Nominations for the university’s annual Blackboard & VLE Awards competition are now open, giving you the opportunity to feed back on what you find most helpful in a virtual learning environment, and to put forward examples of courses that do this really well. You can nominate up to 3 modules, with each nomination entering you into a prize draw for a £50 Amazon voucher. Nominations close on Feb 28th. All information can be found at http://go.soton.ac.uk/724.
Blackboard & VLE Awards in 8 numbers
To mark the 8th year of the awards, here’s a short history in 8 key numbers:
- 1611 nominations have been submitted by students
- 16 is the record number of nominations for a single course in one year – something that’s been achieved by two courses
- 27 different courses have won awards
- 3 is the number of rounds winning courses make it through after nominations – shortlisting, initial judging and final judging by a guest panel.
- 7 staff are double award winners, with 4 having won awards for more than one module site
- 49 staff have made it onto the shortlist on more than one occasion
- 50 nominations have been submitted by staff since this category was introduced a few years ago
- 4 different styles of trophy have been awarded to the winners, and on one memorable occasion, a cake.
![Cite 2014 Excellence in Blackboard Award trophy](https://i0.wp.com/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/digital-learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/321/2020/02/IMG_3185-768x1024.jpg?resize=755%2C1007&ssl=1)
![A plaque for the winner of the 2016 excellence in VLE awards.](https://i0.wp.com/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/digital-learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/321/2017/07/VLE_Awards_2016_trophies-1024x683.jpg?resize=755%2C504&ssl=1)
![Blackboard & VLE Awards 2018 trophy](https://i0.wp.com/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/digital-learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/321/2020/02/F3A8550.jpg?resize=755%2C535&ssl=1)
![Excellence in VLE Awards trophies 2019](https://i0.wp.com/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/digital-learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/321/2019/05/trophies2.jpg?resize=755%2C567&ssl=1)
Staff nominations
Staff have the opportunity to nominate one of their own course sites in this category and this year we are focusing on a specific theme: Accessibility. Further information is included in the staff self-nomination form. Do encourage your students to nominate too – if you wish, a banner you can add to your Blackboard (or other VLE) site can be downloaded below.
![](https://i0.wp.com/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/digital-learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/321/2020/02/Course-banner-20.png?resize=755%2C159)
Award winners in both categories will be announced at the awards lunch on Friday 15 May.