic impact on traditional education. On Friday, Anant Argawal, MIT Professor and President of edX, will guide us through the development of this Harvard and MIT initiative and talk about his aspirations for edX.

The 2013 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning is the premier forum for online learning. It is also the opportunity for all of us that are concerned with the future of online learning to come together, collaborate and share experiences. Please join us for this year’s gathering and participate in the conversations that will help us chart the future course of high-quality online education. We look forward to your contributions!