Announcing the new DLAC
As we have been putting the finishing touches on DLAC2025 and getting ready to head to Atlanta, we are also announcing a major transition.
Today we welcome you to the next phase of DLAC, including our brand new website. In this new phase, we are building beyond DLAC as a conference, to a new DLAC as an ongoing, year-round community. The new DLAC will continue to offer the annual onsite conference, plus an online conference, new professional learning communities, webinars offered throughout the year, and other opportunities for community members to grow individually and to support the digital learning field.
The new DLAC represents a major evolution for us. It was after nearly two decades of research and consulting in the digital education space, when we recognized a need for an annual gathering and started the Digital Learning Annual Conference in 2019. At that time, we aimed to start a conference, but found that we were creating a community. The new DLAC formalizes the year-round, community-first approach.
Our new approach is reflected in our new tagline—the Community Advancing Digital Learning. Yes, we know the letters don’t quite line up, but we follow in the footsteps of organizations like iNACOL, SACNAS, and others that outgrew their original acronym. We’ll continue to go by the DLAC acronym you’re already familiar with.
For those of you who will be with us in Atlanta, you will be hearing quite a bit about the new DLAC and what it means for you, including:
Increasing benefits to the schools and organizations that are DLAC members. There is undoubtedly still a place for those who prefer to just show up at the conference once a year, but we are doubling down on services for those who want to invest in connecting and collaborating throughout the year.
New Premium Professional Learning Communities, starting with PLCs for online charter schools, online private schools, and hybrid schools. We will be strongly supporting these PLCs while maintaining existing PLCs in areas such as program design and refining, AI for innovative schools, and the numerous local and state-based groups.
Increasingly member-informed webinars, SPARK!s, and other publications and videos.
Advisory and support services for members and others, to support their missions, advocacy, data-gathering and disseminations, and other efforts to support our digital learning field.
Some readers may be thinking “this sounds similar to the current Digital Learning Collaborative, and the work that the Evergreen Education Group has been doing for decades.” If you’re thinking this–you’re not wrong! Because the transition has two components:
A significant expansion of all the community aspects discussed above, and
A rebrand such that the programs and benefits of the Digital Learning Collaborative and Evergreen will now all be covered under the DLAC brand.
If you’ve been involved with Evergreen or the DLC, you can be confident that you’re not losing anything. You will be gaining a larger community as the new DLAC grows, and our larger community will gain increased effectiveness to shape innovative learning policies and practices.
DLAC will have a major presence in the exhibit hall in Atlanta, and we invite you to stop by, say hi, and chat about your interests.
Thanks for being part of our community, and welcome to the new DLAC. We can’t wait to serve you in a bigger way this year and beyond!