UALR Health Sciences Instructor Nita Copeland received the Arkansas Blackboard Users Group’s (ArBUG) Diamond Award at the group’s annual conference, held this year at National Park Community College in Hot Springs.

Her online Kinesiology course was recognized for meeting the exemplary standards as outlined in the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Rubric.

“To have a peer review of the course assures me that what I’m doing in my online teaching follows best online instructional practices,” said Copeland. “The course reviewers, who are experts in effective practices for designing online courses are saying, ‘Hey, this is good.’”

ArBUG members developed the award based on a recent revisions made to the Blackboard ECP Rubric, which is used to evaluate course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and support for learners.

With the Diamond Award initiative, ArBUG hopes to provide an avenue for outside peer review that is often missing for faculty in the course design process.

“One of the visions I have had for ArBUG includes a program that spotlights what great work Arkansas’s colleges and universities do to deliver online courses to Arkansans in a variety of situations,” said ArBUG president Terry Patterson in his call for submissions.

For more information regarding the Arkansas Blackboard Users Group and the ArBUG Diamond Award, visit arbug.org.