Exemplary Course Award Recipient

I am honored to have received an Exemplary Course Award, on behalf of Blackboard, for the course EAD 505: Adult Learning Theory. The award was recognized with Exemplary status through a review by higher education peers.

Congratulations on this achievement to the design team: Whitney Boswell, Senior Instructional Designer; Erin Thornbury, Director eLearning; Mary Mara, Director of Library Services; Carolyne Begin, Associate Director, Instruction; and Pressley R. Rankin IV, Associate Professor.

The reviewers scored the course with a nearly perfect score of 164 out of 174 while noting that: "All we have is 1 word: WOW!!!" More specifically the reviewers found that: "It was obvious from the start that the course was well thought out and designed with the principles from Bloom's taxonomy and for student achievement. With no knowledge of the content it was easy for our team to go from module to module and locate the information we required. The variety of communication and interaction with the students and between the students was impressive. Having at least 1 class collaborate session and any individual session was a great balance for a 100% on-line course. We were impressed with the turn-around time for emails and weekly work. The assessments were extraordinary. To quote the applicant 'This included multiple assignments that built up to larger summative assessments (annotated bibliography conducted collaboratively on a wiki leading up to a research paper). It is here that applied, relevant and practical assessments were integrated and which offered students to explore the learning content in a creative and varied way both individually as well as collaboratively.' The consideration for the students in having links to the material or smaller chunks: instead of large file downloads showed an efficient and purposeful design. The support for the learner is not hidden but found everywhere in the course. This support is delivered in a variety of ways so all Learners have access to the materials and various forms of help. Kudos to all involved."

When asked to provide constructive feedback on how specific areas of the course can be improved the reviewers noted that:

"We really couldn't find any and we tried..."

Thank you to everyone involved in this collaboration and I am looking forward to working on continuous course improvements.

About the Award

The Exemplary Course Award, on behalf of Blackboard, recognizes faculty and course designers from schools, colleges, and universities around the world who develop exciting and innovative courses that represent the very best in technology and learning. The Blackboard Exemplary Course Award recognizes courses demonstrating excellence in four areas:

• Course Design: the elements of instructional design in an online course, such as its structure, learning objectives, and instructional strategies.
• Interaction and Collaboration: the level of engagement offered by the course and the level of student interaction and collaboration taking place within an online environment.
• Assessment: the evaluation of student work toward the achievement of learning outcomes and the quality and type of student assessments within the course.
• Learner Support: the resources made available to students as a part of an online course, which may be accessible within or external to the course environment.