Winners for Blackboard Awards announced!

Leading Change

This award honours institutions who are on the forefront of educational innovation. Those who contextualise, plan for, and generate change in areas such as teaching and learning, technological innovation, software development, and more. It recognises those who have implemented high impact educational strategies that scale. Winners will have developed innovative practices and/or technologies that have had a measurable effect on learning outcomes, student performance, or academic progression.

Winners

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Ravindra Yatagiri,Deepak Kumar Bhatt, Sachin K Rana, Pulkit Aggarwal, Yogesh Verma, Kawardeep Singh.

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies adapted to the pandemic and moved ahead by implementing proctoring tools to check the integrity of the assessments that we are conducting and integrated with Blackboard. They used a multi-pronged strategy to implement this technology that led a change initiative in the teaching learning space. The whole exercise was implemented in a phased manner, making it easier for faculty and students.

Chandigarh University

Shefali Verma, Lokesh Pawar, Sumit Sharma, Vivek Ghai, Rajdeep Kaur, Sachin Kalsi.

Chandigarh University embarked on a complete transformation from conventional teaching to online teaching during a pandemic and often not having good connectivity. This transition incorporated all aspects of teaching with a key focus onutilising pedagogical tools for active classroom engagement and a change to short and crisp assessments. This transition was well accepted by the students with 85% satisfaction rate with the teaching model.

Optimising Student Experience

Woman using computer to optimise online student experience

This award honours those institutions whose educational and administrative innovations have markedly improved the total learner experience. This includes their addressing of new and changing dynamics in fields such as student recruitment, financial aid, enrollment, retention and assessment, graduation, and beyond.

Winners

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Gaurav Misra.

Teaching Life Skills requires high energy as well as high involvement on the part of the learners. The ongoing pandemic has made teaching more challenging, so Gaurav Misra decided to compliment his teaching with a self-invented gamification model. The outcome was an increase of more than 100% in student engagement and involvement, with some students getting so involved with the course that it brought them accolades and achievements at the international level.

Malayan Colleges Laguna

Roel C. Rodrigo, John Mark L. Almarez, Maribel G. Songsong, Anthony Hilmer S. Medrano, James Ronald O. Mesina, Angelito D. Platino, Mabeth B. Francia, Christian Valor M. Sorisantos, Christie C. Amores.

At MCL, nine programs were implemented for the academic year to support and address the needs and well-being of students, using Blackboard Learn as the primary platform. Initially, it was limited to virtual payments for enrolment and tuition transactions, but with the prevailing situation, the majority of student transactions were re-designed to be conducted or delivered virtually using Blackboard Learn and/or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra as the common tool.

Teaching & Learning

Woman using a laptop and getting an idea

This award recognises those who have adopted flexible, distance and online delivery, including using mobile technologies to positively impact the educational experience. Winners will have demonstrated innovative use of the Blackboard platforms, increasing flexibility, furthering learner and instructor effectiveness and efficiency.

Winners

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Dr K. Mohan Reddy.

With over 10,000+ successfully conducted online tests since 2017, Dr K. Mohan Reddy has been instrumental in increasing student satisfaction and allowing students in remote locations to easily and quickly access course materials safely and securely. Through thorough reporting, Dr Reddy and his team have demonstrated the value of using Blackboard Collaborate for conducting classes for a large number of students.

Chandigarh University

Dr. Divneet Singh Kapoor, Dr. Anshul Sharma, Dr. Khushal Thakur, Dr. Kiran Jot Singh.

Chandigarh University re-invented their approach to laboratory courses during the pandemic by using Blackboard Collaborate and a remote Lab facility. They developed the only lab of its kind in India, IoT Lab, with 100 setups used for 10 hours a day for 100 days where students accessed the lab from their homes enabled by Blackboard. This unique and collaborate approach paved the way for better understanding of the concepts, relevancy of the concepts, better teacher-student relationship, and improved teaching-learning process.

National Institute of Education, Singapore

Shamini Thilarajah and Renuka Nasendran.

In response to the needs of faculty who had to shift their course delivery to an online mode within a short span of time, National Institute of Education, Singapore, more than 80 faculty have benefitted from the development a course that teaches faculty the fundamental skills to deliver a blended course. Aligned with the NIE 2030 Future-ready Learners Framework, this course consists of a Readiness Survey and three modules designed to help faculty learn how to effectively design, develop and facilitate a blended course on NTULearn.

Virtual Schools Australia

Paramita Roy.

With a key goal to empower students and teachers to become technologically proficient and utilise technology in their learning and teaching, Virtual Schools Australia, has leveraged the Blackboard platform to teach students how to collaborate with other global citizens in a mindful manner that embraces empathy and accepts the diversity of global learners and citizens. Through the difficult year where many students were feeling isolated, VSA were able to achieve Australian Curriculum outcomes, explore the scope for creativity and innovation to empower students and teachers and they organised a Global Empathy Conference.

About Blackboard Awards

The Blackboard Awards recognises and honors innovation and excellence in the Blackboard global community of practice, where millions of educators and learners work every day to redefine what is possible when leveraging technology.  

Blackboard is focused on highlighting client successes and raising awareness throughout the educational industry by celebrating achievements and milestones. Our community centers on educators and administrators who are passionate about using technology in education and collaborating on best practices. The Blackboard Awards is an opportunity to celebrate these accomplishments and help raise standard for the entire industry.