Nita Copeland, an instructor in UALR’s Department of Health Sciences, will receive a Blackboard Exemplary Course Catalyst Award at the Blackboard World Conference this month in New Orleans.

The award recognizes Copeland for her development of her online course, structural kinesiology.

The award honors course creators who demonstrate exceptional course development using the exemplary development rubric to create online courses, including best practices, course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and learner engagement.

“To have my course selected for the Catalyst Award is a surprising and exciting honor, especially considering that courses are submitted and reviewed from all over the world,” Copeland said. “I did not expect to have it selected the first time I submitted it, but thought that I would submit to get the feedback from the reviewers at this level on ways to improve the course.”

Earlier in the year, Copeland received the Arkansas Blackboard Users Group Diamond Award and the Quality Matters Certification Award for her course.