Distance Education Newsletter

For best viewing results, if viewing on a computer, click "view it in your browser" link above this email message; if viewing on a mobile device, tap anywhere in the message.

Click or tap onto smaller images to enlarge view.

With Fall 2018 quickly winding to a close, we wanted to share more great DE updates with our DE partners!

We have a new Kapi‘olani CC Syllabus Template to share! (When you click the link, it will automatically prompt you to save a copy of the document, so you can edit this version as you please.) This template is neither official nor mandatory, but you are very welcome to adapt it to suit your needs! The document is ADA compliant and includes important policy info. While it does include some relevant details for DE courses, it can be easily employed in courses across any format. There are planning and accessibility considerations embedded throughout, and all of the program and institutional information has been shifted to the end in order to highlight your course-specific information. Please feel free to make it your own if you find it helpful!

Laulima will be upgraded to version 12 (based on Sakai 12) during the winter break. Sakai 12 has improved user interface, accessibility and universal design, and more, but most changes may not be noticeable to students and faculty.

Look for exciting updates such as:

(1) Tests & Quizzes now has a simple way to add an exception (illustrated below)

(2) Lessons tool has improved navigation and object-embedding

(3) Chat tool has gotten a makeover and

(4) Commons is a new social media style conversation tool.

See Laulima 12 Updates and New Features for details and attend the Laulima Updates workshop in January.

KRSP Sharing

A Kapiʻolani Research Scholars Project (KRSP) focused on three initiatives that had origins in the KCC DE Plan: Teaching Online Prep Program (TOPP); TEACH site for faculty/staff; and Success for Online Learners (SŌL) Module 1. Come hear more about the implementation and assessment efforts of these DE Plan initiatives at the upcoming KRSP symposium, at which each KRSP group will be sharing their project: Thursday, January 10, 2019, 3:00-4:30 pm at the Tamarind Room.

DE Course Comments

We’re making good progress on standardizing the course comments for our online classes, ensuring that students have access to information they need before they register (such as, whether or not proctored exams are required). Since the last form we used to get the information we need to build the individual course comments was difficult and unwieldy, we revised it. We think you’ll find this new form MUCH easier for both faculty and secretaries to work with. Expect to receive the revised form soon so you can share information to ensure accurate course comments for your Summer 2019 online classes.

If you’re teaching in Spring 2019, require proctored exams, and would like to offer online proctoring as an OPTION for your students, go for it! Here’s how:

1. Set up an INSTRUCTOR account at ProctorU.

2. Put Youxin (UH username: youxin) in your Laulima site(s) as an INSTRUCTOR. She will set up your site(s) with a ProctorU button in the left menu. She’ll let you know when she’s done so you can take her out of your class.

3. Attend a ProctorU training (see Upcoming Workshops, below), where you’ll learn how to set up your tests. If you can’t make a training session, contact Youxin at youxin@hawaii.edu to set up a one-on-one meeting.

ProctorU Workshops:

Tuesday, 12/4, 1:30-2:30pm @ Lama 116

Monday, 12/10, 1:30-2:30pm @ Lama 116

Monday, 12/17, 10:30-11:30am @ Kalia 109

Tuesday, 12/18, 1:30-2:30pm @ Kalia 109

Congratulations to Tom Moore, who earned a free Subway sandwich, courtesy of the VCAA, for attending all three Accessibility workshops last month:

UDL Accessibility Hands-On Workshop - Leanne Riseley (LeewardCC)

Word Accessibility Hands-On Lab - CELTT IDS Group

Laulima Accessibility and Closed Captioning - CELTT IDS Group

January 11, 8:30 am to 1 pm @ Lama Library

Kick off your New Year with some new ideas! Join colleagues for food, fellowship, engaging workshops and an enlightening panel discussion with our students. REFRESH ‘19! is offering extended 1.5 hour workshops this year to allow for hands-on, applied learning. Topics include accessibility, Laulima updates, building a community of learners online, Zoom, and sessions from DSSO. A special 1-hour panel discussion with our DE students will allow you to ask questions and hear the students' perspectives on their online course experiences with Kapi‘olani CC. Registration will be sent out via the KCC News & Events Bulletin, so mark your calendar now and watch for more info to come!

Thanks to the wonderful efforts of DE instructors, 1,527 students have completed SŌL Module 1 since last semester (Spring 2018)! Student learning assessment results have indicated generally positive gains, and evaluative feedback collected from students have been used to adjust the module.

Interested in supporting your students’ online readiness and preparation? Integrate SŌL Module 1 as a class assignment during Week 0 or Week 1! Students who have already completed the module in the past can share their Certificate of Completion (sent to them via email) with you as “proof.”

Please be sure to SIGN YOUR INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS UP by Monday, January 7 if you plan to integrate SŌL Module 1 in Spring to enable and streamline your students’ participation.

If you have any questions, please contact Kristie Malterre, kristies@hawaii.edu. Mahalo for your support!

(Click/tap onto images below to enlarge view)

In this edition of T3, we’ll take a look at Loom, a handy little Chrome extension for screencasting...

(Hierarchy image and more info at: GCFglobal)

Last month we touched on the importance of incorporating negative space, or “white space”, to segment the content on the page or slide and to add breathing room around your images and content.

This month, let’s talk about Hierarchy in design and ADA compliance. For design, you usually want to guide the order in which a user scans the design hierarchically - with the most important pieces that you want the user to see initially being bigger, bolder and/or placed prominently than the rest of the content

For ADA compliance, screen readers allow visually impaired users to scan a page or document by isolating only the Headings contained hierarchically within them. That way, users can quickly scan what important topics and sub-topics are present on the page (watch a Screen Reader Video Example).

Tip#1: Headings are hierarchical, which means it’s NOT just H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, etc. down a page. See the image of the Solar System example of how Headings are hierarchical, not ordinal.

Tip#2: Always use Headings, do NOT just bold, cap or use bigger fonts.

Every other year, we conduct a survey of DE Students. A Qualitative analysis of student responses on various open-ended questions in the last survey resulted in the following graph. Categories are represented in blue if it was considered a strength (positive factor), and represented in red if it was considered a challenge (negative factor).

Reading the graph:

• Convenience and fit into busy schedule was the most liked feature of online learning.

• Course design like/dislike was the most often mentioned factor of an online class.

• Almost equal numbers of positive and negative comments regarding teacher or teaching practices were submitted.

• General institutional and support factors that were mentioned (at lower frequency rates) as challenges include sufficient offerings of DE classes, department/program specific challenges, counseling/advising, KCC website, library/library resources, online tutoring, and DE class details posted online.

Our latest survey of DE Faculty has yielded some interesting results, including:

Watch future newsletters for more survey results.

Just a reminder that the Hawai‘i Student Success Institute (HSSI) has an extended proposal deadline of Dec 7. We know there are amazing examples of teaching, learning and student support happening at Kapi‘olani CC, both on the ground and on the Web and we’d love to see you share YOURS! The submission process is as simple as filling out this quick Google form: HSSI Proposal Submission. HSSI will be held at the Hawai‘i Convention Center on March 1, 2019.

Check out our prior Fall 2018 newsletters, for your reference:

DE Newsletter - August 15, 2018

DE Newsletter - October 2, 2018

DE Newsletter - November 1, 2018