EDUCATION
UTC Is Helping To Teach The Teachers BY SHAWN RYAN
S
tanding in front of a class of students and keeping them engaged and interested and perhaps even entertained can be tough in the best of circumstances. Right now isn’t the best of circumstances.
Many classes at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are online this semester, and many faculty members haven’t taught by that method before. It’s not an easy assignment. In the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, Sarah Canatsey helps teach the teachers. Her exact title is “instructional developer,” but what it means in down-to-earth terms is that she shows faculty members how to produce good videos, podcasts and PowerPoint presentations on whatever subject they’re teaching. She also guides professors on how to livestream, teaching a class in real time, without seeming stodgy or uncertain or, worst of all, boring. “It’s better if you’re recording your video and you know it’s recorded well and you know it’s recorded in a way that students can go back and look at it,” she explained. To help that happen, the College of
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Business built a small recording studio on the fourth floor of Fletcher Hall during its renovation. “We offer a lot of online classes and didn’t have a dedicated space for faculty to really come in and make good, quality videos. The idea is to give our faculty a way to make better instructional videos,” said Canatsey, who has a background in studio work, multimedia programs and setting up technology for live theater performances. College of Business Dean Robert Dooley said Canatsey’s expertise is “a tremendous resource for the faculty.” “Sarah was instrumental in helping the faculty transition to all online in the spring at the beginning of COVID and in preparing for this fall,” he said. “The new studio in the college, under Sarah’s direction, provides an additional resource for faculty to develop outstanding online courses and content to augment traditional classroom
