John Silvanus Wilson, Jr., executive director, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), will give the opening keynote address at the annual national conference of the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) on Monday, May, 2 in St. Louis, Mo. The title of Wilson’s address will be Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Online Education Box:“Imitation of Learning?”Wilson will discuss distance education as a real and potential tool for reaching the nation’s 2020 completion goal, and for strengthening the capacity of HBCUs. He will illuminate some of its dangers, particularly in the areas of teaching and learning outcomes.
The USDLA mission is to support the development and application of distance learning, education and training by uniting learners around the world. USDLA’s constituents include pre-K -12 education, higher education, home schooling, continuing education, corporate training, military and government training and telemedicine. The theme of this fifth annual conference is “Distance Learning – Leading the Way.”