The Blackboard Exemplary Course Program began in 2000 with the goal of identifying and disseminating best practices for designing engaging online courses.  Using a rubric, instructors and course designers are able to evaluate how well their own course conforms to best practices for Course Design, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Learner Support. 

Participants in the Exemplary Course Program and its peer review process have reported that the experience of evaluating their courses using the rubric improved their courses and made them stronger course designers.

For more information visit the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program website.

Interested in learning more about what makes an exemplary course?  Looking for examples from winning courses from previous years? You'll find more information on the winning submissions and the participants who submitted them on the Exemplary Course Program wiki site.

To celebrate the accomplishments of the members of the Blackboard client community we hosted an Awards Luncheon at BbWorld'08 in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can view photos of the event and learn more about the Exemplary Course Program winners, Community Collaboration Award winners, and the Developers Client Innovation Award winners here.

The Blackboard Exemplary Course Rubric is a freely available resource for all interested in designing and delivering engaging online courses. The Blackboard ECP Rubric is available for free download.

The 2010 Exemplary Course Program is now open and accepting nominations!  You can download the submission forms and submit nomination forms online.  We would love for you to volunteer to be a course reviewer and gain professional development experience in the process.