Instructional Designers from the LDC Win Exemplary Course Award

Instructional Designers, Alina Mitchell and Heather Leslie, from USD’s Learning Design Center received the Exemplary Course Award for the course EDUC-519: Instructional Design for Teacher Leaders in the online Master of Education (M.Ed.) program. Alina was the Subject Matter Expert and Instructor and Heather was the Instructional Designer for the course.

The Exemplary Course Program recognizes instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practices in four major areas:

• Course Design: the elements of instructional design, 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.
• Assessment: the evaluation of student work toward the achievement of the learning outcomes and the quality and type of student assessments.
• Learner Support: the resources made available to students, which may be accessible within or external to the course environment.

Submitted courses are evaluated by a peer group using the Exemplary Course Program Rubric.

For nearly two decades, the Exemplary Course Program has honored instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practices. The Exemplary Course Program Awards were expanded when Blackboard combined with Anthology in 2021. Since its founding, thousands of instructors, teachers, and designers have used the Exemplary Course Program to evaluate and improve their courses with recognized best practices. To be considered for the honor, applicants must be a user of the Blackboard Learn by Anthology learning management system. Submitted courses are evaluated by other course developers, instructional designers, teachers, and professors using the Exemplary Course Program Rubric.

“These educators represent some of the very best when it comes to developing courses that engage learners and drive student success,” said Jim Brigadier, President Global Markets at Anthology. “At Anthology, we’re proud to announce the 2023 cohort of Exemplary Course Program Award winners and thank them for their commitment to engaging students and helping them achieve their goals.”

Alina and Heather are being recognized alongside other outstanding recipients on the Anthology website. To learn more about the Exemplary Course Program, you can visit the ECP home page.