CLDIOI Staff Profiles
Tonka Jokelova
Tonka Jokelova leads the department efforts in line with the college’s mission. She has worked in instructional design since 2005. Education is her passion and mission in life. Tonka has taught various types of learners – from elementary school, through high school, to college students, both of traditional and non-traditional ages – and in various modalities. She focuses her research on motivation in online learning and accessible course design.
Tonka’s degrees are in Teaching ESL; Philosophy (Bachelor’s), Communication (Master’s), and Instructional design and development (Ph.D.). In her free time, she enjoys photography, yoga, and baking, but she would also not turn down lazy afternoons with a good book in a park.
Jerry Bartlett
Jerry Bartlett has been with the Center for Learning Design, Innovation and Online Instruction since its inception and currently serves as Learning Systems Manager. He oversees the Learning Management System, course shells, user accounts, course data and is a liaison between our campus and the rest of the SUNY system. The nature of his job is high exposure at the forefront of learning technologies, specifically the content management system. Jerry lives off-grid and has hosted a variety of workshops and tours which all have a common theme in the renewable energy/efficiency arena. His hobbies include exquisite photography along with several eclectic and award winning automotive creations.
Mat Nichols
As our Instructional Technologist, Mat Nichols provides guidance and training on the use of multimedia, interactive tools and other emerging technologies. Mat is a North Country native that continues to dive deep into the sea of education and technology. He has attended college at our neighbor institutions located in Potsdam, NY. He received his Bachelor of Science; Information Systems and Business Processes in 2008, and a Master of Science in Education; Education Technology Specialist in 2017. He has worked at SUNY Canton as an Instructional Technician since 2009, and he is currently the Instructional Technologist. Mat has a strong passion researching and adopting emerging technologies into his daily workflow. He has a healthy obsession using technology in his personal life and applying it to the academic environment. It's his objective to use appropriate academic technologies to turn frowns upside down.
David Scovil
David Scovil provides technical support and troubleshooting assistance for faculty using the Learning Management System. David has worked in the technical support field since 2005. He finds helping people work through their technical difficulties very rewarding. David has provided technical support to a vast array of organizations and businesses since 2005. In his free time David enjoys spending time with his family and spending as much time outside as possible.
Ben Rawdon
Ben Rawdon has worked in instructional design since 2019. Higher education has always been an interest and career aspiration, having been raised in a family with 9 college degrees combined. As a former student in online courses, Ben sees the importance of course design as part of a student’s learning experience and strives to help design high quality courses for the benefit of both the student and the instructor. Ben’s educational background is in Communication/Journalism (BA, St. John Fisher University) and Educational Technology (MSEd, SUNY Potsdam) with certifications in human subject research and basic computer networking.
In his free time, he enjoys planning home improvement projects, researching and working with technology, and reading from his pile of books. He also enjoys visiting the Adirondacks, Vermont, and Canada.
Instructional Designers
What can an instructional designer do for you?
Submitting an online or flex course for review soon? Let our instructional designers, who are experts in the OSCQR rubric, help you pass the review on the first attempt.
Creating a brand-new course? Come talk to an instructional designer about the course setup and the best teaching strategy for your course.
Would you like to amp up the quality of your course? Ask an instructional designer to review your course and work with you on improving the course quality.
Do you have a module or an assignment with which your students usually struggle? Come talk to an instructional designer and see if we can help you devise a better strategy to help students meet the course outcomes more efficiently.
Not sure how to fix course materials with accessibility issues? Come talk to an instructional designer for guidance on how to make your course materials accessible to all students.
Do you have a training need in the area of teaching? Schedule a session with an instructional designer to help you address it.
To contact the Center for Learning Design, Innovation, and Online Instruction, please email us at cldioi@canton.edu. The Center currently has three instructional designers. To learn more about us, please click on our profiles below.