Distance Education Newsletter

Kapi‘olani Community College | April 1, 2020

Welcome, Remote Teaching Colleagues!

The Distance Education Community at Kapi‘olani Community College is full of supportive, generous, and fun people. It's insanely stressful to be thrown into a remote teaching environment without training, so no one is expecting instantaneous excellence. "Remote learning" may not be the same thing as "online learning" (which comes with its own set of federal rules & regulations and its own set of best practices), but it's a very real pedagogical practice, and it's essential in this particular moment in history, and you are doing difficult, important, valuable, and, frankly, amazingly effective work. Those of us with more experience want to support you when you need support, and we want to learn from your insights as you explore this new teaching & learning environment with your unique personal and pedagogical perspectives. Each and every one of you is so welcome (and so needed!) in the DE Community.

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During this time of social distancing and trepidation, let’s focus on human connection and positivity. Our Kapi‘olani Community is vibrant and strong. It’s full of amazing people doing good in our world…and it includes you. Take a moment to reflect with gratitude and to connect with each other. Please visit our Kapi‘olani Community space and share some aloha!

E mālama pono ♥

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A heartfelt thank you for all incredible volunteers (list of helpers' names) who stepped up and helped us out during the Teaching and Learning Contingency (TLC) support sessions (face-to-face & online). Because of your dedication and excellent work, we have helped 75 individuals in 128 separate sessions to date. We really appreciate the support you have developed and are providing for each other at this unprecedented time. It is so important to have opportunities to connect, build community, and support each other at this challenging time as everyone navigates various changes to schedules, work, and parenting/caregiving demands.

Mahalo nui loa for all you do for our students, our colleagues, and our college through your volunteer efforts and ongoing excellent service to the Kapi‘olani ‘Ohana. Stay safe and healthy.

note: Images were taken at our first counseling support session (prior to social distancing and shelter-in-place implementation).

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Preparing to Teach Online This Summer

The Instructional Designers are currently developing basic training for online teaching that will be available to the entire campus. It will be geared toward preparing faculty to teach their online Summer I & II courses, but the training will benefit anyone interested in learning the basics of online teaching and learning. Please watch the Bulletin for more information.

TLC Support via Zoom Will Continue for Another Week

Did you know that you can drop in via Zoom any time between 12:00 and 3:00 pm any day of the workweek for support with remote teaching? The Instructional Designers and some helpers are ready and waiting to answer your questions as best as we can about how to use tech tools such as Zoom, Loom, and various Laulima tools. We can also help you think through the pedagogical choices you're making as you move your classes from the face-to-face environment to the online environment.

We're deciding week-to-week whether to continue these drop-in hours, based on need and usage. Right now, we're planning to continue through Thursday, April 9 (Friday, April 10 is a holiday). Watch the Bulletin for updates to this schedule.

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Remote Exam Planning

While summative assessments can come in myriad formats (performances, presentations, individual and team projects, portfolios, writing assessments, etc.), those who typically plan in-class or proctored exams may find this format especially challenging at a distance. Here are some Remote Exam Considerations to assist those who are trying to balance flexibility and academic integrity during this challenging time.

Laulima Tests & Quizzes Tutorial

Need to put your test(s) online? UH ITS has created instructions and videos to help you get started:

Create a test in Laulima Tests & Quizzes (Google Doc)
Create a test in Laulima Tests & Quizzes (Video, 1:52)
Editing the Test Settings and Publishing the Test (Video, 2:26)

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Zoombombing

There’s a fun new word to expand your vocabulary in 2020! Don’t fret - “Zoombombing” isn’t as dramatic as it sounds (think of it like photobombing, but with audio and video), but it can be annoying if it happens. Luckily, there are some simple solutions in the (mostly unlikely) event that it does happen.

Zoom has provided some helpful tips on their blog on How to Keep the Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event.

As you may have noticed, Zoom has set your screen sharing settings to Host Only by default in response to the "Zoombombing" issue. If you want to maintain the “safeguard mechanism” put in place by Zoom lately and also enable your meeting guests to share their screens as needed, you can manually adjust the screen sharing option inside a meeting on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Check out how to adjust the sharing option inside a Zoom meeting.

