Nowelo Blog

[6899] Onward to Commencement!

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:16:00 +0000

Also posted on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mlpuha

Thesis Update: My thesis received high marks and does not require a rewrite, summarily completing my capstone course and the final requirement for my master's program. Mahalo ke Akua!

Mahalo nui to each and everyone of you that have blessed me with your support, patience, prayers, good thoughts, and aloha these past two and a half years. Of course, I absolutely could not have done it without the love and support of my Sweetie, and the prayers of support from my "very patient and understanding" mother.

Proudly wearing a custom Sig Zane Designs shirt for this occasion, and with regalia expertly altered for me by my hula sister, I will commence at 5 pm on Friday, June 14, 2013 at California State University East Bay in Hayward California as a Master of Science in Education, Option in Online Teaching and Learning.

You will be with me spiritually as I cross the stage to accept my degree. Obligatory celebration(s) will be planned for a later date. ;)
I look forward to meeting those of my classmates and teachers that will be able to attend commencement on Friday, especially at a social get-together sponsored by the MS-OTL program. How wonderful it will be to finally meet face-to-face after all this time being together online.

With love, aloha, and appreciation, --Liko and Toki — feeling Happy, Blessed, and Accomplished.

[6899] Waiting for the Grade and Commencement

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:53:00 +0000

Aloha e Nā Hoa,
Greetings Friends,

Been a while since I have posted here. For the past few days I have been anxiously waiting for my instructor of the 6899 capstone course, Nan Chico, to provide me feedback on my thesis paper. Incidentally, Nan is also the director of my master's program.

Reflective thoughts have been leading from one to another and suddenly my neglected blog came to mind. I started the blog two and a half years ago to document this journey (January 2011). During the journey however, blogging frequency has been inconsistent. Reasons vary, but at times it was a choice of energy conservation, and others, experiences that just needed sharing.

This is not a full reflection of the journey--not just yet. I turned the paper in on Sunday. Grades are due on Wednesday the 12th. I continue to work on the paper, finding opportunities for improving grammar and conciseness as I wait. The optimal feedback from Nan would be no rewriting required--good to go. The not so optimal feedback would require a major rewrite that could potentially go beyond the 12th, thus requiring another quarter in the program.

Commencement is Friday the 14th at 5pm in Hayward for which I ordered commencement invitations and thank you cards. I have yet to mail any out. (Yes, that would be snail mail.) Since commencement is on a Friday, with friends and family too far to attend, I will take pictures of the big day and send a photo along with the invitation or thank you card. So many people helped me get this far.

But again, I am still waiting.

More later. So until then, live long and prosper by living pono.

--Liko

[6707] Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:33:00 +0000

The final assignment for this course was to express our gratitude to those that helped with the completion of this course. I decided to do a short presentation video.

Click on the link EDUI 6707 Gratitude to see a larger version.

EDUI 6707 Gratitude from Liko Puha on Vimeo.

Completing this course makes me one course away from completing the program. I will be enrolling in the capstone starting in a couple of weeks. I have also applied for graduation with hopes of walking at the Summer 2013 commencement on Friday, June 15,at 5pm at the Cal State University East Bay campus (Hayward).

Blessed and grateful,
--Liko

EDUI 6707 Icebreaker

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:51:00 +0000

The Assignment

Interviewing a Fellow Classmate

Please choose a fellow classmate, email them and request their participation as an interview partner. You may also use our "Cybercafe" for this effort.

This assignment will act as an 'icebreaker' in our course. To read more about the rationale, technology and processes for icebreakers, visit here: http://twt.wikispaces.com/Ice-Breaker+Ideas

For this particular icebreaker, please create an audio or video and then share the url or upload the audio/video to our discussion area. Help us get to know you and your interview partner through this effort!

Liko's Introduction by Atina Delfino

http://portal.sliderocket.com:80/app/FullPlayer.aspx?id=7592930B-8417-924D-B15E-37843D0F9D46

Atina's Introduction by Liko Puha

http://prezi.com/roadism4zwah/introducing-atina-delfino/?kw=view-roadism4zwah&rc=ref-19319114

[6707] Making a Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:30:00 +0000

It is a scene played out over and over in Hawaiʻi. A natural face-2-face icebreaker. Two strangers meet and inevitably, through fluid and casual inquiries, a connection is made, placing each other carefully into their individual stream of places, family, friends, acquaintances, experiences—all bound by connections. Note: The language used below is Hawaiʻi Creole English (Hawaiian Pidgin).

