Polk State College, Bellwether finalist presents at Community Colleges Future Assembly

Polk State College faculty and staff presented at the Community Colleges Future Assembly in February in San Antonio, where Polk State was recognized as one of 10 national finalists for the prestigious Bellwether Award in Planning, Governance, and Finance.

These nationally recognized awards are given to outstanding and innovative programs in community college education. The College’s submission was titled “Creating a Culture of Quality and Innovation for Online Learning” and focused on the innovative work of the Learning Technology Instructional Design Team to establish a baseline of quality for online course design.

“We are proud of our Bellwether finalist teams who work tirelessly to scale programs and practices that affect thousands of students,” Director for the Bellwether College Consortium Rose Martinez said. “The impactful results are students from low-income communities thriving academically and in the workforce.”

Polk State’s presenters included Cody Moyer, District Director of Learning Technology and Leadership Development; Carleigh Okwali, Instructional Designer; Niqui Young-Pringle-Brown, Professor of Education; and Dr. Craig Collins, Interim Associate Vice President for Corporate and Leadership Development. Instructional Designer Katie Ragsdale was also instrumental to the project.

Moyer shared gratitude on behalf of the team for the opportunity to present as a Bellwether finalist. Polk State received a trophy recognizing its finalist status, and Moyer added that several colleges expressed interest in replicating Polk State’s project or aspects of the work at their own institutions.

More information about Polk State’s Bellwether project is available by clicking here.