Two Marshall University staff members have been named winners of a Blackboard Catalyst Award for Exemplary Course Program.
Dr. Lori Ellison, assistant professor of counseling in the Graduate School of Education and Professional Development, and Paula Kaplan, instructional designer in Instructional Technology/Online Learning and Libraries, received the award, which honors members of the community who design and develop innovative courses that represent the best in technology and learning.
Ellison and Kaplan were honored alongside 37 other Exemplary Course Program winners during the BbWorld, Blackboard’s annual user conference, which took place July 10th-12th in New Orleans.
Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovation solutions with the aim of improving the experience of millions of students and learners around the world. Blackboard’s solutions allow thousands of higher education and K-12, professional, corporate and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security and communicate more effectively with their communities.
Part of the annual Blackboard Catalyst Awards program since 2000, the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award highlights technologically rich, well designed and instructionally sound courses that showcase best practices for those who use them. More than 151 entries were evaluated in a rigorous peer-review process by more than 250 faculty and instructional designers. Submissions were judged on course design, interaction, collaboration, assessment and learner support.
“Designing and teaching an online course titled “Death and Grief Counseling” presents unique challenges,” said Kaplan, “but Lori and I were able to translate her personal engaging style of teaching into a highly interactive and effective online course in part by incorporating some of the new collaboration tools available in Blackboard Learn 9.1 such as wikis. Working with Lori was a great pleasure, and I am truly honored to be recognized with her for this award.”
“I’m so proud and happy the work Paula and I did has been recognized in this way,” said Ellison. “I have learned a lot about effective online teaching in my time here at Marshall and I’m grateful for the endorsement of our work. I am most grateful to Paula for her help and my students who made this course a truly special learning experience for all.”
“We applaud the Blackboard Catalyst Award winners and their accomplishments,” said Ray Henderson, chief technology officer and president of Academics for Blackboard. “Their work represents some of the most innovative thinking in education today and offers great models for how technology can help shape an improved education experience. We congratulate the award winners for their leadership, creativity and passion that is clearly evident in their work.”
