Awards & Honors
Training Space wins "Best of Web" Award
Training Space, an online training resource for New York State Social Services staff that was developed by PDP for the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), was honored recently with a New York State Forum's "Best of the Web" Award. Each year, the New York State Forum of the Rockefeller Institute of Government recognizes the outstanding work done by state and local government agencies in the area of information resources management. Training Space was one of four award winners in the "Best of the Web" category and was singled out as a model for state agencies who want to pursue online training for their staff. Training Space was also lauded for its impeccable accessibility features, a main focus of New York State Forum initiatives. In presenting the award, Paul McGuire, co-chair of the New York State Webmasters' Guild, remarked that Training Space was the only web site evaluated for the award that met every single criteria for accessibility.
Will Zwink, Director of OTDA's Bureau of Training and Management Analysis (TAMA) accepted the award at the New York State Forum's Annual Meeting on September 14, 2007. PDP's Instructional Technologies Unit, which developed and maintains Training Space, was represented by Rebecca Stanley, Dan Feinberg, Bryan Sotherden, Ric DiDinato and Ed Skawinski. TAMA Contract Manager, Dawn Abbey, was also present to celebrate the accomplishment.
Training Space is a joint effort of PDP and OTDA's Bureau of Training and Management Analysis (TAMA). Training Space provides self-paced interactive training modules, recorded videoconferences, blended learning materials, resources and communities of practice micro-sites for the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, and for staff in local social services district offices in 58 counties. Training Space was launched in mid-2005, but underwent a significant redesign in March of 2007 to accommodate an increase in usage and variety of resources available on the site. The new design incorporates many "Web 2.0" features, such as user communities, blogs and discussion boards, targeted towards specific local district staff. Training Space is available at: http://www.trainingspace.org. State IDlogin is required to access all that the web site has to offer.
09/28/07
Online Course Wins National Award
A course developed by PDP’s Instructional Technologies Unit (ITU) was recently awarded a silver National Health Information Award for “Health Promotion/Disease & Injury Prevention Information” in the World Wide Web category. The award was given for design and development of "From Evidence to Practice: Using a systematic approach to Address Disparities in Birth Outcomes.” The highly immersive course teaches learners how to find and evaluate research articles and use published evidence in addressing specific public health problems. Dan Feinberg, an instructional designer in ITU, was project lead for PDP, which develped the course in partnership with the New York State Department of Health, and the University at Albany School of Public Health. It is available to the public at http://www.ebph.org.
The National Health Information Awards is a program that recognizes the best health-related content for consumers and professionals. It is the largest awards program of its kind in the United States, receiving nearly 1,000 entries annually from hundreds of different organizations. "From Evidence to Practice" received the second highest award in its category, and was the only program not run by a federal agency to be recognized.
03/20/07
Karen Hill receives mentoring award
Karen Hill was recently awarded and given a plaque from Leake & Watts, Inc. in gratitude for her guidance and support with their 2005-2006 Mentoring Initiative. The honor was bestowed at their 'End of the Year Banquet' on June 23, 2006 at the Mamma Maria's Ristorante in the Bronx. Leake & Watts acknowledged mentors, mentees and honored guests to close this term of mentoring and to welcome in the program's next session. Karen is a Senior Child Welfare Education Specialist with the Foster and Adoptive Family Recruitment and Retention Program.
08/8/06
