FORKS — Liz Sanchez couldn’t contain herself when she learned that she was the only high school teacher in the nation who won one of Blackboard Inc.’s first Bbionic Course contest awards.
“I shrieked out loud when I got the call with the good news,” said Sanchez, a literature instructor at Forks High.
“I’m still blown away by it.”
But what exactly is a Bbionic Course contest award?
Created by Blackboard, Inc. — a Washington, D.C.-based company formed in 1997 that has pioneered Internet-based education software — the Bbionic Course awards are handed out to a few educators nationwide who creatively and effectively use their Internet-based technology to educate students.
Virtual poetry class
Sanchez was the only high school instructor to receive one of this year’s awards, which was given to her for a poetry class she designed through Virtual High School, an on-line education and instruction site for students and teachers at www.govhs.org.
That’s a big deal to Sanchez, who won $5,000 cash from Blackboard and will use that money to help pay for graduate school.
“I was the only winner that was not part of a team,” Sanchez said.
“And all the other winners were from universities.
“This is really a nice thing for our school.”
Sanchez accepted the prize at Blackboard’s seventh annual users conference in Baltimore on April 14.
“Not only did Liz Sanchez’s course serve as a great example of outstanding course design and solid pedagogy, the structure for the course also allowed for a richer, more personalized learning experience than a traditional classroom setting might provide,” said Adrian Alleyne, director of communities at Blackboard.
“We hope that recognizing Ms. Sanchez’s program will encourage other members of the Blackboard community to demonstrate the innovation they are offering in course design.”