If Zoombombing is not really a concern for you at this point, there is a way to revert back to “Allow all participants to share” in your Zoom Settings. Check out how to adjust the sharing option in my Zoom setting page.

For more tips and resources on how to establish Zoom netiquette and have a successful synchronous experience, please reference the Zoom section of Student Success in Learning Remotely.

Zoom: Basic vs. Pro

Are you in love with Zoom yet? We are hearing many positive reports of how Zoom has improved attendance (from the F2F days) and has kept faculty and students connected. Here’s what one faculty shared after the first Zoom meeting with her students:

“I think the students really just wanted to connect with each other and maybe with me too. They seemed super excited to see the inside of my house, and leaned in very close to the screen to see more closely. It was so funny & I actually got emotional telling them how happy I was to see them. I'm no fan of online instruction but today I felt truly grateful for this technology that allowed me to connect with my students and offer some comfort, even in just a small way, by providing the normality of classroom instruction. It was such a huge success that I've decided to use Zoom every day.”

Do you know the difference between BASIC (free) and PRO (licensed or paid) accounts?

1) BASIC Account includes:

Hosting up to 100 participants
Hosting meetings with no time limit (the 40-min time limit has been temporarily removed for edu accounts)
Hosting unlimited number of meetings
Online support at the Zoom Help Center
Screen sharing & whiteboard
Breakout rooms
HD video & audio
Virtual background
Personal meeting ID

2) Pro Account is recommended only for those who need to:

Use Zoom's polling feature (there are many alternative free polling apps such as Polleverywhere, Kahoot, and Google Forms)
User management
Some admin features
Host meetings of 3 or more participants for longer than 40 minutes, after the COVID-19 emergency is over.

The Basic account, with its 40-minute time limit removed for now, will be sufficient for most classes. However, if you need a Pro account, please submit a request to CELTT.

Zoom Professionalism

Check out this lighthearted video about how to look professional and act professionally on Zoom. It's useful for teachers and students alike!

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Student Success in Learning Remotely

During this time of transition, we all care about our students’ well-being and success. A resource geared toward students, Student Success in Learning Remotely, contains:

timely announcements
student success tips
campus, community, and online resources related to students’ academic and personal well-being

Please consider sharing this resource with your students. As a “live,” working resource, it is being updated and added-to, so check back regularly. Mahalo for your support!

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Urgent Student Relief Fund

Many students are experiencing urgent financial distress and may be facing challenges with classes due to the unexpected circumstances created by the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the University of Hawai'i and UH Foundation have created the “Urgent Student Relief Fund.” This fund was created to assist UH students at all 10 campuses with unforeseen financial hardships due to an emergency or crisis while enrolled at UH, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Student applications for funding are due every WEDNESDAY AT 4:00 PM (students will be notified the following Monday of the approval status of their funding application). For more information and application information, visit Urgent Student Relief Fund. Please share with your students.

supporting our students, for student support personnel.

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Supporting Our Students (SOS)

Are you a counselor or student support personnel working to support students’ academic and student development needs? If so, first of all, thank you for your continued dedication in supporting students during this time, especially in adapting in the ways that you provide your respective services! Secondly, please feel free to utilize a resource, specifically geared toward you and the important work that you do - Supporting Our Students (SOS). Note that this is also a “live,” working resource that is being updated and added-to, so check back regularly. Mahalo!

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COVID-19 Student Information Page & Directory

In case you haven’t seen it, we have a wonderful campus COVID-19 Student Information page. Along with timely and relevant announcements (and even a “bloopers” video of our favorite administration recording their address to our students!), the page contains a directory that indicates the ways in which students can access campus wide student services, centers, and counseling support remotely. Please consider sharing this resource widely with your students.

New Deadline April 30, 2020 1 withdraw, 2 change grade cr/nc, 3 change grade audit

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New Deadline to Withdraw & Change Grade Option

The deadline for students to withdraw or to change their grade option to credit/no credit (CR/NC) or audit for regular, 16-week courses has been changed from March 27 to April 30. More info on new Spring 2020 deadline.