“Where you from?” 
“What high school you grad?”
 “You live Hilo? You know da Pereira’s live Keaukaha?”
 “You live San Francisco? Ma cousin Keʻala dance hula wid Patrick Makuakāne guys.”

In Hawaiʻi, we are raised with a strong sense of place, an integral part of our identity that comes from the host culture.

For students of my Hawaiian culture and language courses, ice-breaker questions usually include:

Where were you born?
Where were you raised? (Where did you grow up?)
Where have you migrated since?

Students are encouraged to find a connection with each other beginning with the answers to those simple questions.

Additional Resources

What does a "Sense of Place" mean to you?
http://www.moolelo.com/Sense-of-Place.pdf

Welcome to Hawai'i (Official airline greeting for State of Hawai'i)

In-flight programming for airline usage that welcomes visitors and kama'āina to our islands using the Hawaiian language. This program is part of an effort to create a sense of place at our local airports that authentically reflects the host culture of Hawai'i.

http://youtu.be/kAOAnA1ttjc

Pidgenology
A humorous take on pidgin.
https://vimeo.com/32612024

Hawaii Pidgin The Voice of Hawaii
A more academic approach to explaining the roots of pidgin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7X9AAeDCr4

Developing a Sense of Place and an Environmental Ethic:  A Transformative Role for Hawaiian/Indigenous Science in Teacher Education?
 Pauline W. U. Chinn
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/HOH/HOH-5.pdf

Axioms of an Extraordinary Online Instructor

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:13:00 +0000

"The deepest online learning takes place through relationship."
"Extraordinary teachers inspire students, model skills of critical thinking, foster collaboration, and encourage students to reach beyond what they perceive as their normal boundaries."

--L. Wildflower (2010)

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:33:00 +0000

How cool is this?! Love the Periodic Table of Videos on the Understanding level. Click on the link or image below to view the page with working links to the individual sites.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Author: Samantha Penney, samantha.penney@gmail.com

CSU East Bay University Libraries » Gmail Configuraton

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:44:00 +0000

CSU East Bay University Libraries » Gmail Configuraton

Masters Research Project Forming

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:23:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai kākou,

Exciting news! Through various assignments, a reccomendation from my instructor Dr. Kay Lehmann, and approval from the director of the MS-OTL program, my masters research project is forming. And I am feeling confident about it.

The working topic: Analysis of Nuiākea Hawaiian Culture Online Personal Enrichment Program

Basically, I will be researching what did and did not go well in the program from the Online Teaching and Learning perspective. How this adds to the body of research knowledge is particular to online multicultural education and online continuing education in a university setting--currently.

I am just beginning, but I am extremely excited! If interested, see what I have so far here.

http://bit.ly/project-mindmap

--Liko

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:42:00 +0000

wdptwpj

Resuming My Studies with EDUI 6706

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai kākou,

This past Monday, January 9th, I resumed my graduate studies. Taking it a bit more slowly this time by enrolling in a single course. Yes, it will take longer, but I think I am increasing my chances of surviving and having a somewhat reasonable schedule.

At work I started a new position three months ago, so the learning curve there is steep--but fun. I returned to my Information Technology roots, spending my days as an Internet Services Specialist. While currently my focus is administering SharePoint, the ISS team also administers: Linux Web servers, DNS servers, Microsoft Exchange Servers, ListServ, etc.

In my current CSUEB MS-OTL course, Research in Online Teaching & Learning, I am reunited with Dr. Kay Lehmann. She is such an awesome instructor. I pray daily that I stay healthy, focused, and productive throughout this coming year.

Happy 2012 to us all! Below is a picture with my nieces during the Holidays wearing our animal beanies.

--Liko

The Virtual Choir

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:20:00 +0000

Something awesome was shared with me in one of my master's courses. It reminded me of that special magic I used to feel when singing in a choir or chamber group. Below you will find two video. Watch the introduction then the actual performance. Tears welled as I looked upon the faces while experiencing the special magic of "The Virtual Choir!"

http://youtu.be/zyLX2cke-Lw

http://youtu.be/D7o7BrlbaDs

Collaboration: Socio and Technical Are One

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:23:00 +0000

THE FUTURE OF VIRTUAL TEAMWORK & COLLABORATION: Collaboration: Socio and Technical Are One

Like this from the article:

On the 'socio' side, what sort of shared values will help you create the climate for collaboration?

