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The University of Southampton
Digital Learning

Excellence in VLE Awards

2024 Blackboard and VLE Awards

The student nomination form is now open! You can nominate up to three modules. We encourage you to nominate modules you feel are examples of great online teaching and are tailored for a positive digital experience. Only by sharing your thoughts of what “good feels like” can we help to share this with more modules. Student nominations will close on May 20th, giving you an opportunity to nominate both Semester 1 and Semester 2 modules. 

Nominate a module today, hyperlinked to the nominate form.

 

Why should you nominate a module?

When you nominate a module, good things happen!

Staff self-nominations are now open

Get a head-start on your move to Ultra and self-nominate your module today!

We encourage staff to self-nominate a module to share their experience of designing a good online module. In the Blackboard and VLE awards staff nomination, we focus on discovering innovative course design and the effective use of educational technology. To help our Blackboard Ultra migration project, this year the question set has been designed to align with the University's forthcoming Blackboard Universal Standards. These will underpin module design in Blackboard Ultra.

Staff self nomination banner linked to submission form

2023 Blackboard and VLE Awards

The winners for the Blackboard and VLE awards have been selected by our final judging panel made up of students, academic staff, and members of our Student Union. It is with great pride that we can announce the 2023 Blackboard and VLE Awards winners.

 

VLE Superleague banner

VLE Superleague

In 2020 we launched the Blackboard & VLE Awards superleague, featuring courses that have won previously and are still consistently nominated by students for the outstanding support they provide. For inspiration, tour some of the superleague courses on YouTube or search the Blackboard Course Catalogue for 'Superleague'.

Super League courses

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Awards

Blackboard Catalyst Award 2020 winners logo
Our VLE Awards won an international Blackboard Catalyst Award in 2020

The Blackboard and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) awards are an annual awards that surveys students and staff members to highlight modules they feel represent high-quality teaching. Over the the 12 years the awards have run, we have had close to 50 overall winners, and 1000s of modules have been nominated. Nominating a module helps us to discover good teaching practices across all areas of the University and share these practices further. The Blackboard and VLE awards at its core are an opportunity to ensure course design and delivery at the University of Southampton reflects you. We encourage nominations from all of our learning platforms used to deliver teaching online.

Award-winning courses are chosen for their innovative features and for the high standard of support they offer students. Our final judging panel includes student representation, Associate Deans (Education) and online learning specialists. Our course rubric explains some of the key aspects considered. Find out more about last year's winning courses in our 2023 Blackboard & VLE Awards blog post.

Central to the VLE Awards is the chance to share good practice. Our Award winners are encouraged to contribute case studies of their practice. Short presentations summarising features praised by students, using examples from shortlisted courses, can be viewed below. This is further explored through a series of workshops for staff, which showcase faculty-specific examples of excellent materials, offer practical tips and discuss good design for online learning.

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