Distance Education Newsletter
Kapi‘olani Community College | August 16, 2021
Welcome Back!
---Get Ready for the Semester---
Is Your Syllabus Up-to-date?
Does Your Online Class Have RSI?
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) is a requirement for our DE classes, and it’s an essential part of the federal DOE’s definition of what makes a class or program “Distance Education” (as opposed to “Correspondence Education”). Recent federal negotiated rulemaking sessions have revised the federal definition of RSI, and accrediting agencies (including ACCJC) are coming out with revised regulations to take this newly-revised definition of RSI into account. ACCJC’s revised DE regulations are set to take effect in July of 2022.
In preparation, Kapi‘olani CC has drafted an institutional definition of RSI in alignment with the new federal definition. This RSI definition passed the Faculty Senate on April 5 and was approved by the administration on April 12. Now it’s time to share it with the Kapi‘olani CC DE Community:
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) is a requirement for Distance Education (DE) classes at Kapi‘olani Community College. In meeting this requirement, instructors are responsible for interacting with students on a predictable and regular basis. They monitor students’ academic engagement and success, and proactively engage in substantive interactions with the students. These interactions occur in at least two of the following ways:
Providing direct instruction (ie. instructor-created videos, slide presentations, or other instructional materials or meeting with the class synchronously online)
Providing feedback on assignments (preferably individualized)
Providing information and/or responding to questions
Facilitating group discussions (including discussions that utilize Web 2.0 tools such as Padlet, FlipGrid, collaborative creation tools, etc.)
Engaging in one or more of the following instructional activities:
Sending announcements, reminders or nudges to students
Holding synchronous group or individual conferences
Assigning and facilitating peer feedback
Assigning and facilitating group projects
Assigning and facilitating student-led instruction (student presentations, student-led discussions, etc.)
Sharing individualized course performance, progress, and/or early-alert reports with students
If you have questions or comments about this definition, or about RSI, we’d love to hear them! Contact Leigh at ldooley@hawaii.edu
Is Your Online or Hybrid Class Accessible?
Prep for Fall and earn a digital credential for your dossier with Kapi‘olani CC’s Fundamentals of Digital Accessibility self-paced online course! This is a great time to upskill and update your digital content before the new academic year, and all employees across the UH System are welcome to enroll in the fully online, self-paced, Kapi‘olani-created professional development program focused on Digital Accessibility. Here are the important details:
Who: You! All UH employees are welcome and encouraged to participate
What: A 7-module, self-paced learning resource with the option to complete a competency assessment to earn a digital credential
When: Anytime you like! It’s self-paced and asynchronous, so feel free to hop in and complete the training on your own schedule.
Where: Laulima (we’ll add you to the site after you register)
Why: Accessibility is a highly important topic that can be somewhat technical and a bit overwhelming – our aim is to demystify basic accessibility concepts and make digital accessibility approachable and relevant to the work you do.
How: Just Register Here to be added to the training site!
Learn about fundamental accessibility concepts, digital accessibility principles, designs, best practices, tools for evaluating accessibility, and pertinent resources for creating accessible digital documents and online course sites.
Are Your YouTube Videos Still Viewable by Students?
YouTube quietly enacted a change on July 23, 2021 that made older Unlisted videos Private unless you opted out from this change. This was part of a security update to Unlisted videos uploaded before January 1, 2017. Unlisted content uploaded on or after January 1, 2017 was unaffected by this change.
Before the semester begins, I highly suggest you double-check your YouTube links to ensure that your students will be able to watch them. If they do not, assuming you are the owner of the video, check the status of the video as it may have changed to being listed as "Private." Changing it back to "Unlisted" should make it viewable again. To check video content you've uploaded to your YouTube account, login to https://studio.youtube.com and click on the word CONTENT in the left-hand menu to see the videos you've uploaded. Now click on any video to edit its settings.
[Credit: Ross Egloria, Honolulu CC]
Is Your Wireless Passthrough Still Active?
