TEC rewards 228th member for service

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mavi Smith
  • The I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center
McGHEE TYSON ANGB, Tenn. --  A servicemember from the 228th Combat Communications Squadron here received the Air Force Commendation Medal from Col. Richard B. Howard, commander of The I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center, during his commander's call at Wilson Hall here, Sept. 25.
 
Staff Sgt. Jessica C. Parks, a knowledge operations specialist who has been performing active duty operational support days at the Training and Education Center, distinguished herself by outstanding achievement as a curriculum developer from Nov. 24, 2008 to Aug. 1, 2009 while assigned to the Transformative Education (TE) branch. 

"I was excited to receive this award," said Parks, whose tour at the Training and Education Center will end on Sept. 30. "I loved working with the TE branch on their projects and it was nice to be recognized for the things I did here." 

Parks has been working on a special project for the Air Force's Barnes Center for Enlisted Education, which is located at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala.

"We had a huge strategic level project," said Chief Master Sgt. Christopher J. Coyne, Chief of the TE branch, of their project to redesign the paper-based Noncommissioned Officer Academy Course 0009 into a web-based medium for enhanced learning.
 
Parks' expertise allowed for the seamless conversion of 21 in-residence lesson plans to a distance learning format using audio, video and graphic material to create an interactive experience for Air National Guard noncommissioned officers.
 
Her demonstrated leadership in organizing, scheduling and coordinating support for the project eliminated costly work stoppage and project delays and enabled the TE branch to meet the project's time-sensitive deadline. 

"There is no way the project would have ever been completed on time without her," said Coyne. "It was her skills, attitude and energy that helped us to deliver it." 

But this wasn't only a win for the TE branch. Parks has learned new skills that she has already put to good use at her unit. 

"I've learned a lot of things over this period," said Parks. "It's helped me to put a lesson plan together for my job and I was able to teach AFRIMS (Air Force Records Information Management Systems) and ERM (Electronic Records Management) to others at my unit and it's actually helped everyone out. "
 
The Course 0009 project is currently in the evaluation phase at the Air Force's Barnes Center for Enlisted Education. 

The I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center's Transformative Education branch is the Air National Guard's design center for Advanced Distributive Learning initiatives and provides training in numerous personal and professional development courses.