Professionalism over politics
Trust over suspicion
Conversations over commands
Transparency over secrets
Problem-solving over blaming
Opening over closing
Creativity over conformity
Inclusion over exclusion
We and me over me
Yes/and over yes/but

The list could go on and on. You might want to be a bit more creative:

Circles over triangles
Fire over ice
Fluids over solids

Just as long as you share the same meaning!

EDUI 6703 Technology Tools for Online Instruction

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:19:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai kākou e nā hoa heluhelu,

I ka Poʻakahi nei i hoʻomaka iho ai ka papa hoʻonaʻauao hou, ʻo Nā Mea ʻEnehana no Ke Hoʻonaʻauao Pūnawele. Pīhoihoi nō au i nēia papa, ʻoiai hoʻi, he mea puni ʻenehana au. ʻAʻole au he Kenelala ʻEnehana e like me kuʻu Palala ʻo Keola Donaghy, he Konela paha au. Kā!

Ma ka pepa pahuhopu o ka papa nei i kākau ʻia ai:

Differentiated Instruction — Everyone enters this class at a different level of awareness and comfort when it comes to working with technology. The course is designed to help you advance along your personal path to technology competence. You are not expected to compete with your classmates. Your grade will be based on your personal performance as measured by the grading criteria.

Naʻu nō e ana i kaʻu hana ponoʻī me ka holomua pū? Hiki nō!
na Liko

Ua hiki mai nō paha ke kau kupulau! Aia nō kēia kumu lāʻau ma ka pā hale ʻo mua.

EDUI 6702 Is It Over Already?

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:08:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai kākou e nā hoa heluhelu,

Unfortunately, I have posted very little about my participation in this course. This past Friday evening marked the end of Teaching Models for Online Instruction. That's 20% of the coursework required for my masters degree. Yay!

Dr. Jodi Servatius

My instructor, Dr. Jodi Servatius, is an amazing teacher. I feel honored to be counted among her students. I blessedly experienced and observed the skills of a masterful online instructor. And from my classmates I learned plenty too!

For the final assignment of this course we were to create a chart that mapped instructional strategies to fulfill one learning objective from our individual courses in development. Remember that my course is History of Hula: The Art of Hawaiian Dance.

Students will be able to:
Recall and describe the respective hula origin oral history that includes significant deities, personages and place names for the islands of Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, and Molokaʻi.

Kauluapaoa Heiau, Keʻē, Kauaʻi

One of my instructional strategies is taking the students on a virtual field trip. That means of course that I will need to make an in-person real live field trip! Just need to find a sponsor.

The past five weeks have blazed by, but not without drama. Balancing my responsibilities of caring for my mother, my job, my home life, and school has been challenging. Just within the past two weeks, some health issues have required my full attention. I am not complaining or asking for sympathy. Ke Akua knows I have friends that handle this and much more! But for my own personal journey and reflection only do I remark upon it here.

Therefore, I will focus on the kuleana listed above while graciously declining participation in any extra-curricular activities while in school. Except of course those activities that are required for improving my physical and spiritual health.

My next class starts next Sunday. Until then, I am officially off from work for spring break. So for one solid week I have a chance to catch up on sleep, lots of honey-dos, and mommy-dos.

Me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
Liko

EDUI 6702 Week 1 Wrapup

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:07:00 +0000

Aloha mai e nā hoa heluhelu,

At midnight tonight, the end of the first week of the next course, Teaching Models for Online Instruction, will be completed. What a week it has been. Returning from Hawaiʻi late Sunday evening, attempting to go to work on Monday (small fail), then being sick on Tuesday (major fail). After many hours of sleep and wor won ton soup, I am feeling almost a hundred percent today and hoping it stays that way for a while.

This week, we discussed Multiple Intelligences (MIs) and Learning Styles (LSs). I knew about learning styles, but MIs were new territory. Great information though! Here is how I figure it and invite comment:

Q: In what ways, if at all, do you think the concept of Learning Styles can be useful to the online instructor?

