
Distance Education Newsletter
Kapi‘olani Community College | May 1, 2020
Welcome, Summer!
The Teacher of the Month Is: YOU!
In this newsletter we want to feature all of the Kapi‘olani CC faculty and staff for doing an incredible job during these uncertain times.
Thank you for:
Rethinking your class in a moment’s notice and moving it to an online format.
Learning how to teach and provide services remotely even though you may have had very little experience or preparation.
Helping your students during uncertain times, making exceptions and adjusting expectations, all the while keeping quality education a focus.
Assisting your colleagues as they navigate new technology, new modalities, and new guidelines.
Staying motivated and creative through 6+ weeks of zoom meetings, virtual class sessions.
TOPP To Go!
FERPA Guidance for Online Lectures and Recordings
Is student consent required...
- to record an online synchronous class meeting?
- to share the recording with students in the class?
- to share the recording with other classes?
- to post it publicly?
What if a student joins via phone and the number is displayed?
Is a recorded lecture considered an education record?
The New Google Sites Available to Google@UH Users
You can even collaborate with other users in real-time.
Convert your Classic Google Sites to the New Google Sites by following this tutorial. Your existing Classic Google site(s) will be retained until the end of 2021 so be sure to convert them sooner rather than later! For additional details, visit the ITS alerts page. [Courtesy of UH Online Innovation Center]Digital Accessibility Tip (Hyperlinks)
Tim Berners-Lee randomly picked blue for hyperlinks when he invented the World Wide Web in 1990. But did you know that blue color is not included in color blindness? In other words, almost no one has a blue deficiency. Thus, we reserve underlined and blue for hyperlinks as blue can be seen by everyone.
Phrases, such as “click here,” “learn more,” or “link to” for a hyperlink text will fail because these expressions are useless for screen reader users to understand what the link is and where the link will lead them to after clicking. The best practice of making a hyperlink accessible to all users is to develop a meaningful hyperlink text describing a URL link instead of simply copying and pasting the entire URL address into a text edit window.
A descriptive hyperlink text should contain 3 pieces of information:
- where the link is going
- the purpose of the link
- what happens when the link is clicked
For example: visit Kapiʻolani Community College Credit Programs (opens in a new window) for more information.
If the hyperlink contains a downloadable file, please indicate the file type (e.g., PDF, PPT, Word) in the hyperlinked text. For instance, Kapiʻolani CC Spring 2020 Academic Calendar (PDF) [opens in a new window].
If a doc is for print, please place the original link address or a shortened URL after the link text. For example: Kapiʻolani Community College Credit Programs (URL: http://go.hawaii.edu/A9H).
Additional Resources:
- How to Add An External Link Icon after Text in Laulima (video, 1:05)
- Stop saying "Click Here!" Create Meaningful Links (video, 2:28)
Zoom Fatigue or Zoom Gloom
Do you feel extra tired and exhausted after being done with a zoom class session? You are not alone. National Geographic recently published an article on a new phenomenon called Zoom Fatigue or Zoom Gloom, although it is not limited to Zoom but any prolonged meeting via a video app.
Humans communicate not just through words but also via facial expressions, body movements, and other non-verbal cues. In a standard classroom we don’t just stand still and talk at the board but we move around and interact with students on many non-verbal levels. In contrast, “a typical video call impairs these ingrained abilities, and requires sustained and intense attention to words instead. If a person is framed only from the shoulders up, the possibility of viewing hand gestures or other body language is eliminated.” Furthermore, the article shares that our brains are much more taxed trying to process the many small video screens (gallery view) while also multi-tasking with the technology aspect of delivering the lecture, and getting our points across. So next time you feel especially exhausted after a class or meeting, just give yourself a break and try some of these suggestions to lessen the Zoom Gloom:
Try standing up or walking around during your work meeting if possible.
Take appropriate breaks and turn off all screen activity allowing your brain to rest. Stretch, drink some water, or do some exercise.
Limit your video calls to only those that are necessary.
Grading During COVID-19
In an effort to address the unprecedented, sudden, and required shift to remote teaching and learning mid-semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UH system has enacted a grading policy for Spring 2020, which allows students to select a credit/no credit grade for their courses that have been disrupted. After the usual grading period, students will be able to view the letter grade that they have earned and will have the option to request to change from a letter grade to a credit/no credit grade by May 22, 2020.
More information can be found at the following sites. Students should refer to the FAQ site for possible implications regarding the credit/no credit grade option and contact their academic counselor with any further questions.
