UNT Dallas Faculty Honored as Inaugural Winners and Finalists of Excellence in Online Teaching
University faculty members received recognition of their excellent online teaching at a ceremony on Monday April 4. The event started with a reception where guests had the opportunity to enjoy light refreshments and socialize with the honorees. Achievements in the field of distance learning at UNTD, as well as the winning projects, courses and instructors were showcased during the program.
The Excellence in Online Teaching Awards promote superior online teaching, provide models of excellence and innovation for fellow faculty, and encourage all faculty to continue to improve and advance their online teaching pedagogy and their use of instructional technology in support of the teaching and learning process at UNT Dallas.
These awards recognize different ways of engaging students in the online environment and helping them learn through the use of educational technology, from creating and delivering exceptional online lectures and demonstrations to the innovative use of technology to bring courses and subjects to life.
As mentioned by Arturo Cole, director of the office of Distance Learning and Instructional Technology and who acted as MC for the evening, "Integrating technology into education requires a new approach to educational change that infuses new technologies with teaching and learning. We must understand the power of this technological transformation and apply it in redesigning our courses to meet the needs of today’s learners for tomorrow’s technological workforce and we need to embrace the different ways technology in education helps our students connect, learn and succeed."
Dr. Marco Shappeck and Dr. Katie Welch, from the school of education, were distinguished as winners of the Innovative Teaching with Technology Award for improving student learning or engagement through an approach that leverages technology in their Linguistic hybrid courses taught during the 2015 spring semester.
Also receiving recognition during the ceremony was Dr. Amy McCortney as winner of the Outstanding Online Course Award for her Appraisal in Counseling online course taught during the summer of last year as part of the curriculum of the school of Human Services.
"The effort of instructors thinking about what works in the online environment and carefully crafting their course content that makes learning meaningful to students is really important", mentioned Mr. Cole.
A special plaque where the names of the recipients of the awards will be engraved each year was also presented during the program. 'This will be our "Hall of Fame" and will provide an inspiration to faculty, and serves as proof of UNT Dallas appreciation for their efforts and contributions in the field of Online Learning' . The perpetual plaque will hang outside of the Academic Affairs suite in the 3rd. floor of the Founders Hall building for everyone to see.
The awards were presented by Dr. Lois Becker, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Excellence and Student Success, in this meaningful and successful event.
Watch the videos of the winners of the 2015 Excellence in Online Teaching Awards at UNT Dallas:
2015 Innovative Teaching with Technology Award
Dr. Marco Shappeck & Dr. Katie Welch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqalac71TiA
[Video Length 5:57 min]
2015 Outstanding Online Course
Dr. Amy McCortney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0lARruEwE
[Video Length 3:42 min]