A: How exciting for me to learn that Learning Styles (LSs) are the methods for organizing and collecting information and that MIs are the cognitive processing capacities for that information. Knowing this, as an online instructor, helps reinforce the goal of providing rich learning experiences. Online courses can provide many opportunities for intrapersonal (self) and interpersonal (group) experiences. Assessments for mastery of concepts should also reflect the activities provided. If a video is used to provide a rich experience, a video should be sufficient for the student to submit for exhibiting mastery.

There are tests/surveys that help identify your Multiple Intelligences (How you process information) and Learning Styles (How you collect and organize information for processing). Knowing this information will help individuals during the learning process.

Image from: http://www.brainleadersandlearners.com

For MIs, my strengths are Musical, Social, and Language.

For LSs, my strengths are somewhat balanced, making me a multimodal type of learner. (Means that I can switch to match how the information is provided to organize and collect for processing.) My scores were:
    •    Visual: 10
    •    Aural: 11
    •    Read/Write: 14
    •    Kinesthetic: 11

To learn about your own multiple intelligences and learning styles, take the following surveys. Let me know if you agree with the results or not.

Based on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic)

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

More helpful information for online learning based on learning styles

http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/learningStyles.asp

Me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,

Liko

Kahaluʻu and the Final Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:37:00 +0000

What an incredible week! It was challenging to finish the final assignments prior to leaving for Aloha Music Camp. I did it though, and proceeded to enjoy one of the best experiences as an instructor at AMC.

Part of the fun was implementing a couple of collaborative techniques that I learned in MS-OTL class.

Another fun component included observing other instructors and their teaching style and learning so much myself about the significance of the area.

But mostly, the enjoyment came from being in one of the most sacred sites in Hawaiʻi along with all the campers and other instructors. The location was also accessible to my friends and family for visits during the week since I could not leave. And while being there, I was able to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi with so many friends!

The attending campers were from all over the world: Austria, United Kingdom, Canada, and many places on the continental United States. There were some locals too from Oʻahu and Puna, Hawaiʻi. Created lots of fond and special memories.

Upon my return from camp, I found that my final grade for EDUI_6701 had been posted by Anne.

Mahalo ke Akua! What an auspicious start to this MS-OTL journey. Looking forward to the next class which starts today!

Ke aloha nō,

Liko

6701 Week 5 - Is it over already?!

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:20:00 +0000

After a little more sleep and reflection, the rubric Anne provided for writing the final paper contained all the necessary guidance to produce an “A” product. Creating such a rubric can be challenging however—at least for me. I have found that moving away from the subjective to objective in terms of evaluating written papers is difficult, but invaluable for students.

An interesting discussion amongst classmates piqued my interest regarding the format of the final paper.

“Why does it have to be .rtf?”

“Word is better for formatting, please accept a .doc file.”

“PDF is the widely accepted standard.”

My initial reaction, “What’s the big deal? That is how Anne wants it turned in.” However, Anne revealed the main reason, something I am normally sensitive to. That being, not all students have access to expensive word processing software, so requiring .rtf instead of .doc/.docx/.pdf allows the use of most any word processing program. Ha! I fell right into the “haves” that are ignorant of the “have-nots” scenario. Boo.

I am so grateful for Anne and her roles in this course as an instructor, social director, program manager, and technical assistant.

E mālama mau au i nā haʻawina o nei papa, he kahua nō ia.
I will always care for the lessons from this class, it is definitely a foundation.

Me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
Liko

What Surprised Me the Most 
How quickly these past 5 weeks have flown by.

What I Liked the Best 
Learning about my own limits, physically and mentally, and the challenge of learning so much so quickly

What I Liked the Least
See "What I Liked the Best."

What to Keep or Change for My Courses 
Change: Rubrics for everything, either shared with students or just for myself.

Change: Add a weekly wrap-up similar to what Anne provides, summarizing the key points from class discussions and assignments.

The Final Final Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 10:54:00 +0000

Yay! The paper is done. Not the best work, though I feel pretty confident about it. The final paper is an actual online course proposal. So my course will be “History of Hula: A Living Tradition.” Is that a catchy title or what?

It is exciting to think that by the end of four courses in this program, I will have a full fledged course. Okay, some bad news. The deadline for the final paper was 12:00 am Midnight, Friday 02/04/11. I emailed Anne at around 10:30 pm letting her know that there is a high probablity that it would be a bit late. Had some difficulties with creating my own rubric to grade my own paper. Yikes!

