- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock /news-archive/tag/blackboard/ ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:40:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Kanekar to present webinar as part of Blackboard’s Innovative Teaching Series /news-archive/2018/09/05/amar-kanekar/ Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:40:08 +0000 /news/?p=71671 ...]]> Dr. Amar Kanekar, a graduate program coordinator of the Health Education and Promotion program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will present a webinar on service learning in an online course as part of Blackboard’s Innovative Teaching Series. In March, Kanekar was honored as a recipient of the 2017-18 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award for his class, “Health Education Program Evaluation,” a senior-level online course that focuses on health program planning and evaluation. Since winning the award, Kanekar was invited to present a seminar as part of Blackboard’s Innovative Teaching Series of webcasts. Kanekar’s seminar, “E-hybrid model: Service learning in a distance learning course,” will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25. Participants will learn about creating and implementing a service-learning course in an online environment and best practices in using reflections of service-learning work. Another interesting feature of this course is an option for a photovoice project to depict community needs. Kanekar has completed the Blackboard Learn Advanced training and served as a guest speaker for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Summer Academy for Online Teaching Excellence in the past. He has also received a Quality Matters certificate for one of his online courses this year and received one of the first Open Education Resource mini grants from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2017. In continuing his recent achievements, Kanekar has also been accepted as a peer reviewer for the Society for Public Health Education journal, “Health Education and Behavior.” Additionally, his article, “Designing an E-Learning Health Promotion Course: Meeting the National Benchmarks,” has been published in Volume 4, Issue 3 of the journal “Pedagogy in Health Promotion.” For more information and to register for the webinar, visit the]]> Amar Kanekar honored for excellence in online teaching /news-archive/2018/04/09/amar-kanekar-online-teaching/ Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:50:28 +0000 /news/?p=70083 ...]]> When Nita Copeland first met Amar Kanekar in 2012, the new professor was not convinced of the merits of teaching online. “When Amar first came here, I asked him what he thought about online learning. He said, ‘Teachers needs to be in the classroom,’” said Copeland, senior instructor in the School of Counseling, Human Performance and Rehabilitation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Copeland took Kanekar under her wing and taught him everything she knows about online education. Six years later, Kanekar, a graduate program coordinator of the Health Education and Promotion program, was honored as a recipient of the 2017-18 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award during a March 29 reception in the Donaghey Student Center. “Online learning was totally new, and Amar was always so positive. He saw that if you taught online correctly that you can have great results,” said Copeland, who has previously received a Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award. “He has always jumped right in and would try anything.” The Blackboard awards program 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. Kanekar won the award for his “Health Education Program Evaluation,” a senior-level online course that focuses on health program planning and evaluation. “I am deeply humbled by this big honor from Blackboard,” Kanekar said. “I would like to extend my thanks to my coworkers and family. I also want to thank the STAR (Scholarly Technology and Resources office) team for helping me with all my training. There is a very special person here, Nita Copeland, who always motivated me and encouraged me to go for this award.” Cori Schmidtbauer, an instructional designer in the STAR office who is friends with Kanekar, remarked that Kanekar has definitely earned the award through his dedication to teaching. “Amar is very student oriented,” Schmidtbauer said. “He is very passionate about learning and ensuring students get a successful learning experience, especially online students.” Kanekar has completed the Blackboard Learn Advanced training and served as a guest speaker for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Summer Academy for Online Teaching Excellence. He has also received a Quality Matters certificate for one of his online courses this year and received one of the first Open Education Resource mini grants from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2017. In the upper right photo, Amar Kanekar (right) and Nita Copeland (left) celebrate Kanekar’s recent award at a reception in the Donaghey Student Center Leadership Lounge. Photo by Marisa Perry. ]]> Kanekar wins Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award /news-archive/2018/03/22/kanekar-blackboard-exemplary-course-program-award/ Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:18:52 +0000 /news/?p=69854 ...]]> A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor is being recognized for exemplary online learning and online course development. Blackboard Inc., a leading education technology company for teaching, learning and student engagement, selected Dr. Amar Kanekar, graduate program coordinator of the Health Education and Promotion program, as a recipient of the 2017-18 Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Award. The awards program 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. “This is a very nice program,” Kanekar said. “Blackboard encourages faculty to create great online courses. The evaluation criteria is very challenging, so I feel very good about this course after receiving this award.” Kanekar won the award for his “Health Education Program Evaluation,” a senior-level online course that focuses on health program planning and evaluation. Students work together in an online environment to develop and evaluate a public health program. Projects from this semester’s class include heart disease, childhood obesity, smoking, and sexually transmitted diseases. For 17 years, the ECP has recognized instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practices in four major areas: course design; interaction and collaboration; assessment; and learner support. 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 as well as experts using the Exemplary Course Program Rubric. “We’re very proud of this acknowledgement Dr. Kanekar is receiving from Blackboard, Inc.,” said Dr. David Montague, director of eLearning and Scholarly Technology and Resources office. “He has consistently been innovative in his attempt to use best practices as an online educator.” Kanekar is currently completing the Blackboard Learn Advanced training and served as a guest speaker for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Summer Academy for Online Teaching Excellence. “Dr. Kanekar has done his due diligence in understanding how to teach online by successfully receiving a Quality Matters Certification for one of his online courses,” Montague said. “Most recently, he received an Open Educational Resource (OER) mini grant and has given back to fellow faculty by presenting on how he has used OER to benefit both students and faculty. We certainly consider Dr. Kanekar as one of our ‘STaR Performers.’” Kanekar will be recognized at a reception at 2 p.m. on March 29 in the Donaghey Student Center Leadership Lounge. ]]> Grants available for faculty members using open education resources in online classes /news-archive/2018/03/05/grants-available-faculty-members-using-open-education-resources-online-classes/ Mon, 05 Mar 2018 18:04:08 +0000 /news/?p=69628 ...]]> Grant applications are available for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty members who are helping lower classroom costs by offering alternative textbook material for online classes. Applications for the Open Educational Resources Mini Grant are due March 30. To be considered for the grant, all materials must be uploaded to a Blackboard course shell by April 15. Open educational resources are educational materials in the public domain or introduced with an open license, meaning they can be used freely. Educational materials like textbooks, curriculum, lecture notes, syllabi, assignments, and tests would be open to the public and could be used by students and faculty without cost. Winners of the grant will adopt open educational resources for an existing or new online class. Each winner will receive a grant up to $1,000. Last year, 10 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty members were awarded a total of $9,000 in grants funded by a partnership between the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock offices of Collections and Archives, eLearning, and Scholarly Technology and Resources. They will present their use of open education resources in online learning during Open Education Week March 5-9. For more information, contact Carol Macheak, research and scholarly communications coordinator for Ottenheimer Library, at cimacheak@ualr.edu. ]]>