Coastal Carolina University was recently presented the "Creative Use of Technology Award" by the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) during its 63rd Annual Meeting held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Coastal received the award for its program titled "No No's for English 101: Parts I and II," an online course on the verbal and written forms of English grammar.

The program was developed and taught by Lee Bollinger, assistant professor of English and journalism at Coastal. The program was designed to entice middle school and high school students to become interested in English. To meet this goal, Bollinger designed an online course based on a textbook that she had developed for middle and high school students to address the most common errors in writing. Her objective was to create an online course that is both visually and verbally appealing to the target age group.

The course is delivered through the Internet and e-mail and utilizes the course management software Web Course in a Box (WCB). The course is presented in open enrollment format so that students can begin at anytime during the semester. Lessons consist of a lecture and several exercises with a quiz at the end of each module. The completed assignments are then e-mailed or faxed to the instructor. At the end of the course, students receive a certificate of completion and a non-credit transcript.

"This course is innovative because of the unique audience: it primarily serves home-schooled children," said Jennifer Shinaberger, director of academic outreach and distance learning in Coastal's School of Continuing Studies, who submitted the proposal to ACHE. "Also part of that innovation is the timeliness of the course and the fact that there are no spatial restrictions. The course demonstrates that technology can assist in reaching different audiences and excite them about learning."