Kentucky Virtual Campus

KYVC Excellence Awards - Past Winners

2009 - Wanda Lot Collins

KYVC Excellence Awards Ceremony. Pictured: Robert King, CPE President and Wanda Lott Collins, award winner

Wanda Lott Collins, an associate professor at the Kentucky School of Social Work, received the 2009 KYVC Online Excellence Award for her course, "Social Work 684: Spirituality and Social Work." The course, designed to help social workers learn how spirituality and religion influence mediation with individuals and families, was cited by the judges as one that exhibited high-quality, interactive learner-centered experiences that demonstrated:

1. the students advanced significantly in relation to the course objectives;
2. technological tools were used in an innovative way to under gird the pedagogy; and,
3. the submission can serve as an exemplar for others who offer courses via KYVC

The seventh UofL recipient of the award, Collins also won a UofL Distinguised Teaching Award in 2006. She earned her master's in social work at UofL, doctorate in social work from University of Tennessee and last year (2008), a bachelor's degree in theology from Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville.

The assignments were designed to increase social work practitioner’s self-awareness regarding their own spiritual and religious orientation, values, and principles through varied types of assignments that appeal to different learning styles. Some of those activities included the think-pair-share processes: moving from passive to active learning through a community project.

The syllabus and assignments were recognized as demonstrating all the principles of good practice, conveying a clear structure to foster interaction, time on tasks, and high standards.

Previous Winners

• 2007
  • Carolyn F. Provenzano
• 2006
  • Julia Dietrich (University of Louisville) - course
  • Donna Elkins (Jefferson Community and Technical College, Southwest Campus) - course
  • Jane Goldsmith (University of Louisville) - course
  • John Welsh (University of Louisville) - course
• 2005
  • Sue Greer-Pitt (Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College) - course
• 2002
  • Mark Garrison (Kentucky State University) - General Psychology (PSY 200-V1)
  • Bill Greenwalt (Western Kentucky University) - Counseling Violent and Dysfunctional Families (CNS 584)
  • Mary Anne McMurray (Henderson Community College) - General Biology Lab (BIO 111)
  • Carolyn Rude-Parkins (University of Louisville) - Leadership in Instructional Tech (EDTD 640/671)
  • Linda S. Todd (Western Kentucky University) - Desktop Publishing (OST 221C)