ORANGE BEACH — Columbia Southern University has been named as one of the winners of Blackboard Inc.'s 2022 Exemplary Course Program Awards for excellent course design. The university has won two of the 43 awards given to an international collection of higher education institutions, marking CSU's seventh and eighth Blackboard awards.
The Exemplary Award 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.
CSU professor Jim Marion Ph.D. and instructional designer Cheryl Kula PMP, were awarded for their work creating the Project Stakeholders course.
"We were very focused on putting together a course that will keep students engaged and give them some real-world practice as project managers," said Kula, a two-time ECP award winner.
Instructional designer Elizabeth MacWhinnie, Professor John Willey, Ph.D and Renee Reynolds, Ph.D, received the second award for their work on an English Composition II course.

MacWhinnie said English Composition II is an integrated learning resource course that teaches students the core skills for academic writing through interactive lessons, videos, practice and examples.
"The assignment structure really stands out in this course as students write one paper throughout the course, learn one element of writing at a time, and receive thorough feedback from faculty throughout the writing process," MacWhinnie said. She has also won a Blackboard Catalyst award.
Courses are judged on excellence in the following four areas:
• Assessment: the evaluation of student work toward the achievement of learning outcomes and the quality and type of student assessments.
• Course design: the elements of instructional design, such as its structure, learning objectives, and instructional strategies.
• Interaction and collaboration: the level of engagement offered by the course and the level of student interaction and collaboration.
• Learner support: the resources made available to students, which may be accessible within or external to the course environment.
The Exemplary Course Program has honored instructors and course designers whose courses demonstrate best practices for nearly two decades. The Exemplary Course Program Awards were expanded when Blackboard Inc., merged with Anthology in 2021.

About Columbia Southern University
As an innovator in online education, CSU was established in 1993 to provide an alternative to the traditional university experience. CSU offers online associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees such as business administration, criminal justice, fire administration and occupational safety and health. Visit ColumbiaSouthern.edu or call (877) 347-6050 to learn more.