Simone C.O. Conceição
Hall of Fame Class of 2018
Simone C.O. Conceição has been an adult and continuing education scholar and practitioner since the early 1990s. As an innovator in the use of technologies and their application to online teaching and learning, Conceição’s research and publications have served as vehicles to disseminate models, strategies, and effective practices.
Conceição’s contributions to adult and distance education have crossed international borders, and her work and publications are recognized nationally and internationally. She has been involved in international adult education efforts through her university, serving as an ambassador for recruitment, retention, and partnership development initiatives in Brazil. She has been invited to give talks, provide professional development, and collaborate with others in Chile, Dominican Republic, China, Turkey, and Brazil. She has taught at Beijing Normal University in China on the use of concept mapping tools for teaching, learning, and research. She has collaborated with several universities in Brazil resulting in research, publications, and mentoring of visiting scholars.
Conceição’s research on online presence, online faculty workload management, and motivation and retention strategies in the online environment spans her tenure as a faculty member and is an indication of the impact of her research and practice. The Presence Modelhas been used in dissertations, employed in other colleagues’ studies, and is a recurring theme in Conceição’s professional development consultation in and out of the United States. Her work provides depth and breadth of knowledge and has resulted in the development and evaluation of online programs, her students’ motivation to study and practice online education in formal and non-formal environments, and mentoring of colleagues from other institutions who are novice to online teaching. Her work has enhanced online learning and teaching practices and helped her department’s online program be marketed globally.
Conceição has demonstrated the vision, leadership, and ethical values associated with the standards of adult and continuing education professionals through her service to her university and to the national organizations in which she belongs (AAACE, CPAE, and AHRD). She has been a member of the AERC Steering Committee (2016-2017) and a program committee member for the Annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference since 2003 and the Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education (1999-2011). She has received the AAACE Outstanding Service Medallion, the CPAE Career Achievement Award, and the CPAE Early Career Award. Conceição also serves on the editorial board of seven journals and is the co-editor-in-chief of the eLearn Magazine.
Conceição is an outstanding adult educator who practices what she teaches. She has enriched the lives of hundreds of students, the faculty learning community at her own institution, and the professional national and international community of adult educators.