Four Chattanooga State faculty and staff members are among 25 recipients of the Innovations Award. The awards were presented in Nashville at the ³9th Annual Distance Learning Conference² sponsored by the Tennessee Board of Regents Distance Education Committee.
Raymond Bertani, coordinator for the Center of Distributed
Education, was honored for taking the lead in educating instructors in a
number of technological endeavors. Bertani is part of a team providing
WebCT training for faculty members teaching online courses at the college.
In addition, he has helped faculty members to develop video courses, and
developed online viewlets for students and faculty. Viewlets are Internet presentations with animation and sound. The viewlets developed by Bertani tutor students and faculty who have limited knowledge of the Internet on basic skills. These skills include setting up an e-mail account; selecting a user name and password; setting up a contact folder; reading and organizing e-mail; addressing and sending e-mail; and attaching files. Ray Bertani is
a certified WebCT trainer, and also proficient in Front Page, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Acrobat and Power Point. He has worked at Chattanooga State for 20 years.
Dr. Brian Hale, assistant professor of English, was recognized for his significant contributions to teaching, tutoring and advising through the innovative use of technology. Hale created the Dr.GramR Interactive Internet Grammar Exercise that is linked to the Reading and Writing Center's grammar page at the college. Dr.GramR uses game models to make each exercise more interesting to students who can get immediate feedback through automatic scoring. Hale has also applied his technical skills to developing an online advising tool for the associate of science and associate of arts degrees. In only two years at Chattanooga State, Hale has used his sophisticated technological skills to address practical applications and needs at the college.
Kathy Long, an associate professor of social sciences since 1988, has taught U.S. History and World Geography via distance education courses for a number of years at Chattanooga State. Over the last few years, she has revamped her World Geography course with a new textbook, CD-ROM, updated map project booklet and a Web-based supplement to the course set in WebCT. Since nations frequently change names, leaders or borders, Long is diligent in providing the most up-to-date information for her students. Long's high expectations and demanding course work is tempered by a strong interest in seeing her students succeed. Since the greatest need of most distance learning students is contact with the instructor, Long was also recognized for the high praise received from her students for her conscientious efforts to stay in touch with them.
Dr. Samuel Nalley has taught at Chattanooga State for almost 35
years. He currently teaches Concepts of Physics online. Dr. Nalley was
honored for developing one of the showcase courses Chattanooga State offers online. By using streaming video, Adobe PDFs, hard work and ingenuity, Nalley has merged demanding course concepts with modern technology. The Concepts of Physics course includes 38 taped demonstrations and nine laboratory set-ups to show various physics theories that students can emulate at home. He also provides a glossary of 120 physics terms for online students. For students who may have difficulty with streaming technology, he provides the video content on CD-ROM. Dr. Nalley exemplifies an experienced instructor who strives to provide a challenging and distinctive learning environment by taking advantage of technological advances. He is currently exploring ways to make courses more accessible to the visually and hearing impaired.