IAU’s Deanship of eLearning bagged the Blackboard Catalyst Award 2021 for Leading Change
The Deanship of eLearning at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, have been named the winner of the
Blackboard Catalyst Award for Leading Change 2021, which recognizes campuses that have developed and implemented high-impact educational strategies that scale. The awardees have developed practices and/or technologies that have had a measurable effect on learning outcomes, student performance, or academic progression.
Founded in 2005, the annual Catalyst Awards recognize and honor 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. Winners are selected by a cross-functional team of Blackboard experts and represent the very best in their field. As stated by the Lee Blakemore, “We’re pleased to honor this year’s Blackboard Catalyst Award winners for their commitment to improving the educational experience for all learners through EdTech and sharing these insights with the broader community. We’re proud to partner with institutions who are innovating to advance student success.” Mr. Blakemore is Chief Client Officer and President, Global Markets at Blackboard.
The award was announced in presence of Dr. Muneerah B. Almahasheer (Dean) and his team during the Blackboard’s annual user conference, and Catalyst Award function BbWorld 2021, that was held virtually over a two-week period (July 13-15 and 20-22).
Brief about the Practice
Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University has sought to keep pace with new developments in higher education and aspire to make a qualitative leap in leading several transformational eLearning projects. The Basic e-Courses Development and Delivery Project at the Deanship of eLearning is meant to systematically develop e-courses on programs level using the Basic level development process and templates. This is one of the first developed Bb template to adopt the Saudi National eLearning Center new quality standards that guided the IAU faculty members in successfully transitioning to online learning.
Nature of Achievement
- Systematically develop e-courses on technology enhanced level on colleges programs level using the Basic level development process and templates.
- To our knowledge this is one of the first project that adopts the Saudi National eLearning Center quality standards and reflect these standards on Bb template that is easily filled by the faculty members (https://nelc.gov.sa/en/node/115).
- Automatically create templates on Bb to enable faculty members from developing courses that meet the quality standards by filling the developed templates
- Follow up the development of eCourses and provide support for faculty members for huge number of course and faculty members by the assistance of only one instructional designer.
Strategy
- Develop the e-courses on academic programs level.
- Create easy to fill up templates on Bb for the faculty members to fill.
- Assign one instructional designer to follow up with the development process, by reviewing the developed eCouses on weekly bases and provided enhancements comments.
Statistics about the Basic E-Courses Development and Delivery Project
- Geography Program: 43 e-courses
- Information System Program: 24 e-Courses
- Pediatric courses: 4 e-courses
- Computer Science Program: 27 e-courses
- College of Science (Physics – Chemistry – Mathematics – Biology) Programs: 52 e-courses
- Information and Libraries Program: 11 e-courses
- Islamic Studies Program: 25 e-courses
- Business Management Program: 41 e-courses
- Humanities Studies programs: 16 e-courses
