Distance Education Newsletter

The beginning of the Academic Year is a good time to reflect on WHY we do what we do. We have challenging jobs, and they won't make us rich. So why do we choose to do them? Well, according to the Fall 2018 DE Faculty Survey, 91% of you who teach online do so “to meet the needs and learning styles of students.” This is one of the many reasons we think ​Kapi‘olani’s DE faculty are awesome! You are so dedicated to students' learning, and we want to thank you for caring so deeply and for putting so much time, effort, and expertise into helping your online students grow and shine.

We have some exciting DE professional development sessions coming up in Fall 2019! Take a look, and be sure to put on your calendar any sessions that pique your interest.

Above & Beyond! Workshop Series: Join the vanguard and boost your effectiveness with student engagement and personal productivity.

• Group Projects Online: Tricky but Worth It Friday, Sept. 13 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116
• Time Management & Productivity: A Little Philosophy, a LOT of Apps Friday, Oct. 11 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116
• Creating an Introduction Video Friday, Dec. 6 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116

ADA Accessibility Workshop: The spotlight has been on online classes, but we’re all responsible for ensuring that our public &/or class-related Internet content is ADA accessible.

• ADA Accessibility in Laulima, MS Word, & MS PowerPoint Friday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116

SPOTLIGHT Online Teaching Sharing Sessions: For Fall 2019, we’re asking teachers in specific disciplines to share an overview of one of their online classes. We’ll get to see the amazing work of our colleagues!

• Sharing Online ENGLISH Classes Friday, Sept. 27 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116
• Sharing Online MATH Classes Friday, Oct. 25 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116
• Sharing Online SCIENCE Classes (including labs) Friday, Nov. 22 at 1:00 - 2:30 pm in Lama 116

New this year to the Hawai‘i Student Success Institute (HISSI) is a dedicated strand for Online Learning and Teaching! We know our Kapi‘olani CC DE faculty have a wealth of insights and creative teaching strategies to share and we hope to attend YOUR session at HISSI this spring! Consider sharing challenges you or your students have faced and how you overcame (or are working to overcome) them or effective ways you’ve married pedagogy, content and/or technology in your DE classes. Buddy up with one or more colleagues or go it alone, but get out there and share! The deadline for proposals is Dec 6, 2019. Submit a Proposal

The UH Testing Centers recently updated the Distance Learning Test Proctoring Request Form. If you plan to use the proctoring service provided by any of the UH Testing Centers located throughout the state including ​Kapiʻolani CC, please fill out the form and submit to each relevant site at least 5 working days prior to the first testing date. Detailed guidelines and procedures are on page 1 of the proctoring request form.

"Who can I thank for the fact that I had WiFi access all day?!?!" - No one ever

We would like to take this opportunity to recognize that not all heroes wear capes and celebrate some unsung heroes who, when doing their jobs well, are often flying quietly under our radar. As we all prepped for the first day of classes, little did we know that a potential problem was looming in the not-so-distant future: wireless access for our new cafeteria was scheduled to be completed on Monday "sometime" during the first day of school. With no exact deadline on the books, and with endless pre-semester support calls coming in from around campus, it seemed inevitable that our students may be wandering into a dead zone on their first day, cut off from the vital Interwebs that sustain them. "Not on my watch!" said Blythe Sakashita! She coordinated efforts with the contractor and Hawaiian Telecom and rallied her CELTT colleagues, swiftly implementing an "all hands on deck" approach to just Get. Things. Done. Monday morning, faculty, staff and admin welcomed students, embracing the excitement of a new school year in our new cafeteria, all the while blissfully unaware of the hard-fought battle to save the WiFi just days before.

We'd like to pause and recognize those who work tirelessly in the shadows to provide the services we often take for granted until they are interrupted. Particularly in this instance, we extend our mahalos to Blythe Sakashita, Eugene Carrero, Lance Akana, Ed Quinto, Reid Sato, Joy Shirokane, and any others in CELTT who rallied to bring us this critical service on such an important day...and for all the “uneventful” days ahead, we thank you!

Are you aware of the ​Kapiʻolani CC policy regarding DE Office Hours? Mahalo to Susan Jaworowski who curated relevant Faculty Senate documents on this important policy that passed the Faculty Senate on 10/4/2010:

1. Email 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.

2. Every KCC syllabus for all courses should state the faculty contact methods. The response time for email is 24 hours maximum (excluding weekends and holidays).

3. Faculty teaching online can meet the traditional office hour requirements by any of the following options:

1. In-person fixed hours

2. Online synchronous discussion at fixed times

3. Email

4. By-appointment meetings

You can find DE Office Hours Policy and other policies on our Distance Education Policies page.

In the Fall 2018 DE Faculty Survey, you told us what communication practices have been effective in your DE classes:

• Timely response to communication from students (96%)

• Regular reminders of learning activities and due dates (85%)

• Feedback on student work (81%)

• Check-ins to offer assistance (43%)

Other effective communication practices you suggested include:

• Available to meet on campus if needed

• Individual [online] conferences with students at the beginning of the semester.

