A Spirit of Generosity
Kapi‘olani Syllabus Template Update
The Magical Unicorn: Tips to Enchant and Enhance Your Online Class
“What’s going to be on the test?” “Are you giving us a study guide for the test?” Ahhhh, those famous words students utter in hopes you will tell them the exact questions you will have on your next assessment. Online study tools like study decks/flashcards can help students practice and master course content.
Quizlet is a website with a corresponding app that helps students study vocabulary terms and key concepts with online flashcards. Instructors can create and share study sets with students, or students can create them on their own. Students can study your sets you share. There are different ways they can engage with the study deck, including:
Flashcards
Learn
Write
Spell
Test
Match
Gravity
Live
If you use Laulima lesson pages, you can also embed some of the study deck functions on your page. One of the student favorites is Match. Challenge them to beat your time and they will play it over and over again!
Digital Accessibility Handout
We’ve introduced 8 fundamental components of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance in the online environment (headings, lists, hyperlinks, images, tables, color, video, and audio) along with primary considerations in our previous newsletters. Here is the complete Digital Accessibility Handout (PDF) for your quick glance when needed. It might be helpful to print this out and post it near your computer so that you remember to ensure ADA compliance when creating your web content (which is much easier than going back and fixing it later).
If you need any assistance for digital accessibility, feel free to reach out to UH ADA Compliance Support via itsada@hawaii.edu. In addition to this service, UH has a resource hub for accessibility. Please check out Accessibility at UH page for more information.
Featured Faculty
Name: Mackenzie Manning
Department: Math and Science
What courses do you teach online? BIOL 171 Introduction to Biology I
How long have you been teaching online and what made you decide to teach online?
I’m a newbie for sure! I started teaching this course in Spring 2019 and have taught it online four times, including this semester. I decided to convert this course to an asynchronous online course to offer my students the flexibility that online courses afford. This course is a difficult major’s biology course that is required for STEM and pre-health majors. Throughout the years, I’ve noticed that many of my students were returning students taking this course as a pre-req on their way to applying for medical or PT school. These students are highly motivated and I thought an online option would serve them well. I always intended to offer both an online and F2F option for students. Although during Summer 2020, BIOL 171 was a synchronous online course.
In Summer 2020, due to COVID, I taught BIOL 171 Lab as a fully online synchronous course for the first and most likely the last time (unless we magically become flush with money to support the development of a proper major’s biology lab course). Needless to say, I learned a lot about what a good online lab course could and should be with the appropriate resources, time and support.
In Spring 2021, I will be teaching my ZOOL 200 Marine Biology lecture as an online asynchronous course for the first time. Through the Summer 2020 TOPP Restart Cohort, I was able to design this course to be extremely project based and collaborative. I’m really excited to deliver this course in the spring (and a little nervous)!
What is your favorite part about online teaching?
I really enjoy reading my student’s forum responses, and their replies to others. Being so new to online teaching, I have been taking baby steps in introducing new tech into my course. I tried FlipGrid one semester but found that not all students felt comfortable engaging, so I went back to the traditional forum posts. I have since learned how to embed YouTube videos in the forums and found some great short pieces that relate to the content we are learning. I’ve found that students have engaged much more effectively with watching short educational videos and then commenting and offering their own ideas as opposed to reading an article. I am also just absolutely amazed at the level of discourse between students in the forums. They are so polite and friendly and engaged with one another.
I also enjoy organizing my online course, I guess this is my OCD coming out! I really strive to set my course up as completely and seamlessly as possible for my students. And as I get more comfortable making videos, I find that they are extremely useful in getting across the technical aspects of navigating an online course.
Overall, I would say I am enjoying the challenge as well. This semester is the fourth time I’ve taught BIOL 171 online, and each time I learn new things from my students about how to improve. I am still implementing new ideas and tweaking things here and there which keeps me engaged.
What are your biggest challenges during COVID-19 remote/online teaching and how are you overcoming them?
Testing for sure. I’ve made a lot of changes in how I deliver my assessments. This is still something I am struggling with this semester. I’m realizing that there are ways for my students to cheat that I didn’t even know possible. As a result, and this is kind of exciting, I’m thinking about abandoning quizzes and midterms all together for as long as we can’t utilize in-person testing centers. And who knows, this could completely transform how I assess!
What surprised you about teaching online?
I think what has really surprised me the most is how much more expressive students are online. For example, this semester I have the same students taking my online lecture course and my hybrid labs. In the online lecture, their forums are so engaging to read and I feel like students are really connecting with one another. In my labs though, it’s been so hard to get my students to interact, even with me! It actually kind of scares me that my students are more comfortable interacting online compared to in person.
What is your favorite web tool/technology?
Google docs by far. I have converted so many of my assignments, worksheets, handouts, lab data, syllabi, etc. to google docs and I love it. It makes it so easy to update and I think it’s easier for my students to click a link rather than download and open a document. And it’s easier for me to grade work and make comments on their google docs. It feels more collaborative for sure, especially when we are on the doc together. I also have experimented with Padlet this semester. I have an “Ask Anything” Padlet page where I post interesting news and articles and videos, and students can post as well. It’s like a smorgasbord of questions and cool things to share back and forth.
note: If you are interested in experimenting with Padlet, too, contact one of our IDs to get a campus account (Yoyo: youxin@hawaii.edu, Jamie: jsickel@hawaii.edu, or Helen: htorigoe@hawaii.edu).
Laulima Advanced Tips: Merge (cross-list) Multiple Sections into One Laulima Site
Are you managing multiple Laulima sites for your multiple sections of the same course? Sending the same announcement multiple times or copying the lessons page as you are developing them each week?
As you get ready for Spring, consider merging your multiple sections into one Laulima site! Here’s how:
Before importing content into your Spring sites, ask ITS to merge your sites: click “Request Account” at the bottom of any Laulima page or go to https://www.hawaii.edu/itunesu/laulima/ and specify which sites need to be merged.
Your new site will probably be named “Group…” but it will include student groups for each section. Assignments, Email, and Forums can be published for different section(s) as needed. Even most of the lesson page items can be made available to a specific section. Gradebook can be viewed for the entire site or by selecting a section at a time.
Adding Collaborators to a Google Drive Folder
Google Drive now allows the owner to add collaborators to a folder. Previously the owner could add collaborators to an individual Google Doc/Team drive only. This feature affords greater flexibility and convenience to Google Drive users to collaborate with individuals for different goals.
Below are the primary steps to add collaborators to a specific folder in Google Drive.
Open Google Drive, go to the desired folder you want to add collaborators, hover your mouse, and right-click to select “Share.”
Enter the email addresses of the people you want to add. Select the drop-down arrow and choose a role from the list (viewer, commenter, contributor, content manager). Each role affords the individuals different privileges based on your selection.
You could add a short message to notify your collaborators so that the message will be embedded in the email notification that goes out after you hit the “Send” button.
Catch Up on Webinars over the Holiday Break!
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 whet your appetite:
Upcoming live webinars:
- Active Learning in the Online Classroom: Strategies & Teaching Techniques to Foster Student Engagement (Wednesday 12/9, 8:00 - 9:00 am HST)
- From Retention to Graduation during COVID-19: Essential Resources for Supporting Online Academic Advising (Wednesday 12/9, 10:00 - 11:30 am HST)
- Designing Learning Outcomes & Engaging Assessments for the Online Classroom (Thursday 12/10, 8:00 - 9:00 am HST)
- How Asynchronous Online Tutoring Can Meet the Needs of Online Students (Thursday 1/21, 8:00 - 9:00 am HST)
Recently-added on demand webinars:
- Improving Student Retention: Data, Planning, Interventions, & Assessment
- Designing & Delivering Engaging Asynchronous Video Lectures
- Thinking Beyond COVID to the New Educational Paradigm: Preparing & Engaging Students for Success & Completion
- Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices: How to Create an Inclusive Climate
- How to Implement Project-based Learning & Collaboration in an Online Environment
- 5 Strategies for Managing Instructional Workload in the Online Classroom
And many, many more. Sign up at Kapi‘olani CC's G2K account page and browse through the offerings.
What We Are Reading, Listening to, and Watching Now
- What Lessons Have Emerged from the Pandemic Semester? Campus Pandemic Diaries, Ep. 7 EdSurge (audio podcast)
This episode seeks the silver lining in this stressful semester. Teachers' reevaluation of assessment methods may carry forward in a positive way, as might a philosophy of flexibility. Teachers are also learning that the online environment is a great place to connect with students. At the same time, deeper empathy is leading to increasing stress levels as we worry more about our students, work more hours, and fend off burnout. Campus Pandemic Diaries is a semester-long series of audio postcards from students and professors at 6 colleges and universities.
- The Pandemic Will Leave More Students Unprepared for College. Developmental Education Must Help. EdSurge (article)
COVID-19's impact on education is expected to result in lower rates of preparedness as high school students transition to college. The co-requisite model of developmental education holds promise as a way to help these students make up lost time.
- Pass-Fail Hardball Inside Higher Ed (article)
Students are calling for blanket pass/fail leniency with grades this semester, as many institutions offered this leniency this past Spring. But is continuing this policy of leniency in the best interest of student learning? The conflicting views on this issue have resulted in a variety of approaches across the nation.
- Recapping the 2020 Election: What Higher Education Can Expect WCET Frontiers (article)
The Biden administration faces a number of significant higher education challenges including the financial impact of the pandemic, racial inequity, college affordability, and the continued need to pass critical higher education legislation. This article summarizes what we might expect from the new administration in these areas.
- Virtual Learning Should and Can Be Hands-On Insider Higher Ed (article)
Advice on how to replicate experiential learning in the online classroom, including labs.
