IDT Graduate Wins National Distance Learning Award
February 7, 2025 – University of Memphis College of Education (COE) graduate, Dr. Erika Stevens has just been awarded the ACTFL Language Connects 2024 Distance Learning Special Interest Group Teaching Award. The award recognizes language educators who demonstrate excellence in online teaching.
“This award is important to me because it is a recognition from my peers,” Stevens said. “My passion is in creating communicative, online world language courses that allow students to reach their goals and gain communicative competence. This award is in recognition of that passion and the projects that it has fueled.”
Stevens, who received her EdD in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) in May 2021, is in her 14th year of teaching at Walters State Community College, where she is a tenured professor of Spanish and humanities and the lead faculty for foreign languages. She credits IDT as a key part of her recent success in the online classroom.
“I’ve been designing online courses since around 2015 and have been the ‘guinea pig’ for any pilot programs that involve technology and innovative teaching techniques at (Walter State) since I started here in 2010,” Stevens said. “I continue to use what I learned from my EdD in IDT to this day and to share information with others.”
Dr. Amanda Rockinson, one of Stevens’s IDT professors, said, “One of the most rewarding aspects of being a faculty mentor and doctoral coordinator within the IDT program is working with and watching the growth and development of stellar individuals such as Dr. Erika Steven. I am so proud of Dr. Steven’s ongoing accomplishments in the field of distance education.”
Stevens also received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education grant of almost $60,000 for her project “Spanish for the Professions.” This project will help fund the creation of nine new specialty area courses and open education resources (OER) to further meet the needs of students and employers in East Tennessee.
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