Who Can Join FDLA and What Member Groups Does It Serve?

FDLA (the Florida Distance Learning Association) is a nonprofit professional association open to anyone working in or around distance and online education—administrators, faculty, instructional designers, technologists, and student support specialists—across four main sectors: higher/continuing education, K-12, corporate training, and military. Joining FDLA also makes you a basic member of its parent organization, the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

Who FDLA Is For

The association describes its invitation broadly: if you are "seeking to advance the delivery of distance or online education," you are welcome to participate. That covers both practitioners who build and run online programs and the professionals who support them.

The Four Member Sectors

Additional Member Groups

Beyond the four sectors, FDLA says its membership spans a broad spectrum of industries, including:

• Information technology — technologists supporting online delivery
• Consulting — independent and firm-based distance learning consultants
• Area educational agencies — regional education organizations

What You Get as a Member

FDLA's stated purpose is to foster community and amplify thought leadership in distance learning. To do that, it aims to:

• Build a network of people focused on educating, creating knowledge, providing guidance, or running programs related to digital, online, and distance learning technologies.
• Collaborate with educational institutions, cultural centers, community groups, service organizations, and government agencies.
• Share knowledge, experience, and information about strategies and technologies that advance distance learning and benefit education, communities, and local economies.

Membership also connects you to the USDLA as a basic member, which extends your network beyond Florida.

Deciding Whether to Join

Joining FDLA fits if you work in one of the four sectors above (or in IT, consulting, or a regional education agency) and want a professional community focused specifically on online and distance learning in Florida. It is a professional association rather than a credentialing body, so the value is in the network, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing it describes—not in a certification.

One concrete way to engage before or alongside joining is the FDLA/FAMTE 2027 Conference, themed "Beyond Boundaries: AI, Innovation, and Online Learning," which the association bills as the premier event for distance learning professionals in Florida. Registration is listed as open.

Practical Next Step

If the sectors and activities above match your role, the natural first move is to review membership and conference details on fdla.com and register. For questions, the site lists a primary contact: Dr. Hui Fang Huang "Angie" Su, President ([email protected]).