Underlining what matters in higher ed and ed tech: news, vendor updates, and commentary from across the field, in one place.https://theunderline.netlify.app/source/olc/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/do-asynchronous-courses-need-synchronous-sessions-to-succeed/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/do-asynchronous-courses-need-synchronous-sessions-to-succeed/At OLC Innovate this past March, Dr. Tricia Bertram Gallant raised a provocative idea: fully asynchronous courses need synchronous opportunities to truly support student success. I’ll be honest—that landed hard. As someone who has spent years designing and teaching in asynchronous graduate programs, it felt like a bit…Tue, 06 Oct 2026 21:05:02 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/come-for-the-learning-stay-for-the-people/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/come-for-the-learning-stay-for-the-people/There is a moment at every OLC Accelerate when you realize you are no longer standing in a room full of strangers. Maybe it happens over coffee when someone asks where you are from. Maybe you find yourself laughing with someone you met five minutes ago through an Engagement Hub game. Maybe you strike up […] The post…Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:50:26 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/choose-the-occupied-table/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/choose-the-occupied-table/I remember arriving at my first OLC conference in Nashville feeling three things at once: excited, nervous, and a little in over my head. I was eager to learn and meet people who cared about the same things I did, but walking into a conference for the first time can be overwhelming. Conversations are already […] The…Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:47:21 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/ac26-field-guides/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/ac26-field-guides/There is always that moment at a conference when you walk into a room filled with people, scan the crowd, and wonder where you are supposed to go. Maybe you recognize a few faces from LinkedIn or have colleagues attending with you. Or maybe you are standing there thinking, “I literally do not know anyone […] The post…Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:30:24 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/bringing-many-lights-into-focus/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/bringing-many-lights-into-focus/In this time of ever-increasing change for digital learning practices and across educational institutions, we often find ourselves feeling our way around in the dark. Many of us are working as hard as we can to interpret the shadows of a future just around the corner, with uncertainty and instability as our two…Tue, 06 Oct 2026 17:22:40 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/august26-snap-survey/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/10/august26-snap-survey/Technology has long changed how much time and effort students need to complete academic work. Calculators reduce the mechanics of computation. Search tools make information easier to locate. Word processors simplify drafting and revision. Statistical software can perform analyses that would be impractical to calculate…Fri, 02 Oct 2026 21:32:35 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/09/i-gave-students-a-choice/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/09/i-gave-students-a-choice/Artificial intelligence has quickly become part of higher education. Faculty are using AI to brainstorm activities, summarize readings, create study materials, and develop instructional resources. Along with the excitement comes a common question: When students have a choice, will they choose instructor-created…Tue, 22 Sep 2026 14:52:21 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/vendor-trouble/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/vendor-trouble/I know I’m stating the obvious when I say that online and digital learning would not exist without modern technology tools. During my time in higher education, however, I’ve observed that many users of those tech tools (faculty and administrators in particular) express disdain toward the companies that provide them.…Fri, 28 Aug 2026 15:06:20 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/illuminate-the-future/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/illuminate-the-future/Two years ago, we attended an OLC conference and walked away energized by a presentation on an AI tool we had never seen before. We could immediately picture how it would support our students’ learning and how to integrate it into our courses. At the time, it felt like the future of online learning. […] The post The…Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:02:25 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Researchhttps://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/ai-panic/https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2026/08/ai-panic/Think about the last AI conversation you were part of on your campus. Was it about a dazzling new tool someone wanted to get up and running immediately? A policy that got bogged down? A student question that made you realize you don’t have the answer? We’re all having those conversations each day, sometimes every day……Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:57:22 GMTNatalya HierholzerOrgs & Research