Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

Every year, the Online Learning Consortium holds two flagship conferences: OLC Accelerate, held in the fall, and OLC Innovate, held jointly with MERLOT each spring. This past year, OLC Accelerate 2022, was held virtually November 1-2, 2022 and live, in Orlando, Florida, November 14-17, 2022. OLC Innovate 2023, was held virtually April 4-6, 2023 and live in Nashville, Tennessee, April 18-21, 2023. The Online Learning Journal solicits research papers from those who have presented at the most recent OLC Accelerate and Innovate conferences for the annual September issue. In this special section, we feature three articles that showcase some of the research that is being conducted related to online and blended learning. Much of the work showcased at our conferences presents case studies and research from faculty and practitioners in the field. The growing focus on online learning due to the pandemic has resulted in many new models, approaches, issues, and applications being deployed to address instructional needs in the virtual classroom. These provide a valuable opportunity to examine how faculty and researchers are adapting their instruction to provide quality online learning across various institutions and disciplines.