fdla.com

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]).

FDLA serves its members and the wider distance learning field through four main activities: building a professional network, collaborating with outside organizations, sharing knowledge about distance learning strategies and technologies, and running the association through board committees. It is a nonprofit professional association for distance educators in Florida, and it is affiliated with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). If you work in online or distance education and want a professional community plus a connection to a national body, FDLA is structured around those needs.

A Network of Distance Learning Professionals

FDLA's stated purpose is to foster community and amplify thought leadership in distance learning. To do that, it aims to establish a network of people whose focus is to educate, create knowledge or communications, and provide guidance or programs related to digital, online, and distance learning technologies.

The association describes its membership as spanning a broad spectrum of industries, including:

• Higher and continuing education
• K-12
• Corporate training
• Military
• Information technology
• Consulting
• Area educational agencies

The site also welcomes specific roles: administrators, faculty members, instructional designers, technologists, student support specialists, and other distance learning professionals.

Collaboration Beyond the Association

FDLA aims to collaborate with educational institutions, cultural centers, community groups, service organizations, and government agencies. The goal of these partnerships is to share knowledge, experiences, and information about strategies and technologies that advance distance learning and benefit education, the community, and local economies.

For members, this means the association's reach extends past its own roster into schools, agencies, and community organizations working on the same problems.

Sharing Knowledge and Strategies

A core part of what FDLA does is knowledge exchange: strategies and technologies for advancing distance learning. The most visible example is the annual conference, which the site describes as the premier event for professionals in Florida's distance learning industry.

The next conference is the FDLA/FAMTE 2027 Conference, themed "Beyond Boundaries: AI, Innovation, and Online Learning." Registration is listed as open now. The site also references sponsorship and partners, which support the organization's activities.

How the Association Is Run

FDLA is led by an active group of educational, nonprofit, and corporate professionals dedicated to helping the organization grow. The Board of Directors meets regularly as part of multiple committees covering:

• Conference planning
• Administration
• Governance
• Publication-related business

This committee structure is how the association's events, operations, and publications get organized.

Membership and the USDLA Connection

When you join FDLA, you also become a basic member of the USDLA, its parent organization. That dual membership is the clearest practical benefit described on the site: local, Florida-focused professional community plus a national affiliation.

The site lists a primary contact for the organization: Dr. Hui Fang Huang "Angie" Su, Ed.D., President, with the email [email protected]. Prospective members who want details on joining, dues, or member obligations should direct questions there, since the site itself does not publish pricing or a detailed membership tier structure.

Is FDLA a Fit for You?

FDLA is a reasonable fit if you are a distance learning professional in Florida—or working with Florida institutions—who wants a professional network, conference access, and a USDLA basic membership. It is less relevant if you are looking for a vendor, a degree program, or a formal accreditation body; the site describes a professional association, not a regulator or provider.

To move forward, review the membership and conference pages on fdla.com, or contact the president's listed email with specific questions about joining and the 2027 conference.

The Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA) is a nonprofit professional association for people who work in distance and online education in Florida. It is relevant if you are an administrator, faculty member, instructional designer, technologist, student support specialist, or other distance learning professional who wants to connect with peers and advance online education delivery. The site describes FDLA's purpose as fostering community and amplifying thought leadership in distance learning.

Who FDLA serves

FDLA's membership spans a broad spectrum of industries and roles. The site lists these member sectors:

• Higher/continuing education
• K–12
• Corporate training
• Military
• Information technology
• Consulting
• Area educational agencies

If your work touches online or distance learning in any of these settings, FDLA is designed for you.

What FDLA does

The association states three main aims:

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

Affiliation with USDLA

FDLA is affiliated with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). According to the site, when you join FDLA you also become a basic member of USDLA. This gives members a connection to a national organization in addition to the Florida-focused network.

Conference and events

FDLA hosts an annual conference, described as the premier event for distance learning professionals in Florida. Registration is currently open for the FDLA/FAMTE 2027 Conference, themed "Beyond Boundaries: AI, Innovation, and Online Learning." If you want to attend, check the conference page on fdla.com for registration details and the program.

Leadership and governance

FDLA is led by a board of educational, nonprofit, and corporate professionals. The Board of Directors meets regularly through committees handling conference planning, administration, governance, and publication-related business. The site lists Dr. Hui Fang Huang "Angie" Su, Ed.D., as President, with the contact address [email protected].

Should you join?

Consider FDLA if you want a Florida-based professional network in distance learning, access to an annual conference, and a link to USDLA through membership. The site invites participation from distance learning professionals but does not publish membership pricing or detailed eligibility rules, so check fdla.com directly for current membership terms before deciding.

The FDLA/FAMTE 2027 Conference is the Florida Distance Learning Association's annual conference, described on its website as "the premier event for professionals in the distance learning industry in Florida." Its 2027 theme is "Beyond Boundaries: AI, Innovation, and Online Learning," and registration is open now. It is co-branded with FAMTE, though the site does not spell out what that partnership involves.

What the conference is

FDLA presents the event as its flagship gathering for the state's distance learning community. The theme signals a program oriented around artificial intelligence, innovation, and online learning—topics that track the association's broader mission of advancing digital, online, and distance learning.

