Distance Education Newsletter

March 2, 2021 | Kapi‘olani Community College

Laptop with chalkboard writing Never Stop Learning.

A Year of Learning about Learning Online

A year ago this March, we "pivoted" to online learning, following an intense Spring Break during which we all did our best to create learning spaces and experiences in the less-familiar digital environment. The intrepid educators at this institution rose to the challenge, and over the subsequent months, as our great online experiment stretched out, we never stopped rising to the challenge. We learned more and more about learning online. We identified the biggest hurdles and strove to overcome them. We began to see where the digital environment created opportunities for deeper learning, balancing out the limitations that were easier to identify initially. Let's take a moment to recognize these amazing (and exhausting!) accomplishments.

And now, with vaccinations ramping up, there's light at the end of the tunnel! It's time to really think about what our futures hold. Will you return to face-to-face teaching? Will you stay fully online? Which environment(s) will allow you to maximize your students' learning? And how can we best support and serve our students through the coming transitions? We know a whole lot more about learning online than we did a year ago. What will you do with that knowledge?

---Online Andragogy---

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The Magical Unicorn: Tips to Enchant and Enhance Your Online Class

You may recognize GIFs from text messages or social media, but can they be used in our online classrooms? GIFs are images or videos without sound that loop continuously. If used properly (selecting appropriate, clean and fun GIFs), they can spice up any Laulima lesson page and add visual interest. There is an easy Google Chrome add-on, simply search GIPHY for Chrome and add it to your browser. Anytime you want to add a GIF to your Laulima Lesson Page, search for that perfect GIF, click and drag it into your text editor. Don’t forget to edit Image Properties and add your Alt Text for accessibility. You got this!

Teacher communicates with students via computer.

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DE Office Hours

Now that many of our classes are offered in an online format, faculty are wondering what the guidelines are for offering office hours.

In 2010, the Distance Education Committee studied the issue carefully and developed a recommendation based on student and faculty surveys. The UHPA contract only requires faculty to “keep...regularly posted office hours which are scheduled at times convenient for students...” (UHPA Contract, Article IV.B). It was the sense of the committee at the time, that this traditional type of office hours was not generally used by online students, and that other forms of faculty contact were more highly desired by online students. The committee partnered with the Faculty Senate Subcommittee on Admissions, Academic Standards, and Graduation to study office hours for three types of courses: online, hybrid, and face to face.

The following are recommended:

Email (or the email-type communication provided by Laulima private messages) should be a required form of contact for all faculty who teach online and is highly recommended for all faculty who teach hybrid and face to face courses.
Every syllabus for online, hybrid, and face to face courses should state the faculty contact methods, and for email, the expected response time for the individual faculty member should be stated. Faculty response time is recommended to be 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.
Approve email plus meetings by appointment as an alternative to fixed office hours for online faculty.

For more details please refer to the official committee report. For some additional data check out our Data Corner, below.

---Data to Ponder---

A piggy with wings, Data Dimensions, Transforming conversations around research and results, Wonder, Worry, Wish.

Communication in the Time of COVID-19

Squares upon squares occupy our time in pandemic-era Zoom sessions. When you look out at your sea of squares in the classroom, realize that one out of four students has felt stress or extreme stress while communicating with their instructors. In fall 2020, Student Congress asked their classmates how stressful they found communication with instructors. Our students answered as follows:

Not stressful at all 39 percent, somewhat stressful 38 percent, stressful 15 percent, extremely stressful 8 percent.

How does this compare to student responses immediately following the onset of the pandemic? In a spring 2020 survey, the UHCC system asked students how challenging communicating with instructors had been. It’s a bit difficult to compare because their scale jumped from “somewhat” to “extremely” (three points rather than four) with the use of the word “challenging” compared to “stressful.” The bar below shows how Kapiʻolani CC students responded:

Not challenging at all 51 percent, somewhat challenging 35 percent, extremely challenging 12 percent, not applicable 3 percent.

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Overall, students appeared to have had an easier experience earlier on during the pandemic. Were they just more forgiving because they knew instructors were shifting in a dynamic environment? Is the long-term isolation affecting the way students feel about their classes in general? Now that nearly a year has passed, Student Congress is preparing a new survey for spring 2021 which will further reveal how our students are managing adversity during a crisis.

Of course, students are not the only ones feeling stress in communication. In spring 2020, 70 Kapiʻolani CC instructors answered a UHCC survey in which 66% mentioned that communicating with students was a somewhat challenging/extremely challenging factor of successful teaching immediately after the pandemic.

Communicating with students, extremely challenging 11 percent, somewhat challenging 35 percent, not challenging at all 23 percent.

