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Hello USDLA friends — It’s a pleasure to introduce you to our 2023-2024 president, Chuck Sengstock.
Chuck is a recognized distance learning thought leader with 31 years of experience developing and managing successful undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education distance learning courses and programs with up to 12,000 registrations annually. He is the recipient of many local, national, and international awards for excellence in distance learning programming. He has also been recognized for researching and implementing a standardized LMS student user interface before other standardization quality advocates.
Chuck is also the Creator of the Drake University award-winning Implicit Bias training initiative with the Des Moines Police Department and the Des Moines Regional Police Academy. Over 1,000 officers have participated in this face-to-face and online training.
Scroll down for his Message from the President, along with our weekly “Research You Can Use” article about “Keeping the Right Company when it Comes to Associations.
Also, register for this week’s Free Friday Webinar on Aug. 18 from 1-2 pm Eastern: Dr. Adam Wilson and Instructor Allen Shull talk about “The Ivory Tower of Babel: Concerns and Opportunities for ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education.” Learn more about the topic below.
Click here to sign up for this webinar, along with the following usdla.org/webinars
- August 25: “Tapping into Tik Tok: Techniques for Teaching Today” with Shaunice Sasser.
- September 1: “Global Educational Mentorship (GEM)” with Toni Hill, Olimpia Leite-Trambly, and Jane Miller.
- September 8: “Where to Start with IDEAs (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility)? Understanding the Challenges & Opportunities!” with Rosemary Okoiti and Juliet C. Hart.
On Public Policy: Let us know what you’d like to learn in our upcoming Public Policy webinar series by clicking here to complete the proposal form. Webinars are one-hour and include Q&A. Questions, thoughts, ideas? Send an email to committee chair Alexandra Salas: asalas@usdla.org.
We’ll be back in touch on Thursday with our weekly USDLA Brief. All the best! — USDLA Communications Committee
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A Message from the President: Chuck Sengstock
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Hello USDLA Members!
As you know, the mission of USDLA
is to advocate for and support the development and application of distance learning policy, best practices, and technology across education, business, health, and government.
It is a mission that I am thrilled to spearhead as the 2023-24 President of the United States Distance Learning Association (USLDA). The USDLA was the first nonprofit distance-learning association in the United States to support distance learning research, development, and praxis across PreK-12, higher education, continuing education, corporate training, military/government training, homeschooling, and telehealth.
I have worked in higher education leadership roles specific to distance learning for over 30 years and understand the complexities we all face as distance learning leaders. The goals for my term include increasing membership and the benefits we provide to our members. I also plan to identify and advocate for distance learning policies that support the growth of distance learning and educational technology. Advocating for policies that support distance learning is foundational to the USDLA.
However, the success of distance learning is reliant upon the people that administer and support our programs and students. It is the same at the USDLA. The USDLA is only as strong as its Board of Directors. I am pleased to say we have a fantastic board that fully supports me and our members. Hang on for an exciting year of professional learning and networking opportunities.
Thank you to those that are current members, sponsors, and partners. If you are not, please consider joining us! It will be rewarding, I promise.
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Research of the Week: Keeping the Right Company When it Comes to Associations
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When it comes to trade associations, companies have an extraordinarily wide variety from which to choose — representing individual industries and policy positions, to name a few. In the United States alone, there are literally thousands, not even counting the professional associations that might serve a company’s employees.
And therein lies the challenge. How is a company to decide which trade association membership is vital and which might be nice to have?
Association Trade associations exist to bring enterprises together with shared interests to address priority industry issues. Sometimes they want to show a united front to lawmakers, regulators, the public, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or media outlets on various policy issues. Just as often, it is to share industry information on trends, new technology, and best practices or tackle problems together that members face. These associations are often funded with a mix of membership dues, non-dues revenue, sponsorship dollars, and targeted services that support its members.
Any given company might have hundreds of potential associations across a mix of industry-specific and industry-agnostic issues from which to choose. Each association will vary on the issues it addresses, the approach it takes, and the constituencies it serves. Prioritizing memberships has become challenging for companies given the numbers, with various business units sometimes coming to different conclusions and taking it upon themselves to join various groups. This can cause firms to suddenly find themselves members of dozens of associations that serve similar purposes, which can end up being an expensive proposition that prevents companies from getting the most out of their memberships.
Why join? Click here to read more.
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Free Friday Webinar on Aug. 18 from 1-2 pm Eastern: Dr. Adam Wilson and Instructor Allen Shull talk about “The Ivory Tower of Babel: Concerns and Opportunities for ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education.”
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About the webinar: Just as the Tower of Babel symbolized human achievement and ingenuity, stretching towards the heavens, so too does ChatGPT and related AI technologies leave the world in awe of the rapid and transformative advances in technology, along with the seemingly limitless opportunities for progress. However, the Tower of Babel’s tragic downfall is a stark warning of the complexities and pitfalls accompanying technological advancement.
In this session: Dr. Adam Wilson (pictured above right) and Allen Shull (pictured left) will examine the potential for ChatGPT and similar technologies, providing examples of how AI can be implemented in faculty workflows, course creation, and student assessments. Their insights will empower attendees to harness the power of AI in the classroom. Additionally, they will address concerns of academic integrity through ethical pedagogy to meet higher education’s unique challenges as AI continues to reshape the world.
Dr. Adam Wilson is the Director of Online Programs at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi specializing in African American History and is the author of African American Army Officers of World War I: A Vanguard of Equality in War and Beyond. Outside his professional interests in the Civil Rights movement, Dr. Wilson has published and presented on student engagement, experiential learning via gamification, online teaching best practices and pedagogy, and instructional technology.
Allen Shull is an instructor of English at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he has taught through various distance learning modes since 2007. He is currently completing his Ph.D. at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the utopian science fiction novels of Iain M. Banks. Mr. Shull has presented on the late Roman, early medieval, Enlightenment, and contemporary literature, focusing on ecology, alterity, idealism, and technological aspects of pedagogy.
Register today: usdla.org/webinars
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| Thank You to Our National Sponsors
D2L, Instructure, JDL Horizons, Poly, TSU, Verizon, Edu Alliance Group, Harmonize, FDLA, IAP, IPX, Nearpod, ViewSonic, Wolfvision, Anatomage, Arizona Telemedicine Program and Southwest Telehealth Resource Center, GoReact, Huddly, BocaVox, Softchalk, NC Sara, Simple Syllabus, VDO360, VirtualCare, Waldorf University, Merlot, IntelliBoard, FlexPoint, Flo-ops, Logitech, Skills Commons, PIP, Upswing, Yahama Unified Communications, Yellowdig, Questionmark, Perlego, Padlet
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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)
The USDLA, a 501(c) 3 non-profit association formed in 1987, reaches 20,000 people globally with sponsors and members operating in and influencing 46% of the $913 billion. U.S. education and training market. USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking, and opportunity. Distance learning and training constituencies served include pre-K-12 education, home schooling, higher education, and continuing education, as well as business, corporate, military, government, and telehealth markets. Visit USDLA.org
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