eLearning Hosts National Distance Learning Week Webinars

by Timothy Howard, Digital Media Coordinator

During the week of November 7–11, 2016, Texas Tech University Worldwide eLearning participated in National Distance Learning Week (NDLW.) NDLW is a week-long event hosted each year by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) to highlight the growth of distance education worldwide. In celebration, TTU Worldwide eLearning hosted learning webinars for TTU faculty throughout the week that were aimed at providing helpful tips and strategies to assist them in teaching online courses even more effectively.

The week kicked off the morning of Monday, November 7, with a webinar hosted by USDLA entitled "Align and Redesign" which focused on how to transform an online course. The webinar was held at the Teaching, Learning and Professional Development Center at the TTU Library and many faculty members were in attendance. The online faculty were also given opportunities to meet the TTU Worldwide eLearning staff and have any questions answered regarding teaching their online courses.

Throughout the week, coffee, pastries and other refreshments were also provided for attendees to enjoy. TTU Worldwide eLearning Instructional Designers Anita Nunez and Veronica Sanchez coordinated the week's events and assisted faculty with any questions as they arose. "Getting to see our faculty is always a treat! Meeting new faculty and telling them about our services is also great," Veronica said. "We hope faculty learn about best practices and innovative ways to engage students and provide unique learning opportunities."

Another standout learning session, according to Veronica, was the session on Mediasite and the library's session on copyright. "I hope what instructors take away from the learning sessions and in general from the NDLW is that we, eLearning, are here to help them create quality online courses whether it is meeting in person or sharing resources," Anita said. "Students benefit when online instructors invest time and effort in creating quality online courses."

"We hope faculty learned some best practices and innovative ways to engage students and provide unique learning opportunities," Veronica added.

Texas Tech University Worldwide eLearning thanks online faculty that attended National Distance Learning week webinars.