Well, the sad part is that I did finish at 1:48 am. But even sadder is that the Blackboard system shuts down between 1:45 am and 3:30 am for weekly maintenance—on Fridays!

&^%$#@!

So now, I am doing all I can to finish all my coursework so I can focus on preparing for my workshops and the trip to teach. It is around 2:37 am right now. Almost an hour left. Maybe just a little nap...

Liko

Rationale for “History of Hula: A Living Tradition.”

Hula is the traditional dance of the Hawaiian people. Sacred, religious and spiritual, entertaining, hula is perpetuated through the generations from antiquity until today. The Hawaiian renaissance in the 1970s revitalized pride in Hawaiian language and the arts, delivering the culture from near extinction. Today, hula enjoys worldwide respect and interest. As a Native Hawaiian scholar, cultural practitioner, and technologist, I propose offering an online course to provide students locally and internationally, a historical perspective of hula. Through a chronological, visual, aural, and textual survey of the major time periods in hula, students will be able to evaluate and identify the significant hula styles prevalent today.

Tuesday Deadline!

noreply@blogger.com (Liko) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:30:00 +0000

Talk about stress! Attempting to finish the draft of my final paper before midnight Tuesday was challenging. Had to take some time off from work. I can blame it on being ill and falling behind. Okay, sure-I will.

It seemed a bit unfair to be expected to write a whole paper for half the grade, while also using strong academic writing, when most of the writing we have done in the class so far are mainly discussion board posts.

My big attempt at the scholarly writing needed only to be a couple of paragraphs but ended up almost two pages long. I need the practice. For the final paper, Anne provided rubric, self-assessment guideline, which informed us what an “A” paper should contain. What a goal!

I turned in my draft exactly at midnight Tuesday--the deadline. The draft was weak, no transitional sentences from paragraph to paragraph and not much in terms of academic references.

Midnight on the nose!

The final final is due Friday. Wish me luck!

Aloha for now,

Liko

The Challenge Called "Week 4"

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 06:46:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai e nā hoa heluhelu,
Greetings friends,

Is it Sunday, the end of the 4th week of a 5-week class. Already?!

Turbulent might be a good word to describe this past week.

On Tuesday morning, I learned from my new dentist that a dental malady required a tooth extraction which was the foundation for a two-tooth bridge.
On Wednesday morning, my tooth was extracted and I returned to work immediately. After working a full day, arrived at home, ate, and promptly slept for 12 hours.
On Thursday, feeling okay. However, it was our 15th anniversary. Small celebration with the best Japanese food in Santa Rosa for early dinner. Returned home satiated, and promptly slept for another 10 hours.
On Friday, feeling better. The big anniversary celebration that evening at our favorite restaurant. Returned home completely stuffed, worked on homework for a little while, but eventually slept again for 8 hours.
On Saturday, feeling pudgy. Put some extra time in the office working six hours. Did a little homework. Returned home exhausted, just went to sleep--not eating.
Today, feeling great! Woke up early, started on homework, practiced chanting and hula. Finished all my assignments.

Mahalo ke Akua!
Mahalo to my Sweetie too!

Only one week left of class and then Keauhou, Kona. Lots to do this coming week, I still need to prepare my lessons for the workshops I will be teaching. Good thing is I will be using assessment techniques to measure student learning outcomes in three ways: pre-instructional, formative, and summative.

But even before those tasks, there is a final paper to write. Focus, focus, focus.

Blessings to your and yours!

Ke aloha nō,
Liko

What Surprised Me the Most 
How little I knew about rubrics and their multiple uses.

What I Liked the Best 
Learning that I am moving from my traditional role as a technologist toward administrative tendencies. I have to add that Anne provided an audio file this week too!

What I Liked the Least
My inability to completely immerse myself in the huge amounts of reading this past week.

What to Keep or Change for My Courses 
Change: Consider using rubrics for future learning assessment.

Keep: Providing text alternative when using audio files in the course.

Week 3 Wrap Up

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:04:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai e nā hoa heluhelu,
Greetings friends,

It has definitely been one crazy week. Sure, with school, but other "life" things as well. This course is halfway over--which is difficult to believe. Reading is becoming easier. My academic writing is improving. Well, at least I think so. Been attempting to avoid the feeling of "being behind" or "trying to catch up" with little success. There's always next week!

