Angel pitches strength of Marshall technology at Charleston meeting

Marshall President Dan Angel made a presentation Friday at the university's "Technology Day" in the Cultural Center Great Hall at the State Capitol Complex in Charleston.

Angel presented an award to Dr. Rudy Pauley, assistant professor of elementary and secondary education, from the Marshall University Graduate College in South Charleston.

"(Pauley) is symbolic of technology progress at Marshall University," Angel said.

Angel presented Pauley with a copy of an advertisement that used some of Pauley's research.

Pauley and Dr. Mike Cunningham, program director of leadership studies, surveyed student users of Web Course Tools, which allows faculty members to instruct students over the Internet. They presented the results at an international WebCT conference. The WebCT company then used the results in an advertisement, Pauley said.

Following the presentation, a video, "Marshall Technology: Celebrating a Decade of Innovation," showed the rapid growth of technology at Marshall by illustrating the locations of academic centers.

"I thought (Technology Day) was a nice representation of what Marshall is doing with technology across many spectrums," Pauley said.

Angel spoke about the bill based on the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) that was released last Monday.

"What we have is a bill that's very comprehensive and complex," Angel said.

The bill is 170 pages long.

Angel focused on Article 3C of the bill, which addressed the community and technical college systems, proposing that West Virginia move over a six-year period to component community and technical colleges serving every region in the state.

Tables around the Cultural Center displayed different areas of technology within the university.

The table for the Committee to Encourage Electronic Course Development and Multimedia Projects displayed information about WebCT and other multimedia programs.

H. Keith Spears, vice president for communications, mentioned the upcoming "Almost Heaven WebCT Conference" at the MUGC campus in South Charleston.

The conference is for experienced and new users of WebCT and will involve hands-on WebCT training.

The conference will be April 3 and 4. It costs $75 per day. The second day of the conference will include a hands-on workshop.

More information is available by calling Carolyn Fisher at (304) 746-2026.