The Wayne State University Technology Resource Center’s Faculty Support Team, led by Associate Professor Geralyn Stephens, was named a winner of the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Staff Development, which honors community members who use Blackboard solutions to create, support and enhance faculty and staff development skills, providing a better organization-wide learning experience.
Recognized at both the program and individual levels, winners were acknowledged for implementing effective and creative ways to support faculty that went beyond a help desk. Several of the highlighted programs shared and created course content for entire program usage, leveraged tools effectively to internally support their programs and provided innovative training methods for faculty and staff.
The Blackboard Catalyst Awards program annually recognizes and honors innovation and excellence in the Blackboard global community of practice, where teachers and learners work every day to redefine what is possible when leveraging technology.
The Technology Resource Center (TRC) Faculty Support Team increased faculty use of Blackboard by implementing faculty support strategies such as templates and standardized modules, a peer-to-peer Online Teaching Network, and real-time virtual and face-to-face help options.
“Catalyst Award winners represent some of today's finest examples of leveraging technology to improve the education experience,” said Ray Henderson, chief technology officer and president of academic platforms at Blackboard. “Each winner has established best-in-field approaches in critical areas including online learning, course development, school communication and mobile education. We congratulate the winners on their vision and excellent work, and we celebrate this accomplishment with them.”
Geralyn Stephens and Cindy Sulad, part of the TRC Faculty Support Team, will be honored alongside other Blackboard Catalyst Award winners during BbWorld®, Blackboard’s annual user conference, to be held in July in Las Vegas.
Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard’s solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online.
For a complete list of Blackboard Catalyst Award winners please visit: www.blackboard.com/catalyst.
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.