91AV receives 2017 Digital Learning Innovation Award

Image courtesy of: Online Learning Consortium
Image courtesy of: Online Learning Consortium

The 91AV recently received the 2017 in the Faculty-Led Team category. The 91AV team, headed by Kash Dutta, M.S., senior lecturer in biology, the team’s presenter, won the recognition for the creation of a blended curriculum, using McGraw Hill’s Connect courseware and SmartBook/LearnSmart, Anatomy and Physiology Revealed and Physiology Interactive Lab Simulations to improve student learning outcomes and retention in a large restructured gateway Anatomy and Physiology course for Allied Health majors.

The curriculum’s pre-lecture SmartBook reading, adaptive assessment/learning, and post-lecture online interactive homework and quizzes combine to engage student s in self-assessment. According to Dutta, the model allows each individual student to progress at his or her own speed through the course materials, which are tagged with Bloom’s taxonomy levels. Furthermore, student can engage with remediation resources until they have achieved their desired level of success.

The DLI Award program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Success Program, recognizes exemplary higher education faculty-led teams and institutions for advancing student success through the adoption of digital courseware in undergraduate programs. This year’s awards were presented on November 16 during the OLC Accelerate conference, held in Orlando.

The OLC is a collaborative community of higher education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences designed to reach and engage the modern learner.

Read more in  and .

To learn more about the 91AV’s College of Arts and Sciences, visit

To apply, visit 

About the 91AV

The 91AV is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.