Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt
Rena M. Palloff, Ph.D., LCSW
Rena, along with Keith Pratt, is a managing partner of Crossroads Consulting Group, working with institutions, organizations, and corporations interested in the development of online distance learning and training programs. In addition, Rena has consulted extensively in health care, academic settings, and addiction treatment for well over 20 years and now writes online continuing education courses for human services professionals. Rena is faculty at the FieldingGraduateUniversity, in the Educational Leadership and Change Program, acts as Program Director and faculty, along with Keith, for the academic certificate program, Teaching in the Virtual Classroom. She also teaches in Fielding’s online masters’ degree program in Organizational Behavior/Organization Development. In addition, she is adjunct faculty at CapellaUniversity in the School of Human Services. Previously, she taught classes on organizational behavior and management and leadership on an adjunct basis for the International Studies Program at OttawaUniversity in Ottawa, Kansas in various sites throughout the Pacific Rim. Rena received a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Graduate University.
Keith Pratt, Ph.D.
Keith is currently Associate Dean of Distance Learning and Instructional Technology at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. He began his government career as a Computer Systems Technician with the Air Force in 1967. After leaving the Air Force, Keith held positions as Registrar and Faculty (Charter College), DirectorChapmanCollege, and Trainer and Consultant (The Growth Company). Keith was an Assistant Professor in the International Studies Program and the Chair of the Management Information Systems Program, main campus and overseas, at OttawaUniversity in Ottawa, Kansas. Keith is currently adjunct faculty at The Fielding Graduate University in Educational Leadership and Change and the Teaching in the Virtual Classroom program, as well as at BakerUniversity and WaylandBaptistUniversity. He previously served as a Senior Project Manager for Datatel, working with community colleges throughout the United States and Canada on administrative software installations. Keith graduated from WaylandBaptistUniversity with a dual degree in Business Administration and Computer Systems Technology. He has a Master of Science Degree in Human Resource Management (with honors) from ChapmanUniversity. He holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Graduate University and an honorary Doctorate of Science in Economics from MoscowStateUniversity.
Rena and Keith are the authors of the 1999 Frandson Award winning book Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom (Jossey-Bass, 1999), Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom (Jossey-Bass, 2001), The Virtual Student (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and Collaborating Online (2005). The books are comprehensive guides to the development of an online environment that helps promote successful learning outcomes while building and fostering a sense of community among the learners. Drs. Palloff and Pratt have been presenting this work across the United States and internationally since 1994 as well as consulting to academic institutions regarding the development of effective distance learning programs.
Consulting
Services include faculty development training, faculty coaching for online teaching, development of online training courses, course and online program development, and strategic planning for online program development.
Academic Institutions
University of South Dakota
FieldingGraduateUniversity
JamestownCommunity College
ElginCommunity College
FloridaCommunity College at Jacksonville
JohnF.KennedyUniversity
University of California – San Francisco
GeorgiaState Board of Regents
Ohio Learning Network
Southern Ohio Council on Higher Education
Northern Wyoming Community Colleges
IndianaUniversity Southeast
Missouri Southern StateUniversity
KaplanUniversity
Oregon Consortium of Distance Learning
SeattlePacificUniversity
JohnsHopkinsUniversity
RegisUniversity
Maricopa Community Colleges
Graduate Theological Institute
Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America
NorthwestNazareneUniversity
Walla WallaCollege
Purdue University-Calumet
DallasBaptistUniversity
University of Calgary
ThomasEdisonState College
SimmonsCollege
WoffordCollege
ChristianUniversity Global Network
Bowling GreenStateUniversity
GeneseeCommunity College
Golden Gate Seminary
Professional and Business Organizations
NASW – California Branch
Jossey-Bass Publishers
California Association of Physical Therapists
LERN
University Health Network at Toronto GeneralHospital
Growmark, Inc.
McGrath Systems
Student Affairs Compass
American Physical Therapy Association
University Access
SchoolCity.com
Ninth House
Lee Hecht Harrison – LHH@Home Program
Center for Internet Technology in Education
Chabot/Las Positas Contract Education Division
Conference Presentations
Conference and Other Presentations in 2005:
Starlink/PBS downlinked broadcasts:
Pedagogy 201 for Distance Learning – “Enhancing Interactivity”
Pedagogy 202 for Distance Learning – “Measuring What Matters”
Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration:
Workshop – “Best Practices in Online Teaching” and "Collaborating Online”
Oregon Distance Learning Association:
Workshop – “Best Practices in Online Teaching”
Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System:
Keynote – “ Collaborating Online”
Workshop – “ Best Practices in Online Teaching”
Illinois Online Network:
Virtual Keynote Address – “Collaborating Online”
COWS Conference – University of Houston:
“Best Practices in Online Teaching”
Congresso Internacional de Qualidade Em Educação a Distãncia (International Congress of Quality in Distance Education) – Unisinos, São Leopoldo, Brazil:
Keynote – “Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace”
Workshop – “Best Practices in Online Teaching”
Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, WI:
Workshop –“Collaborate!”
Concurrent presentation – “Promoting Faculty Excellence”
Concurrent presentation – “Learning Communities Revisited”
League for Innovation in the Community College (CIT Conference):
Workshop –“Collaborate!”
Concurrent presentation – “Promoting Faculty Excellence”
Featured presentation – “Learning Communities Revisited”
Roundtable discussion – “Promoting Best Practices in Online Teaching”
Upcoming Conferences in 2006:
League for Innovation in the Community College (Innovations Conference):
Concurrent presentation and roundtable discussion – “Creating Partnerships for Effective Faculty Development”
International Conference on College Teaching and Learning:
Featured presentation – “Best Practices, Personal Intuition, or Scientific Research--How Can Learning be Most Enhanced?"
Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, WI
Beyond the Boundaries Conference – Grand Forks, ND
League for Innovation in the Community College (CIT Conference)
Services
We currently offer the following services:
Effective Teaching for Distance Learning Programs
Web-based Course Development
Academic Computing
Technology Evaluation
Curriculum Design and Evaluation
Front- and Back-end Web Scripting
Web Page Design and Evaluation
Team-building (face-to-face and electronically)
Effective Use of Technology in Organizations
Facilitation in Cyberspace
I am the managing partner of Crossroads Consulting Group, working with institutions, organizations, and corporations interested in the development of online distance learning and training programs. In addition, I have consulted extensively in health care, academic settings, and addiction treatment for well over 20 years. I am faculty at the Fielding Graduate Institute, in the Educational Leadership and Change Program and also in the masters’ degree program in Organizational Behavior/Organization Development. I am also adjunct faculty at CapellaUniversity in the School of Human Services. Additionally, I have taught classes on organizational behavior and management and leadership on an adjunct basis for the International Studies Program at OttawaUniversity in Ottawa, Kansas in various sites throughout the Pacific Rim. I received a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I hold a Masters Degree in Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Graduate Institute.
Along with Dr. Keith Pratt, I am co-author of the 1999 Frandson Award winning book Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom (Jossey-Bass, 1999), Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom (Jossey-Bass, 2001), The Virtual Student (Jossey-Bass, 2003), and the forthcoming Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community (Jossey-Bass, 2005). The books are comprehensive guides to the development of an online environment that helps promote successful learning outcomes while building and fostering a sense of community among the learners. Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace has been translated into Portuguese and Korean. The Virtual Student has just been translated into Portuguese. We have been presenting this work across the United States and internationally since 1994 as well as consulting to academic institutions regarding the development of effective distance learning programs.
Location:
Alameda, CA, United States of America
Web page: