The International E-Learning Association (IELA) has granted Virginia Military Institute first place with gold ribbon in the academic division of the Learning Delivery Platform category of the 2026 International E-Learning Awards.
The announcement made earlier this month at the IELA conference in Cologne, Germany, disclosed VMI’s educational platform, “NetBattle: AI-Assisted Network Science and Complex Systems Learning Platform,” had won the top honor. Winning submissions comprise a variety of attributes including educational soundness and effectiveness, user experience, and overall significance.
Sherif Abdelhamid, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and platform developer, led the program. He reported several people worked together in attaining the achievement.
Two recent VMI graduates, James Bangura ’26, a computer science major, and Gunnar Romsland ’26, an economics and business major, helped with the research related to the platform.
“Their work contributed toward two papers and two conference presentations,” stated Abdelhamid. The first paper, co-authored by Abdelhamid and Romsland, was presented at the Washington, D.C. Conference on Education in April.
The second paper was co-authored by Lt. Col. Sarah Patterson, associate professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics; Mona Aly, M.S., an independent researcher; and Abdelhamid, who presented it at the International Conference on Advancement in Healthcare Technology and Biomedical Engineering in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August.
“Network science helps us understand how small interactions can lead to major consequences. Our game-based learning platform makes these complex ideas accessible through interactive simulations, engaging gameplay, and AI-powered feedback. We help students understand real-world challenges through experimentation and strategic decision-making. All the research and work writing the papers, getting them published, and presenting them at the conferences contributed to our platform winning first place. We are quite pleased with this recognition,” said Abdelhamid.
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