Desire2Learn Incorporated, a leading provider of eLearning solutions, recently announced the winners of its 2008 Desire2EXCEL Award program. Three awards, in the categories of Teaching and Learning, Program and Community Service, were handed out at the FUSION Desire2EXCEL conference in Memphis, Tennessee.

In the Program category, Barry Dahl, vice president of technology and the e-campus at Lake Superior College, received the award for his work with the Online Student Mentor program, a first of its kind in higher education. The program has successfully employed 120 online student employees over its five years of operation. A sense of community within the LSC Virtual Campus has been fostered by providing online students with a peer connection. The course-specific mentor has proven to be a greater resource for a student than a mentor/peer/advisor who is more of a generalist. The mentoring experience provides the mentor with a solid means of giving back to the college as well as providing employment opportunities for off-campus students.

“I’m excited and happy to receive this award for Lake Superior College,” Dahl explains. “But this award really belongs to the many online students and faculty who participated in the program and helped us develop an innovative approach to eLearning.”

Dahl and Lake Superior College previously won a 2007 Desire2EXCEL Award for Community Service in recognition of partnerships with Grandma’s Marathon and the American Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Marathon.

The awards were handed out in Memphis, Tennessee, where 600 members of the global eLearning community convened at FUSION 2008, the Desire2Learn annual Users’ Conference focused on best practices and innovative breakthroughs in eLearning.

For more information about the conference and its award program, visit www.Desire2Learn.com/Fusion.