Something made me pause this week during the reading about course development and accessibility. Does anyone I know use a screen reader when cruising the web? Seems like important technology, but how many people know there is such a thing available? How much does it cost? When doing web development, is there a screen reader available to verify accessibility?

Many questions and open to responses.

E hoʻi ana kēia i ka hiamoe. Ke makahiamoe nei au.
Going to bed. I am sleepy.

Blessings to your and yours!

Ke aloha nō,
Liko

What Surprised Me the Most 
That our reading assignments contained many dead links or references to old technology such as "floppy disks."

What I Liked the Best 
The research our team performed and produced. During my own research I found some interesting and valuable resources about corporate training.

What I Liked the Least
 Not being able to communicate instantly with my team members regarding our project, particularly on the due date.

What to Keep or Change for My Courses 
Change: The expectations for myself and my students regarding my participation in discussion questions for the students. Notably, much less participation on my part in the group setting. But on assignments turned in for review by me, that is where my feedback to the student will be focused.

Keep: Technology orientation for students to evaluate familiarity and comfort with computers and related software.

The Group Project - Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 07:30:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai e nā hoa,
Greetings friends,

We made it! It was close, but I posted the final version of our paper at 11:19 pm, just before the midnight due date/time.

This exercise in collaborative learning has been quite an experience. Working in a group strictly by email without the benefit of first speaking or meeting my teammates except through text was challenging.

I found myself imagining the sound of the voices of my teammates and the hint of what they might look like given their name, the way they write, and the "tone" of their "written voice." I am sure you have done the same when reading novels or books. The author normally helps you out though, by describing the physical attributes or the texture of a voice.

"Her bright blue eyes were in stark comparison to the dark thick wavy hair that fell about her shoulders."

I just made that up. Okay, back to the point. Which is....oh yeah--which is that it helps me to meet or speak to someone on the phone prior to trying to communicating strictly through email. Despite this challenge, I feel the project turned out well and that we collaborated successfully to complete the assignment.

If I had to do it again, I would go for a smaller group. There were more people than roles. Oh, and since no one volunteered to be leader, guess what? Yep, I appointed myself. (Okay, I will wait until you are done shaking your head and sighing with disbelief.) For those of you that "know-me-know-me" it is not surprising. For myself, I truly did expect someone else to step up. It was fun!

One advantage of group work online is the ability to do the email trail and the asynchronous communication. Of course, that is a disadvantage too if you need confirmation on changing something or waiting for a response to a question. Just like global workforces though, time zone differences need to be considered. One of our team resides on the east coast.

The collaboration tools on BlackBoard (BB) need improving. Our team decided, after a several days of using BB, to return to Basecamp for our project. We made heavy use of the writeboard features. The other nice feature of Basecamp is that the text of a message is included in the email. Unlike BB, if you subscribe to a thread to receive email notices that someone else has posted to the thread, you are required to log in to see the text. Not receiving the posted text in the email notice must be related to liability and copyright. Just a guess.

Me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
Sincerely,
Liko

See an image of someone I admire with blue eyes and dark wavy hair. A former Miss World USA winner.

A Funny Thing Happened in the Office Today...

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:50:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai kākou,
Greetings all,

So today I am sitting in a meeting at work with my manager, my new supervisor, and a department chair (names not given for privacy reasons). This is a normal weekly meeting. At one point my jaw drops because the topic of discussion matches exactly the topic issue that my classmates and I have selected for our group project.

How do organizations provide technology support to instructors during online course development?

Holy smokes! Talk about fidgeting in my seat. It took massive amounts of self-control to keep myself from asking questions. Thankfully my restraint paid off. The department chair shared that a few years back she and another faculty were paid stipends to do an outreach. The intent was to provide technical training for any fellow faculty desiring assistance in developing courses for online delivery. Unfortunately, not many folks took advantage of the program.

The team project is going okay. Using Basecamp has been helpful. The challenge has been gaining consensus. I know all my teammates are working professionals and go-getters. I am re-learning for myself that I like to plan and make sure that we agree, or at least have some consensus before moving to the next stage. Nothing really new since I am an ENFJ on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

The due date of our group paper is definitely the “x-factor” in driving the team. The paper is due Saturday instead of the usual midnight on Sunday.