• Announcements and invitations to in-person activities on campus and in the community

• Videos rather than email to communicate lessons

• Weekly lesson plans/modules with checklists

• Relationship building via "personal" communications

• Having students send pictures of their problem solving via email

• Access to the comprehensive schedule for the entire course from day one

• Early intervention when failing course

Recharge ‘19 was a success! Mahalo to all who attended, presented, coordinated and otherwise supported this event! We appreciate the feedback we've been getting from staff and faculty via the evaluation forms (if you haven’t weighed in yet, please do!). We are using not only this data but your responses from our professional development survey to inform our 2019-2020 PD event planning!

In case you missed Recharge or couldn’t attend two sessions at the same time, the amazing presenters have shared their slides and handouts.

In the DE Faculty Survey (Fall 2018), you told us how to support greater student success in online classes.

Q3: What issues should be addressed to support greater student success in DE?

• Automatic removal of no-shows (64%)

• Online learning orientation (60%)

• Smaller DE class size (53%)

• Late enrollment policies (40%)

• Online proctoring (36%)

Automatic Removal of No-shows is currently being discussed at the System level for ALL classes (not just DE). Efforts seem to be paused at the moment, but the Faculty Senate (FS) DE Committee is keeping an eye on the issue and we'll be sure to share updates in the DE Newsletter.

We have a lovely Online Learning Orientation, courtesy of our own amazing Counselor for Online Learner Success, Kristie Malterre. The System is discussing a more universal approach to online learning orientation, but in the meantime, consider adding the remarkable SOL Module I to your online class.

In Fall 2018, we conducted a study, involving 14 DE teachers and 37 sections (16 with reduced size, 21 control) in 12 disciplines, to explore Smaller DE Class Sizes (the study used a class size of 60% of the usual maximum for the class). There are plenty of qualitative data to analyze, and we’re still working on this with the help of OFIE’s stellar Kara Plamann Wagoner. While it’s unlikely, given the current budget crisis, that online class sizes will be reduced in the immediate future, we will keep you updated on the study results and on related advocacy efforts.

As you may be aware, beginning in Spring 2019, the System extended the deadline for late enrollment to the Tuesday of the second week of classes (it used to be the Friday of the first week). The FS DE Committee is in the process of following up on a Faculty Senate Action Request (partly based on a survey of DE faculty) asking that the current Late Enrollment Policy be reconsidered, at least for DE classes. Feel free to share your opinion about this issue with your department’s FS representative.

Online Proctoring is now available! Kapi‘olani CC’s agreement with ProctorU means that all teachers can, if they choose, make online proctoring an option for their students. For more information, see ProctorU Update below.

As the advancing technology and online course design/facilitation continue to break down geographical boundaries in learning, we are seeing more students from the neighbor islands and other states/territories enrolling in our online classes. If you require proctored exams in your class, please consider offering ProctorU option to your students.

To set up an online exam,

1. Create an account (select ​Kapiʻolani as your institution)

2. Set up an exam with ProctorU

3. Add ProctorU tabs in Laulima

• ProctorU Login page: https://laulima.hawaii.edu/lum/proctoru/kap/ (this link works for Kapiʻolani credit courses only)

• Test-taker Page: http://go.hawaii.edu/fZI

Also see Instructor Handout and Clone Exam Iteration. Questions? Submit a request or email celtt@hawaii.edu.

Kapiʻolani Community College is now an NC-SARA institutional member! What does this mean? NC-SARA stands for National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements which is an agreement among the member states, districts and territories to have national standards for distance education courses offered in higher education. As a member of NC-SARA, we are in compliance with federal and state distance education policies and meet licensure program accreditation standards.

Online continues to be a popular mode of learning, especially in the summer. ​Kapiʻolani saw 58% of students taking at least one online class in Summer 2019. (Data courtesy of OFIE)

Aloha from the Faculty Senate DE Committee! We are excited to start a new year and hope to accomplish many items on our long list. The committee is tasked to study, discuss, and make recommendations regarding:

1. Issues affecting distance education courses, including curriculum and instruction, evaluation and assessment, academic support services, technology, accessibility, and accreditation standards
2. Policies, including but not limited to enrollment, office hours, faculty workload
3. Faculty development and support in pedagogy and technology to ensure that faculty who teach distance education courses are able to provide engaging, learner-centered environments

A few of our specific goals this year are:

• Getting the Excellence in Online Teaching Award (EOTA) passed by the Faculty Senate in order to acknowledge extraordinary DE faculty on our campus.

• Continuing work towards getting the DE Class Review process and BaRE/CoRE rubrics passed so we can begin to ensure that all of our online classes are of the highest quality.

• Working with the Honda International Center to assist international students with our DE class offerings in hopes to increase enrollment.

• Adding more DE classes that will allow for fully online Degree Certificates at Kapi`olani CC.

If you are interested in working on any of these issues or have new ideas, then please consider joining the Faculty Senate DE subcommittee.

Last year, we lacked member representation from the Maida Kamber Center, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences, so we are eager to welcome representatives from these units this year; if you're in one of these units and interested, please let us know.

For more information, please contact the current DE Committee Chairperson Nadine Wolff, nwolff@hawaii.edu.

Midweek Motivation Videos to Encourage Online Learners, Faculty Focus
Using the Power & Promise of EdTech to Empower Adult Learners, The Tech Edvocate