---Online Andragogy---
TOPP Final Presentations by the Summer II 2021 Cohort — Join Us!
Please join the Teaching Online Prep Program (TOPP) Summer II 2021 cohort as they showcase their newly designed online classes next week! They have just completed multiple modules of TOPP this summer, and they are ready to share their creative pedagogical and technology-integrated course designs. The presentations will take place on:
Thursday, August 19th, 3 to 4:30 pm
Friday, August 27th, 3 to 4:30 pm
Everyone is welcome to join one or more sessions featuring faculty from various UH campuses. Join us at https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/8258413394.
The Magical Unicorn: Tips to Enchant and Enhance Your Online Class
---Mahalo & Congratulations!---
Mahalo to Everyone Who Made Kapi‘olani Summer Camp a Huge Success!
We cannot thank you enough for making our second Kapi‘olani Summer Camp a success - thank you to the presenters for sharing your time, insights, skills and knowledge with us, to our facilitators for taking the time to support your colleagues and engage in professional service in support of this event, and to all of you who attended the event and brought your thoughtful questions, bright ideas, and great attitudes!
Here's a look at camp by the numbers:
4 Days
19 Facilitators
45 Presenters
36 Sessions
245 Participants
1014 Total Attendance
Please enjoy this "highlight reel," A Letter From Camp…(mahalo to Dave Evans for providing lyrics and vocals!)
Ho'omaika'i Ana & Mahalo to the ALOHA E Institute 2021 Cohort!
The ALOHA E Institute is a Title III sponsored professional development opportunity that is a collaborative effort between Chaminade University of Honolulu and Kapi‘olani Community College. The PD offers stipends for a limited cohort of faculty from each campus to complete a week-long training in one of three tracks.
Congratulations to the following Kapi‘olani CC faculty who participated in and competed the ALOHA E summer institute:
Active Learning: Aaron Chau, Ann Kiyabu, Ben Carroll, Bennett Zazzera, Jung Eun Kim, David Lukela, Martine Bissonnette, Michelle Dela Cruz, Shepherd Maingano, Thuy Lam
Online Hui: Catherine Primavera, Davin Kubota, Jennifer Au Hoy, Kelli Nakamura, Lauren Tamamoto, Lillie Jackson, Lisa Kobuke, Man Beryl Yang, Nicole Otero
‘Āina-based Education: Aaron Hanai, Adam Mahiʻai Dochin, Elaina Malm, Jan Fried, Kaili Chun, Kloe Kang, Kuan-Hung Chen, Lisa Bright, Winnie Law, Yoneko Kanaoka
And mahalo to the Kapi‘olani CC planning team members (Helen Torigoe, Rachel Lindsey, Nadine Wolff, and Jamie Sickel) and guest presenters Kawehi Sellers and Youxin Zhang!
The ALOHA E Institute will be offered again next summer and information will come out in late spring. Registration is on a first come, first serve basis. For more info on this opportunity as well as others offered through the same Title III grant, please visit the ALOHA E website.
---Heads Up---
DE Class Review Will Begin in Fall 2021!
Trained peer reviewers will work with DE instructors to ensure that our DE classes meet federal and ACCJC requirements, and to ensure that DE instructors have the support they need to create and facilitate effective online learning spaces.
In Fall 2021, the focus will be on classes that were online prior to COVID. For Spring 2022, we hope to have a better sense of which newly-online-since-COVID classes will remain online moving forward.
If your class is slated for review, you'll receive notification in early September and will have the opportunity to choose which rubric you'd like to work with. The BaRe (Basic Requirements) Rubric focuses tightly on the 5 federal and ACCJC requirements. The CoRe (Collaborative Reflective) Rubric offers an opportunity for a rich, collaborative conversation about course design and facilitation.
Want more information? Check out these Quick Facts about DE Class Review. If you have questions, please direct them to Leigh (ldooley@hawaii.edu).