2022-2023 Webinars: Call for Presenters

The Global Society of Online Literacy Educators, an organization dedicated to supporting hybrid and online teacher-scholars and tutors, invites you to submit proposals for our upcoming Webinar Series: Globalising literacies: Fostering engagement and innovation in HyFlex instruction.

GSOLE's webinars are designed to spark conversation, provide professional development, share ideas, and build community. Webinar recordings are made available to GSOLE members in an online archive, and webinar leaders are encouraged to transform their webinar topics into ROLE or OLOR publications. We welcome proposals that include a single webinar leader or a group of 2-3 leaders.

As students and staff start trickling back to campus, instructors need to consider how to adapt pedagogy to the “new normal.” Students have had a taste of remote and flexible learning, and universities worldwide are adapting to the potential of a global student market. For those students for whom time demands and travel are difficult (if not impossible), online learning will likely become an important way to access higher education.

Universities are increasingly calling for instructors to engage in hybrid flexible – “HyFlex” – learning, providing synchronous teaching to students who attend both in person and online. While this is an important step to improving students’ ability to attend classes, it requires instructors to understand, plan, and leverage multiple communication points and technological tools. It carries a number of implications for equity, both in terms of students’ access to technological resources and impacts on instructors’ planning time. While we have always invited individuals to discuss hybrid instruction, this year, we would like to focus exclusively on scholarship around practical solutions for HyFlex instruction.

Submit your proposal via email to webinars@gsole.org by Friday, August 19th.

These hour-long webinars are designed to bring literacy educators together for conversations about a range of issues, including, but not limited to:

• Globalization of the face-to-face learning space through technology
• Innovative use(s) of technology in HyFlex teaching
• Issues related to equity and access where significant technological variability may exist
• Transcending barriers between online and face-to-face students in a globalised, synchronous hybrid environment
• Strengths-based teaching – leveraging the affordances of diversity in a synchronous hybrid environment
• Writing center pedagogies and HyFlex instruction – globalising writing workshops, discussion groups, and writing consultations
• Humanizing the digital environment
• “Practical” HyFlex – approaches for streamlining planning and instruction and engaging all students
• Hybrid course design that emphasises support for diverse student cohorts (e.g., HyFlex teaching at the intersection of disability studies or linguistic diversity)
• Inclusive and equity-based methods & methodologies for research on HyFlex instruction

The 2022-2023 series will include at least four webinars, tentatively scheduled for November, February, and March, and May. In your proposal, please include the following:

1. Webinar Title
2. Webinar Leader(s) name, institutional affiliation, contact information, and a brief bio
3. The preferred month(s) in which you would like to hold your webinar (e.g. offer a ranked list or indicate if one month(s) is not possible)
4. A 500-word description that includes:
   • What topics the webinar will cover
   • Ways in which the webinar will be interactive
   • How this webinar will benefit online literacy educators

Upon acceptance, you will work with the co-chairs to schedule your webinar. You will meet (virtually) with the co-chairs one month in advance of your webinar, and then again a few days prior to the webinar, to coordinate logistics. The co-chairs will provide technical support and are happy to help you prepare for the webinar. Presenters are also encouraged to to transform webinars into publications for GSOLE’s OLOR or ROLE.

If you have questions about the proposal process or would like to submit a proposal, please contact us at webinars@gsole.org.