This year, I once again have the honor and pleasure of chairing and, for the first time, also producing the United States Distance Learning Association’s 2021 National Distance Learning Week Conference. We are still in the middle of COVID-19 so, with last year’s lessons learned, this year we are coming to you bigger than ever. We will be streaming live through our new partner platform, EduVision, with streams available in English and, for the first time ever, also in Spanish.

The focus of this year’s conference is on our ability to adapt. More specifically, how do we manage the insecurity of a pandemic that has been affecting the world for two years now? How can we stay nimble? What is the best course of action in training, teaching, and learning? Dr. Kelvin Thompson, University of Central Florida Executive Director of the Center for Distributed Learning and co-host of the Teaching Online Podcast will open up the conversation with a keynote titled “Online learning: What was, what is, and what could be”. We have a remarkable list of speakers, including, among others, the leaders of mainstream organizations in our field: Quality Matters, the Online Learning Consortium, UPCEA, WCET, and, of course, the United States Distance Learning Association. Each conference day will be accompanied by a newsletter article I write for the 800+ conference registrants this year, cross-pollinating key online education leadership information.

Please join us this November 8 – 12. Registration is free and USDLA members have access to the conference recordings.