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Even if the UHCC system doesn’t plan to ask instructors how they are managing one year from the start of COVID-19, creating a follow-up survey may be worth exploring as a campus.

---Professional Development Opportunities---

Lunch and DEssert displayed on computer screen, woman gesturing towards screen.

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Tour Colleagues' Online Classes

At lunchtime (12:00 - 1:00 pm) every Friday this semester (except holidays/non-instructional days), please join your Kapi‘olani CC colleagues for a fun lunch-hour chat and tour of online classes. Each Friday, two teachers will give us a tour of one of their classes and share with us their sweetest ideas. These informal Zoom sessions will include time for Q&A and conversation. Watch the bulletin for information about specific tour guides and disciplines, but save these dates!

Fridays, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

February 5, 12, 19, & 26
March 12
April 9, 16, 23, & 30

Zoom link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96315187922

Meeting ID: 963 1518 7922
Passcode: sweet!

Group of people communicating with others via computer.

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Free Webinars!

Currently, Kapi‘olani CC has a subscription with Go2Knowledge, which offers Kap‘olani CC faculty and staff free access to dozens of Innovative Educators webinars, both live and on demand (pre-recorded). Many of them are quite good! Here's a sampling to pique your interest:

Upcoming live webinars:

Developing Multiple Choice Tests that Assess Higher Order Thinking Skills (Tuesday 3/23, 7:00 - 8:00 am HST)
Reimagining Online Student Engagement: Mindset, Connections, & Teaching Techniques (Wednesday 4/7, 7:00 - 8:00 am HST)
Alternative Online Assessment Practices: Empowering Students, Ensuring Equality & Maintaining Rigor (Tuesday 4/13, 7:00 - 8:30 am HST)
How One School Increased Graduation Rates by 20% Using High-impact Practices (Thursday 4/15, 9:00 - 10:00 am HST)

Recently-added on demand webinars:

Avoiding Academic Advisor Burnout: How to Mitigate the Stress & Anxiety Precipitated by the Pandemic (90 min)
Reduce Cheating in the Online Classroom: Shifting from Punishment to Prevention (60 min)
20 Emerging Best Practices for Remote Teaching & Learning (90 min)

And many, many more. Sign up at Kapi‘olani CC's G2K account page and browse through the offerings.

---Helpful Tech Tips---

Want to Embed a (Responsive) Google Map on a Laulima Lessons Page?

Follow these simple steps:

1. On the Google Map, click on > Embed a map > Copy HTML

2. On your Laulima lessons page, Embed Content on Page > paste the map’s URL but delete the crossed out parts from the beginning and the end of the iframe code.
Only the long URL should remain.

Sample embed code with URL highlighted and extraneous material crossed out.

3. Click Save > Try Other Alternative > Save again.

Shortcuts for Creating Google Documents

What happens when you type

doc.new
form.new
slide.new
sheet.new
jam.new

in a browser’s address bar? You guessed it -- they will create a new Google Doc, Google Form, Google Slides, Google Sheets, and Google Jamboard! ☺

(Works in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. If you aren’t already logged into a Google account, you will be prompted to log in so it will know where to place your new Google file.)

Example of typing form.new into a browser address bar.

---The Cool Stuff at the End---

Haphazard collection of journals spread out on a bed.

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What We Are Reading, Listening to, or Watching Now

Leveraging Bloom’s Taxonomy to Elevate Discussion Boards in Online Courses (Article, Faculty Focus)

Online discussions could become exciting and engaging by aligning Bloom’s Taxonomy with carefully-designed discussion prompts to create more interactive, diverse, and impactful ways for students to experience deeper learning and meaningful discourse surrounding course content.

Designing Effective Team Projects in Online Courses (Article, Faculty Focus)

Seven best practices for teamwork in online courses: (1) intentionally create teams, (2) keep groups small and odd, (3) set clear expectations for individual contributions, (4) create a virtual group space, (5) monitor online group space, (6) develop a peer feedback system, and (7) assign individual and team grades.

Teaching Without Walls: Online Teaching Tips (Youtube Videos)

Michael Wesch at Kansas State hates being on camera. But he continues to make videos to connect with his students and has created videos on online teaching tips.

Ep. 38: Combatting Cheating in the COVID Era (Podcast, The Key with Inside Higher Ed)

“Academic integrity is not the absence of cheating.” The guests share some reasons for nationwide rise in cheating cases (social, emotional, and financial pressures; more awareness by faculty) and some practical ways to deter cheating and build a culture of academic integrity.

Reduce Cheating in the Online Classroom: Shifting from Punishment to Prevention (Webinar Recording)

This webinar focuses on how to create assessments that discourage cheating. If you don’t already have a G2K account, you may have to set one up (free for Kapi‘olani CC faculty/staff) to view the webinar.