Dr. Maha Bali, Opening Plenary Speaker

Wednesday, February 4 10:00-11:30 AM US Eastern

Maha Bali is professor of practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound. She blogs at http://blog.mahabali.me.

"Creating Compassionate Learning Communities Online"

In this interactive session, participants will discuss the Equity/Care Matrix, Compassionate Learning Design model, and the praxis of Intentionally Equitable Hospitality, and discuss how to apply them when teaching and building community online. Participants will also have opportunities to discuss some of their current challenges and brainstorm ways of addressing them in compassionate and equitable ways.

Dr. Heidi McCauley, Second Plenary Speaker

Thursday, February 5 12:30-1:30 PM US Eastern

Heidi McCauley has taught online, hybrid, and on-campus classes for 28 years, which is a very long time to be teaching. Her latest project is a book on technological panic from 1993-today and how writing studies has addressed each of these moments of panic. In her spare time, she crochets, and her goal one day is to rehome all of her rescue plants.

"Oh the Places You have Gone!: The First and Next Decade of GSOLE"

For a decade, GSOLE has connected online literacy educators. From its humble beginnings as the brainchild of Beth Hewett, Scott Warnock, and Heidi Skurat Harris, GSOLE has grown into an organization that supports new research, gives space to alternative voices, and supports online literacy faculty. This retrospective answers the question “Where have we been?” and speculates on the question “Where will we go?”