Professional Development

New OLC Global Cohort to Explore Advancements in Online Learning

• By Rhea Kelly
• 07/13/21

The Online Learning Consortium is calling for applications to participate in a new cohort that will work collaboratively to identify challenges and opportunities in online and blended learning. The newly formed Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning Global Cohort (IELOL Global) began with a pilot last year and will now continue as a formal offering.   

IELOL Global will select up to 50 participants to "answer specific challenges around digital learning leadership across global and local contexts, including strategies and operations for ensuring equitable and inclusive access to education," according to a news announcement. The program comprises a three-month curriculum with both asynchronous and synchronous online components. Primarily goals include:

• "[Developing and sharing] exemplars of impactful cross-institutional/regional collaboration through global coalitions";
• "Building global communities of practice around transformative and sustainable digital transformation that collect and amplify international perspectives"; and
• "Curating and disseminating participant-created artifacts, uses cases, and other resources that contribute to connected and aligned global change work."

"There has never been a better time to leverage our collective strength in the form of diverse communities of practice, particularly as educators everywhere are positioned to reimagine online learning as informed by the pandemic," commented Angela Gunder, chief academic officer at OLC, in a statement. "I am excited to welcome our community to IELOL Global, and work together to turn our ubiquitous challenges into opportunities to enact critical change work at the hands of international coalitions of educators distributed across the globe."

The cohort is open to "educators and technologists of all experience levels who are interested in advancing online learning globally," OLC said. Applications are due by Aug. 13. General registration is $750 ($500 for OLC members and partner affiliates); financial assistance is available. For more information, visit the OLC site.