The site does not publish the 2027 agenda, session formats, speaker lineup, venue, dates, or fees. If you need those details before committing, treat the registration announcement as a prompt to check the conference page directly rather than a complete briefing.

Who it's for

FDLA's membership spans a broad spectrum of distance learning roles and sectors, and the conference is pitched at the same audience:

If your work touches any of these areas in Florida, you fall within the intended audience. Professionals outside Florida are not excluded by anything on the site, but the framing is explicitly state-focused.

Why it may be worth attending

• Theme relevance: AI and online learning are the stated focus, which suits practitioners evaluating or adopting these tools.
• Network access: FDLA's purpose includes building a network of people who educate, create knowledge, or provide guidance on distance learning technologies—a conference is the natural venue for that.
• Institutional reach: The association collaborates with educational institutions, cultural centers, community groups, service organizations, and government agencies, so attendees may encounter cross-sector peers.
• USDLA connection: FDLA is affiliated with the United States Distance Learning Association, and joining FDLA also makes you a basic member of USDLA—relevant if national-level resources matter to you.

Practical next steps

1. Confirm the logistics. The site confirms registration is open but not the dates, location, or cost. Verify these on the conference page before planning travel or budget.
2. Check the program. With only a theme published, review session topics once available to judge fit with your role—an instructional designer and a K–12 administrator may weigh the same agenda differently.
3. Consider membership alongside registration. Because FDLA membership includes basic USDLA membership, compare the combined value against attending as a non-member; the site does not state whether members receive registration discounts.
4. Ask about the FAMTE partnership. If the co-branding affects session tracks or audience, that is worth clarifying with the organizers.

What the site leaves open

Several details a prospective attendee would want—exact dates, venue, pricing, submission deadlines for speakers, and refund policies—are not provided in the available material. The safest approach is to use the registration link as an entry point and confirm specifics with FDLA directly; the listed primary contact is Dr. Hui Fang Huang "Angie" Su, President, at [email protected].

The FDLA website lists Dr. Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su, Ed.D., President, as the primary contact, with the email [email protected]. To learn about partners, the same site identifies the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) as FDLA’s parent organization and thanks supporting companies on its partners section. These details are best for someone who wants a direct leadership contact or a quick view of FDLA’s organizational affiliations; the site does not publish a phone number, office address, or a full partner directory in the provided page content.

Contacting FDLA Leadership

Primary contact

Use this contact when your question is about FDLA itself—membership, the organization’s mission, or general association business. The page presents this as the primary contact rather than a general inbox, so keep the message specific and include your affiliation (for example, higher education, K–12, corporate training, or military) if it is relevant to your inquiry.

Board and governance

FDLA says it is led by an active group of educational, nonprofit, and corporate professionals. The Board of Directors meets regularly through multiple committees covering conference planning, administration, governance, and publication-related business. The site points readers to a “Learn more” path for board information, so if you need a specific board member rather than the president, start from the board section of the site and use the listed contact route there.

What to include in a message

A useful first email to the president’s address would state:

• Who you are and your organization type
• What you are asking about (membership, conference, sponsorship, or partnership)
• Any deadline or event date that affects your request

Expected result: you reach the person the site designates as primary contact. If your question concerns a committee or a specific board function, ask for the appropriate committee contact rather than assuming the president handles every operational matter.

Learning About FDLA’s Partners and Affiliations

Parent organization: USDLA

FDLA is affiliated with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). The site states that joining FDLA also makes you a basic member of USDLA. This is the clearest partnership detail on the page and matters if you are comparing membership value: one FDLA membership carries a USDLA basic membership as part of the arrangement, as described on the site.

Sponsors and supporting companies

The partners section thanks companies for their continued support of FDLA. The provided page content does not list individual sponsor names, so to see the current supporters, go to the sponsorship or partners area of fdla.com rather than relying on a static list.

Sponsorship inquiries

If you are approaching FDLA as a potential sponsor rather than looking for existing partners, the site has a sponsorship section. Use the primary contact above and identify your message as a sponsorship inquiry so it can be routed appropriately.

Membership Context That Shapes Partner Questions

FDLA describes its membership as distance educators from a broad spectrum of industries, including:

• Higher and continuing education
• K–12
• Corporate training
• Military
• Information technology
• Consulting
• Area educational agencies

This matters for partner questions because FDLA’s stated aims include collaborating with educational institutions, cultural centers, community groups, service organizations, and government agencies, and sharing knowledge about distance learning strategies and technologies. If you are seeking a partner for a project, frame your inquiry around one of these collaboration areas rather than a generic request.

Quick Reference

Common Snags

• Expecting a general contact form or phone line. The provided content gives only the president’s email as the primary contact, so plan around email.
• Assuming the president handles every topic. For conference, sponsorship, or committee matters, say so in your subject line so your message can be directed correctly.
• Looking for a named sponsor list. The page acknowledges supporters but does not enumerate them in the available content; check the live partners section for current names.
• Confusing FDLA membership with USDLA membership tiers. The site describes a basic USDLA membership included with FDLA membership; confirm any additional USDLA benefits directly with USDLA if that distinction affects your decision.