One Continuous Journey: How Stanford Ignite Earned a 2026 Novie Award for Best Blended Learning Experience

Key Takeaways:

• Stanford Ignite, an entrepreneurship certificate program offered through Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education, won a 2026 Novie Award for Best Blended Learning Experience, an honor recognizing seamless integration of digital, live, and on-the-job learning
• The award recognizes how Stanford Ignite connects its virtual and in-person components into one continuous journey, rather than treating them as separate phases
• Pre-program activities like networking, venture idea submissions, and voting help participants arrive on campus ready to hit the ground running
• Personalized learning paths allow each participant to identify the assignments and experiences most relevant to their individual goals, creating a “build-your-own-path” experience

About Stanford Ignite

Stanford Ignite is a certificate program offered through Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education. Available in full-time and part-time formats, the program provides business fundamentals to graduate students, early-career professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to succeed at an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial venture. Participants work in teams throughout the program to develop a new product or service, culminating in a presentation to a panel of investors and industry experts.

Because on-campus time is limited, typically just a few concentrated weeks, Stanford Ignite has focused on making that time as productive as possible. That’s where a blended approach comes in, one designed to extend the learning experience well beyond the physical classroom.

Making Virtual and In-Person Learning Feel Like One Seamless Experience

In the Novie Award customer story shared on NovoEd’s YouTube channel, Kelsey Carlson, Associate Director of Ignite Programs at Stanford Graduate School of Business, explains how the program’s virtual learning phase begins about a month before participants ever set foot on campus. During this pre-program period, participants get comfortable with the platform and complete assignments that prepare them for what’s ahead.

What stands out about Stanford Ignite’s approach is how little separation there is between the virtual and in-person phases. As Carlson explains, once participants arrive on campus, they continue completing assignments and accessing materials through the same platform they used before the program began. Rather than treating online and in-person learning as two distinct stages, Stanford Ignite has built what Carlson describes as a truly blended experience, one continuous journey rather than a virtual on-ramp followed by a separate, disconnected residency.

Hitting the Ground Running

Given how limited on-campus time is, often just three and a half weeks, every day matters. Stanford Ignite uses the pre-program period to help participants start their real work before they ever arrive. This is when participants submit their venture ideas, an early step that lets teams begin forming and thinking critically about their projects well before the in-person portion of the program begins.

This pre-work isn’t just administrative. It gives participants a running start, so that when they do arrive on campus, they can spend their limited time on deeper collaboration and hands-on application rather than orientation and idea generation.

A Learning Journey Built Around Each Individual

One of the more distinctive elements of Stanford Ignite’s approach is how personalized the learning path can be for each participant. Carlson notes that what makes the experience unique is the ability for each learner to identify their own purpose within the program and understand what their learning journey looks like compared to other participants.

This personalization is made possible by giving participants the tools to build out their own learning journey, pinpointing which assignments and experiences are most relevant to their individual goals. Carlson describes this as something close to a “build-your-own-path” model, layered on top of the program’s core structure of assignments and teamwork. Combined with the flexibility of accessing the platform on both mobile devices and desktop, participants can engage with their learning wherever they happen to be, meeting the program on their own terms without losing the structure that keeps teams and assignments on track.

Why This Recognition Matters

The Best Blended Learning Experience Novie Award exists to recognize programs that successfully bridge virtual and in-person learning into something more than the sum of its parts. Stanford Ignite’s approach offers a compelling example for any organization balancing limited in-person time with the desire for a rich, connected learner experience.

For L&D leaders designing their own blended programs, this approach offers a clear takeaway: the goal isn’t simply to add an online component before or after an in-person event. It’s to design a single, connected experience where pre-work meaningfully prepares participants, in-person time is protected for deeper collaboration, and personalization lets each learner navigate the material in a way that fits their individual goals.

Congratulations to Stanford Ignite

Congratulations to the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education team on this well-earned 2026 Novie Award. Their work creating a truly blended entrepreneurship learning experience reflects exactly the kind of thoughtful, connected program design the Best Blended Learning Experience award was created to recognize.

See What NovoEd Can Do for Your Organization

Stanford Ignite’s story shows what’s possible when virtual and in-person learning are designed as one connected journey rather than two separate phases. Whether you’re running a cohort-based certificate program, an executive education offering, or any experience where in-person time is limited and valuable, NovoEd’s platform is built to help you extend and personalize learning before, during, and after the moments that matter most.