COD staffers earn Blackboard Catalyst Award
College of DuPage English Professor Danica Hubbard of Naperville and Instruction Design Specialist Susan Burdick of Glen Ellyn were recently named winners of the 2012 Blackboard Catalyst Award for Exemplary Course Program. This prestigious national award honors developers of exciting and innovative educational courses that represent the best in technology and learning.
Hubbard and Burdick's English Composition 1102 course was selected to receive the Blackboard Catalyst award on the basis of its design, demonstrated interaction and collaboration, and provision of assessment and learner support. The collaborative team's course was selected out of more than 150 courses reviewed and is the first-ever College of DuPage online course to receive this award.
"I am delighted to accept this award with Susan. It is quite an honor," said Hubbard, who noted that she and Burdick have developed three online courses together. "Our collaborations have been very fruitful, with strong retention rates and excellent student success. This award is just icing on the cake."
Part of the annual Blackboard Catalyst Awards program since 2000, the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award highlights technologically rich, engaging, well-designed and pedagogically sound courses that showcase best practices for the user community. The courses are evaluated in a rigorous peer-review process by more than 250 faculty and instructional designers.
"We applaud the Blackboard Catalyst Award winners and their accomplishments," said Ray Henderson, Chief Technology Officer and President of Academic Platforms 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."
Hubbard, Ph.D., has been a Professor of English at College of DuPage since 1994. She will be honored along with 37 other Exemplary Course Program winners during BbWorld®, Blackboard's annual user conference held this year in July in New Orleans, La.
Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online.
The College of DuPage Online (COD Online) program offers more than 240 courses in 44 disciplines. A number of certificates and associate degrees can be earned entirely online. Online course credits are listed in academic transcripts in the same manner as those for classroom-based courses; certificates and degrees maintain the same full accreditation as traditional programs.
College of DuPage is the largest single-campus community college outside the state of California. Each semester, approximately 31,000 students attend College of DuPage, which offers more than 90 certificates programs and degrees for today's occupational and technical careers, and nine associate's degrees in 59 occupational and 45 transfer pre-baccalaureate programs.
For a complete list of Blackboard Catalyst Award winners visit: blackboard.com/catalyst. For more information regarding COD Online, visit www.cod.edu/online, call (630) 942-2490
or email codonline@cod.edu.