Online Course Developer Award 2007

What is the Online Course Developer Award?

The Learning Place is Education Queensland’s elearning environment with online learning, communication and flexible community spaces and online resources to support learning, teaching and leadership.

The Learning Place Online Course Developers Award seeks to recognise the efforts of staff who develop online courses to improve professional and student learning.

How many awards are offered?

There will be one award offered in 2007 for $5000.

Three other prizes will be offered in the highly commended category.

How to nominate

Nominations have now closed.

Who is eligible to nominate for the award?

All current Education Queensland staff are eligible to nominate for the award.

What is the selection process?

A panel of three online learning experts will select the award winner based on the selection criteria. The judges may also select a number of applicants as highly commended.

What are the selection criteria?

Nominated courses or units of work will be evaluated against the following selection criteria:

• Presentation
  Presented in a way that is well organised, logical and visually appealing, with appropriate use of media.
• Technical
  Easy to navigate, text is easy to read and all links work. The course/unit of work must be fully developed (ie. a complete course).
• Blackboard
  Makes sound use of the tools available within Blackboard, such as discussion forums, wikis, blogs, or includes assessment and renaming the menu buttons.
• Wider usability
  Other teachers could easily implement the course.
• Pedagogy
  Developed with a good understanding of learning. For example it might use Productive Pedagogies and/or promote higher order thinking skills (eg. reasoning, analysis, problem-solving, reflection). Multiple learning styles/intelligences may be catered for in the activities.
• Interaction
  The course/unit of work should be interactive and provide useful support materials. It should offer multiple opportunities for interaction and communication among students, between students and teachers and between students and content. Allows students to engage at different ability levels.
• Language and conventions
  Grammar, punctuation and spelling are accurate.
• Evaluation
  Evaluation within is authentic and performance-based. Goals and objectives clearly articulated. Course outcomes, instructional strategies and assessment criteria are closely aligned.
• Innovation
  The pedagogical approach is innovative and goes beyond traditional teaching practices, or an innovative method of presentation is used.

What are the conditions of entry?

1. Entry is restricted to current employees of Education Queensland. To be considered for an award, a nominated course must be complete and presented within Blackboard provided through the Learning Place.
2. A nominated course/unit of work may not link to an external established course as a part of the course or unit. To be clear, if the external course was removed, it would make no difference to the nominated course/unit of work.
3. Courses must be completely written and developed by the staff member/s submitting the nomination. To be clear, if contractors, the Learning Place or other such online experts, developed the nominated course/unit of work in whole or part, the course will not be judged.
4. Grant funds will be forwarded to the schools or workplaces of the winners and must be spent in accordance with Departmental policies and guidelines.
5. The grant can only be used for professional learning. Where expenditure would create a Fringe Benefits Tax liability (for example HECS fees) this will not be reimbursed and cannot be paid for out of the grant. The liability must be met by the recipient. (For advice on Fringe Benefits Tax contact the Corporate Taxation Unit on 1300 656 380.)
6. Where funds are used for the purchase of equipment (for example software, cameras) the equipment is purchased through the school and remains the property of the school.
7. Recipients must agree to assist in promotion and release their details for publicity purposes.
8. By nominating for the award, the nominee accepts that the Learning Place may use a nominated course/unit of work for promotional purposes, listing in the Curriculum Exchange and use as a Ready-to-go course for all Queensland teachers.
9. Judging for the award took place after close of business 20 August 2007.
10. The judges' decision will be final.

Key dates

Further information

For further information about Online Course Developers Award contact:

Rebecca McLeish
Online Learning Manager
Advisory and Development Services
eLearning Branch
Tel: 3421 6641
Fax: 3421 6401
Email: rebecca.mcleish@deta.qld.gov.au