Published by: WCET | 3/6/2025
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Learning, Digital Learning Operations, Distance Education, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, Technology, WCET
Hello WCET Community!
As the WCET Steering Committee Chair, I am honored to work with our members to help guide the content, themes, and activities that inform WCET’s work throughout 2025. Collectively, the Steering Committee selected two key topics to focus on this year:
Over the next several months, the Steering Committee work groups will seek your input and engagement to help shape these topic areas and their outcomes.
Digital learning has gained traction as an important aspect of education, but often, digital learning doesn’t have a coordinated, shared-service role within the institution. For those of us in the digital learning field, there are can be online enrollment growth mandates from above us, with little institutional or financial support for effective, consistent implementation and expansion. How we define digital learning and strategically align it with the mission of our institutions is critical to online programs success.
This year’s work group focused on this topic intends to surface effective communication strategies to showcase the importance of digital learning and the role of digital learning professionals to key stakeholders.
Such strategies can be used to help those stakeholders understand the value and opportunities, as well as the resource allocation needed for support services, instruction, policies, planning, and evaluation. We are looking for effective communication strategies exemplars from a variety of institutions. Please share your communication approach by emailing WCET.
The pace of artificial intelligence adoption and the ubiquitousness of emerging tools are overwhelming. Faculty, staff, and students have vastly different comfort levels with this technology and a wide range of sentiment towards it, from enthusiasm to disillusionment. We know the AI we have today will only become more advanced and prevalent. We risk leaving our students unprepared for future workplace skills and expectations if we don’t engage with AI tools and create AI engagement strategies simulating the contemporary work environment.
The WCET workgroup on artificial intelligence is specifically exploring institutional opportunities and challenges associated with AI. Institutions will need to establish clear policies that promote responsible, ethical use of AI while also preparing students to engage critically with these technologies. The workgroup intends to develop resources to help institutions better prepare students and faculty for using AI responsibly, ethically, and efficiently.
New resources, toolkits, and other information are rolling out every day, and it’s hard to stay current with the information avalanche. The group’s work aims to be a valuable, just-in-time resource to support students and faculty without adding to the overwhelm.
In addition to our two key focus areas of digital learning operations and artificial intelligence, WCET themes during the next few months cover a wide range of digital learning in higher education topics:
WCET will use these themes to guide its programs and events. Look for webcasts, member-only Closer Conversations, member-only resources, and blog articles about these topics and more over the next year.
We know these are important topics, but we also know these are interesting times, and that ongoing support, guidance, and community support are more critical than ever.
WCET excels at informing the higher education digital learning community about policies and their potential impacts on higher education.
We know WCET clarifies national and state policies, regulations, and rules affecting institutions and students. WCET is adept at making confusing concepts understandable, which is one of the reasons I’ve always looked to them for help and will continue to do so as we navigate whatever is next on the horizon.
Thanks so much for being an engaged member, and I look forward to our continued conversations and support for one another on MIX.
WCET Steering Committee Chair, WCET Executive Council, Assistant Vice Provost, Online Learning and Innovation, The Ohio State University (Re-elected October 2022)