Eastern Kentucky University’s online degree programs have once again been recognized for distinction by Blackboard, Inc. The education technology company reviewed courses and programs from around the world to identify the very best in teaching, professional development and course design. EKU received three 2020 Blackboard Catalyst Awards and a 2020 Blackboard Exemplary Course Award. The university has received a total of eight awards from Blackboard since 2014.
“We are extremely proud of all our faculty and staff who were recognized by Blackboard. They create outstanding courses and provide exceptional levels of student support,” said Tim Matthews, executive director, Office of EKU Online.
Ten programs were honored with the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Teaching and Learning, including schools in Spain, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. EKU faculty and staff received two awards in this category. Reviewers applauded schools that promoted flexibility, effectiveness and efficiency for both students and instructors. Instructional Designer Mary Henson, Senior Lecturer Patrick Coen and Lecturer James Grogan won for their work on behalf of the EKU Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The EKU Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program was also recognized. Faculty include Program Coordinator Rachael Hovermale, MSN, ARNP, DNP, Aileen Jones, ARNP-BC, Wanda France APRN-BC, and Anna “Maurine” Hume. The program’s instructional designer is Chris Daniel.
Faculty Development Program Manager Nedim Slijepcevic and the Instructional Design Center won the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Training and Professional Development, which recognizes organization-wide dedication to innovative practices. Other winners in this category were from Azerbaijan, Mexico and United Arab Emirates.
Instructional Designer Mikah Hughes and Assistant Professor Chad Foster received the 2020 Blackboard Exemplary Course Award for HLS 461 Disaster Resilience, part of the Homeland Security Program. This award recognizes top quality course design with a focus on collaboration, student support and assessment.
Winners were honored during Blackboard’s annual international conference, BbWorld, which was held virtually July 21-22. Two EKU graduate degree programs were honored with Blackboard Catalyst Awards in 2019 – master of arts in teaching and master of science in nursing for the family nurse practitioner. To learn more about EKU’s online degree programs, visit ekuonline.eku.edu.