Introduction: Sept. 2017 Conference Issue (original) (raw)

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is the leading professional organization devoted to advancing quality online learning, providing professional development for administrative leaders, support service individuals and faculty, and producing high-level research and best practice publications. OLC (formerly the Alfred P. Sloan Consortium) started in the 1990s when a small community came together to promote the idea that online learning could be of great benefit to providing access to a quality education. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this community embarked on a number of activities designed to promote the concept that the design and implementation of online and blended learning applications needed to be well-planned and based on sound pedagogical approaches. In 1995, a one-day meeting of grantees of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Anytime, Anyplace Learning Program met in Philadelphia to discuss their work and share their experiences. Ninety individuals attended this first gathering. This meeting grew into an annual event for the next five years. In 2001, it was decided that the event be expanded into a full conference with a formal, peer-reviewed call for proposals and workshops, and would include exhibit areas. The University of Central Florida agreed to host the conference in Orlando in November. That was a fateful decision as the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 followed by the anthrax scare in Florida in October of that year severely limited the number of people willing to fly to Orlando to attend the conference. Still, three hundred and sixty participants attended to share and discuss research, effective practices, student services, and administrative support for online learning. Since 2001, the conference has grown and has evolved into the premiere event for presenting current ideas, research, and best practices in online learning. In 2016, the Online Learning Consortium celebrated the 22nd anniversary of the International Conference on Online Learning by giving it the new name of ACCELERATE. Over 2,000 individuals attended this conference either in person or virtually. Six hundred and seventysix proposals were submitted for presentation, of which 341 were accepted.