For the last 17 years, leaders in educational technology and distance education from Kansas and Missouri (and a few other states) have met in the Overland Park area for the annual SIDLIT conference.  This year marks the 15th year to bestow the SIDLIT awards to outstanding members of the Colleague 2 Colleague organization.

Figure 1:  2016 SIDLIT Award Winners (Photo by Beth Ramirez) 

As always, each decision was close and all of the nominees were highly qualified.  

Brent A. Anders - Kansas State University

Jonathan D’Souza - Park University

Ed Lovitt - Johnson County Community College

Nellie Modaress - University of Kansas Medical Center

Clay Threlkeld - University of Kansas Medical Center

Hattie Wiley - National Weather Service Training Center

Torie Wynn - Wichita State University

And the winner of the Outstanding Technical Support Award is Hattie Wiley of the National Weather Service Training Center!  Hattie’s colleagues actually nominated her for all three of the awards because they decided she deserved recognition in any of those areas.  

Figure 2:  Hattie Wiley, National Weather Service Training Center, Outstanding Technical Support Winner!  

According to her nomination information, one of the many phrases Hattie uses on a daily basis is “Do you need some help?”  Hattie’s technical expertise allows her office to keep producing effective training but most of her coworkers also think of her as a technical expert.  “She is always willing to not only troubleshoot and/or fix any issues we have, but also takes the time to teach us how to use and troubleshoot the technical tools as well.”

Dave Baudette - Northeast Community College

Jessica Cannon -  University of Central Missouri

Robert Carlson -  Butler County Community College

Desiree DePriest - Kaplan University

Dustin Headley - Kansas State  University

Patrick Lafferty - Johnson County Community College

Robert Moody - Fort Hays State University

Megan Taylor - National Weather Service (University of Oklahoma)

Hattie Wiley - National Weather Service Training Center

Dr. Robert Moody from Fort Hays State University is the winner of the Innovation in Teaching Award.  Dr. Moody was nominated by a current student  who stated, “I instantly felt his passion for teaching as he spoke about the many ways that technology was transforming education through blended classrooms, Google Apps for Education, OER’s, and PLE’s. My head swirled of acronyms and references that I could not intuit, yet they held such energy that I agreed to follow his suggestion, ‘Just take one of my courses and see where it leads.’  Today, I am a month away from graduating.  Dr. Moody’s innovative teaching strategies and enthusiasm for helping others learn have been the pivotal factors to my success as an instructional technologist.” 

Robert Gibson - Emporia State University

Sarah Grana - National Weather Service (University of Oklahoma)

Vincent Miller - Johnson County Community College

Carolyn Schmidt - Wichita State University

Hattie Wiley - National Weather Service Training Center

For the Jonathan Bacon Leadership Award, Dr. Rob Gibson of Emporia State University is the winner.  In his nomination it was said, “Under his leadership, Information Technology (IT) has fostered an integrated partnership with the university’s academic community. The four pillars to Dr. Gibson’s leadership are collaboration, academic support and faculty development, academic software improvement, and academic hardware improvement.  Dr. Gibson’s leadership style is collaborative. He is constantly around the campus meeting with students, faculty, and staff. Through these interactions, he both understands needs and frustrations and educates the campus about technology.”

Figure 4:  Dr. Rob Gibson, Emporia State University, Jonathan Bacon Leadership Award 

Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks to the SIDLIT reviewers who made the final selections.  Those people behind the scenes give freely of their time and talents and include Shalin Hai-Jew (KSU), Kendra Barker (UMKC), Leslie Reynard (Washburn), Nicole Frank (FHSU), Anna Catterson (ESU), Rebecca Gould (KSU), Paula Phelps (Cowley), Lauren Mathiott (KUMC), Brent Zweifel (Wentworth), and Angela Glascock (USD 310), with special recognition to Beth Ramirez (JCCC) who makes sure we always have the beautiful awards for the winners.

Remember, SIDLIT 2017 will be here before you know it, and now is the time to think about all of your colleagues and who you plan to nominate for next year’s awards!

Angela Glascock is a Business teacher, Assessments Coordinator, and Jill-of-All-Trades for Fairfield Schools, USD 310.  She has worked in education for 24 years both in secondary and post-secondary as a business/math/computer teacher and instructional designer.  Her degrees are B.S. Business Administration, B.A. Secondary Education, and M.S. Instructional Design & Technology.  

For more about SIDLIT Awards through the Years, please click the prior link.