Center for Instructional Innovation wins Silver Telly for educational video story

Three members of Augusta University’s Center for Instructional Innovation team have won a Silver Telly Award in the Health and Safety (Non-Broadcast) category for an educational video titled “Healing Herbert: A Story of Compassionate Clinical Care.”

Arthur Takahashi, a faculty and instructional developer and adjunct faculty of communication and social sciences; Andrew Everett, a faculty and instructional developer and adjunct faculty of social sciences; and Jeff Mastromonico, director of instructional innovation, created the five-minute video for a physical therapy course taught by Audrey Johnson, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy.

“This recognition is a testament to the care and creativity that CII strives to instill in every project we take on,” said Mastromonico. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with colleagues who pursue excellence and truly care about the impact we can have on the students at Augusta University.”

Johnson tasked the CII team with helping her create activities and engaging content to teach her students the importance of empathy and compassion in health care.

“I reached out to the Center for Instructional Innovation and met with Arthur about an idea to add some content specific to humanities and art in health education, specifically in physical therapy,” Johnson said. “My course covers oncology, amputations and critical illness, and he helped me develop multiple assignments and readings, including this video specific to oncology care, for my learners to watch, read and reflect on throughout the course.

“What was most special about this final video was the raw honesty of the client and how Meryl Kaufman was able to meet him where he was at in his diagnosis and journey. They did a fantastic job with this video – the students found it to be impactful.”

The award-winning video tells the story of Herbert Ball, a Georgia Cancer Center patient who survived head and neck cancer. Ball credits his compassionate health care providers, including his speech pathologist, Meryl Kaufman, for his recovery.

“I am humbled to work with a group of very talented people like Jeff and Andrew who care about their work, our faculty and our students. I am also thankful for professors like Dr. Audrey Johnson who are always thinking outside the box to create meaningful learning experiences for our students,” Takahashi said. “This award represents the great work of both our instructional design team and faculty members like Dr. Johnson.”

“Winning the Silver Telly Award highlights the creativity and excellence of the multimedia content we produce for our students at Augusta University,” said Everett. “It is exciting to receive this award alongside my peers, who are always thinking of new ways to create engaging and meaningful content. Our ultimate goal is to positively impact learning, and a key part of this is providing high-quality content.”

Established in 1979, The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens. This year, more than 12,000 entries from 50 states and six continents competed for the coveted award. Entries are judged by more than 200 industry experts from companies such as Netflix, Marvel, BBC and Vimeo. Entrants for this year include Adobe, ESPN, HBO, NASA, National Geographic, NBC, Paramount and The History Channel.