BCCC Math Professor Honored with Blackboard Exemplary Course Award

Beaufort County Community College is proud to announce that mathematics professor Ashley Knox was recognized by her peers with the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program (ECP) Award. The ECP recognizes faculty and course designers from schools, colleges, and universities around the world who develop engaging and innovative courses that represent the very best in technology and learning. Eight courses at BCCC have now earned the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award through the work of six professors. Knox also earned recognition through the BCCC Certified Online Instruction Program, which works in conjunction with the ECP and provides additional training for participants.

Knox was selected a winner for her course MAT 171 (Precalculus Algebra). The course demonstrated excellence in four 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 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.

“Many of our students attend online so they can continue to work and balance busy schedules,” said Knox. “I know some students struggle with taking this course online, so I wanted to develop the class in a way that helps them learn, engage with the challenges presented, and feel confident about their skills at the end.”

For nearly two-decades, the ECP has honored instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practices. Since its founding, thousands of instructors, teachers, and designers have used the ECP 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 learning management system. Submitted courses are evaluated by other course developers, instructional designers, teachers, and professors using the ECP Rubric.

“Ashley has demonstrated that she has contributed an outstanding amount of time and energy for [BCCC] to make sure that learners have an excellent user experience not only in our platform of Blackboard Learn, but that outside of that platform her course was outstanding,” said Dr. Luvon Hudson, client experience manager with Anthology.

“To complete the program, to submit your course, takes hours and hours of hard work and dedication, and Ashley not only completed the program and submitted her course, but she earned the highest level of mastery that the program offers," said Kate Purvis, Blackboard administrator at BCCC.

To show appreciation for the time Knox dedicated to achieving certification, Dr. Lisa Hill, VP of academic affairs, and Dr. Dave Loope, president of BCCC, presented her with a $100 check.

Knox will be recognized alongside other outstanding recipients on the Blackboard website as well as in the Blackboard Community, a platform where the largest organized network of Blackboard users connect, collaborate, and learn from their peers.

Other ECP courses at BCCC include information technology professor Robin Lilly’s CIS-110, music professor Dr. Stacey Russell’s MUS-110 and MUS-112, mathematics professor Dr. Kimberly Mullis’s MAT-110 and MAT-171, criminal justice professor Crystal Watts’s CJC-111, and English professor Justin Littlefield’s ENG-111.

To learn more about the Exemplary Course Program, visit https://www.blackboard.com/resources/are-your-courses-exemplary.