FS DE Committee Updates
The FS DE committee had a busy and productive year. The following highlight some of our initiatives and accomplishments:
We developed the very first KapCC Excellence in Online Teaching award which was approved by Faculty Senate and the Administration. We hope to honor our first awardee by Spring 2021
We continue to pursue answers regarding the status of training to teach online and compensation as we believe that training is invaluable in ensuring quality online education
The DE Class Review Process was passed by Faculty Senate and the Administration and is set to pilot in Fall 2020. The BaRe and CoRe rubrics were developed and finalized.
We researched the UH late registration policy shift and are reviewing data to show success rates of students adding courses in the second week of classes.
We began conversations with the Honda International Center to assist in offering more online courses to our international students.
We assisted in the development of the vision and mission statement for the new DE plan.
If you have questions about online education-related issues, or have items you would like the DE committee to discuss, please contact your DE department representative. If you would like to become a member of the Faculty Senate Distance Education subcommittee, let us know. You can serve as a voting member representing your department (one per department) or as a non-voting member.
A huge Mahalo to all the current committee members. Thank you for an exciting and productive year!
- Beryl Yang - Arts & Humanities (NV)
- Cera Kim-Sunada - Nursing (V)
- David Mendonsa - EMS (V)
- Helen Torigoe - CELTT (NV)
- Jamie Sickel - CELTT (V)
- Kelli Nakamura (Vice Chair) - Arts & Humanities (V)
- Kristie Malterre - Student Affairs (V)
- Laure Burke - HOST (V)
- Lauren Tamamoto - CULN (V)
- Leaugeay C. Barnes - EMS (proxy)
- Leigh Dooley - Distance Ed Coordinator (NV)
- Melissa Nakamura - College Advancement and Continuing Education (V)
- Mindy Case - Math & Sciences (NV)
- Neghin Modavi - Social Sciences (V)
- Nadine Wolff (Chair) - Math & Sciences (NV)
- Rachel Lindsey - Math & Sciences (V)
- Satoru Shinagawa - LLL (V)
- Susan Dik - BLT (V)
- Susan Jaworowski - BLT (NV)
- Veronica Ogata - Student Success Coord. (V)
Please Take a Moment to Support Our Graduates!
On May 4th, we will launch a Graduation Celebration on our website and we need just a few minutes of your time to make it a success. Please post a congratulatory message (text, photo, video) to your program's Padlet wall to honor and celebrate the amazing achievements of our graduates! This is NOT a replacement for commencement. We plan to hold an in-person ceremony at some point in the future (details not yet available). This is a way for us to express to our graduates how proud we are of them now, as they complete their educational journey with Kapi‘olani CC.
Please post your message by Friday, May 1st so that when the Graduate Celebration webpage and Padlets go live on May 4th to students, families, and friends, they will be filled with messages of love and aloha! If every one of us - staff, faculty, admin - could take a moment to share a congratulatory message, it would have a great impact! Please feel free to leave messages on more than one Padlet, as you may have relationships with students across the curriculum. The messages are moderated (just to ensure things stay PG-13 once they're live on the Web) so it may take up to 12 hours before posts are viewable.
Mahalo for your kokua!
Got Research? Looking for Answers?
What We Are Reading, Listening to, and Watching Now
The Difference between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning (EduCause Review, article)
Mindfulness in the Online Classroom (Faculty Focus, article)
Generation Z: Re-thinking Teaching and Learning Strategies (Faculty Focus, article)
Free and Discounted Ed Tech Tools for Online Learning During the Coronavirus Pandemic (Campus Technology, article)
Social Presence - Why It's Important in Online Courses (YouTube video, 1:25)
An instructor's social presence in an online course helps increase instructor-student interactions, student satisfaction, and perceived depth of learning.
Community Is the Secret to Successfully Enrolling Students in the Fall (Inside Higher Ed, article)
The Quotation at the End:
"These kids have been watching YouTube their entire lives, and they’re used to bad cuts. They actually think that a poorly edited video is in some ways cooler or more authentic.”
--John Green, author (The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down) and co-creator of the CrashCourse educational YouTube videos (subjects include organic chemistry and European history, among many others); from the EdSurge podcast & article “How YouTube Star John Green Thinks about His Educational Videos”
The Friendly Faces of Your Distance Education Implementation Team
Jamie Sickel
jsickel@hawaii.edu, x9849
Helen Torigoe
htorigoe@hawaii.edu, x9855
Youxin (Yoyo) Zhang
youxin@hawaii.edu, x9822
Melissa Nakamura
mchar@hawaii.edu, x9252
Kristie Malterre
kristies@hawaii.edu, x9344
Kara Plamann Wagoner
karapw@hawaii.edu, x9778
Nadine Wolff
nwolff@hawaii.edu, x9787
Kelli Nakamura
kellinak@hawaii.edu, x9420
Leigh Dooley
ldooley@hawaii.edu, x9703