Congratulations to Jason Rhode, associate vice provost for Teaching, Learning, and Digital Education at NIU on being named to the 2023 Class of Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellows! This honor recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of digital leadership, digital education and online learning.
Recognition as an OLC Fellow is one of high professional distinction and is conferred upon individual members of the OLC by its Board of Directors for outstanding work within online learning, extraordinary contributions to the field, distinguished service to OLC and extraordinary leadership. “These exemplary individuals and institutions have demonstrated unwavering dedication, innovation and leadership in advancing online, blended and digital learning,” said Jennifer Mathes, CEO of the OLC.
Rhode is being honored for “Visionary Leadership and Dedication to Mentoring Future Leaders in the Field.” He joins four others in this year’s prestigious class of leaders, and will accept the award later this month at the OLC Accelerate annual conference in Washington D.C.
“I’ve gained so much from the OLC community over my two decades in the field of online learning and taken advantage of every opportunity to give back and help raise up the next generation of leaders who will continue to shape our future,” said Rhode. “We do all we can at NIU to provide a supportive environment where our faculty can create outstanding teaching and learning experiences for our students, and we are glad to have the collaborations with OLC in this process.”
This is the 14th year the OLC has recognized outstanding contributions in this manner. Fellows are nominated by others in their field; these nominees then go through an evaluation process with a substantial set of criteria:
- Outstanding qualifications in the field of online learning.
- Significant experience in online learning or an allied field.
- Extraordinary contributions and leadership in the field of online learning.
- Distinguished service to OLC or the field.
“Jason is an amazing leader and colleague who is dedicated to supporting high quality teaching and learning at NIU,” said Dr. Laurie-Elish Piper, NIU interim executive vice president and provost. “Our faculty and students have greatly benefited from Jason’s innovative work during his time at NIU, and it is great to see him receive this well-deserved recognition.”
Rhode provides leadership and oversight for university initiatives to support all members of the NIU community who have a teaching role, including faculty and graduate assistants who assist in NIU’s teaching mission. Rhode leads the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) and oversees digital learning. He serves as the chief digital learning officer and defines and implements processes to deliver high quality digital learning.
The Online Learning Consortium is the leading professional online learning society devoted to advancing quality e-Education into the mainstream through creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended and digital learning while driving innovation. The growing worldwide OLC community includes faculty members, administrators, trainers, instructional designers, and other learning professionals, as well as educational institutions, professional societies and corporate enterprises.
View the full list of 2023 OLC Accelerate Award Winners and Fellows.
This article originally published in NIU Today, October 16, 2023.
