• Cross Paper 8: Increasing Engagement for Online and Face-to-Face Learners Through Online Discussion Practice
• Merlot Speaker Bureau

About the speaker...
Alice Bedard-Voorhees has taught English and Education courses with Colorado Community Colleges Online, served as faculty chair for Arts and Humanities, and is currently involved with curriculum design and delivery in faculty development. Her key role these days is the support of learners and faculty in course experiences.

Much of her life has involved crossing distances for learning connections--her first post-baccalaureate position involved converting a motor home to an adult-education classroom and library and driving it to nine reservation communities in North and South Dakota. Over time, she became very interested in the design and delivery of instructional models to answer these questions, "What does the learner need, and what are some possible ways to structure a successful experience?" Similar questions led her to work with Western Governors University, and with two curriculum projects for Community Colleges of Colorado on her way to CCCOnline.

The need to be a self-directed, continuous learner is evident everywhere a person looks. Out of this challenge has come the opportunity to facilitated both for-credit and workforce learning in two-, four-, and workplace settings. These class experiences were sometimes face-to-face, sometimes hybrid, sometimes on-line. And now, though technologies offer even more ways to structure learning, sound instructional practices and learner support are at the center of all successful efforts.

Publications

• Increasing Engagement for Online and Face-to-Face Learning Through Online Learning Practices : The Cross Papers Number 8 (2005). Phoenix, AZ: League for Innovation in the Community College.
• "Facilitating Asynchronous Discussions." (2005). Encycyclopedia of Distance Learning, pp. 912 Ð 917. Hershey, PA: Idea-Group, Inc.
• "Assessment of Online Education: Policies, Practices, and Recommendations" (with J. Milam and R.A. Voorhees). (2004). Developing and Implementing Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes, pp. 73 Ð 85. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• "Creating and Implementing Compentency-Based Learning Models." (2001). Measuring What Matters: Competency-Based Learning Models in Higher Education, pp. 83 Ð 95. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• "Pull and Push: A Select Webliography of Products Serving Section 508." (2003). The Design and Delivery of Web-Enabled Teaching Tools, pp. 241 Ð 248. Hershey, PA: Idea Press.

Online Communities:

• Merlot Speaker Bureau: http://taste.merlot.org/initiatives/vsb/

Blogs:

• http://globe-trotteru.blogspot.com
• http://qualitypractices.blogspot.com
• http://learning-centered.blogspot.com