No matter how “I” think we should get there, as long as we do. So, lots more research to do which of course means lots more reading. I am learning lots!

ʻO au iho nō me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
Sincerely,

Liko Puha

Week 2 in a Single Post

noreply@blogger.com (Liko Puha) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:43:00 +0000

ʻAnoʻai e nā hoa heluehelu,
Greetings readers,

This week has been challenging to keep on track with assignments and to write in English using a “grad student” perspective. As I mentioned last week, sometimes I read articles numerous times.

Reading Retention and Comprehension
Earlier in the week I began using a useful technique taught to me in my study skills class when attending DeAnza College.

After saving all the reading articles to the hard drive, I printed them out. I found that handling and reading paper helps me stay focused. When working all day on the computer and coming home to do the same, I get kinda loopy.

For the technique, I first read the introduction, conclusion, and section titles, numbering all the paragraphs in the left margin. In the right margin I create a question for each paragraph, most times related to the topic sentence. Highlighting the answer to the question also helps with retention.

Normally I would write the questions on index cards with the number and question on the front side, then the answer on the other. I have opted to type out the number/question in a document instead. I believe this is called the SQ3R method.

Keeping on Track
I tried using Backpack, Google Calendar and Task List without much success to keep on track. This week I ended up transferring everything over to Basecamp. The full features of Basecamp for project management and team collaboration are outstanding, but I have found that it can be used just to keep me on track.

Writeboard
For writing, I tried to utilize MacJournal, which I have used in the past to organize and store coding routines. Again, I returned to Basecamp and the use of Writeboard. The version control is such a blessing for me, since I constantly want to change or rearrange what I write.

Overkill
Well, the title has to do with the first assignment for Week 2. The assignment:
2:1 Discuss two of the institutional challenges delineated by Kaminski and Milheim that are likely to be/are/have been important in your online course/program construction. Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program

Okay, I took this to mean, write a paper just like the reading. I worked diligently to summarize my experience during program development and marketing for Nuiākea. Hello. I consciously avoided reading the discussion board posts of my classmates for fear of being influenced. So, after posting my nineteen paragraph piece complete with references I perused the posts. Oh my goodness gracious holy cow! My classmates were posting two paragraphs maybe three! Okay, let us say it together—o v e r k i l l.

Whatever. The exercise turned out to be gratifying to recall those times. We were doing some leading edge stuff that is the standard now. Yay!

Threads, threads, threads!
Anne led us through some exercises in Thread Management. Remember last week when I mentioned that most folks were not paying attention to the exponential growth potential of threads? Well, this exercise made it real. For our exercise example we used the very first group thread in which we introduce ourselves.

20 students posted a total of 102 posts which equaled 30 printed pages of reading. Good thing I saved the pages as a PDF instead of burning that paper. As a student, I focused on reading each student’s introduction. I knew, because our instructor told us, that it could be painful to try and read all the responses as well. As an instructor I could not imagine having to read everything. I wonder if I would? Depends.

From previous experience with Blackboard, I am aware that the “subscribe” feature to discussion threads is invaluable both as a student and instructor. I used it when teaching Aʻo Makua courses to make sure I did not miss a post directed to me. Also, as a facilitator, I had the ability to turn on the subscribe function for students which was defaulted otherwise to off. I would use the “set flag” feature to mark a post that needed a reply, but did not have time to do so immediately. I do this as a teacher and student.

There is a new feature in Blackboard to rate posts with one to five stars . It seems kinda weird, but I would rather have the Facebook “like” button instead. I can show that I have read the post while also acknowledging with a simple click my interest in the post. Needing to evaluate how many stars to give a post just takes too much time in my opinion. If I do give stars, it will always be five—from now on.

Group Project: Team Aloha
At the end of last week, the class was instructed to form teams for a group project. My teammates decided on the name. Fun yeah?!

Sorry this entry is so long, but I saved up a whole week’s worth of experiences.
Blessings to you and yours,
Liko

What Surprised Me the Most
That I submitted something that could be viewed as “Overachiever” material.

What I Liked the Best
Recalling many of the experiences of working at Kīpuka to develop and deliver Nuiākea.

What I Liked the Least
From the readings, it seemed that “constructivism” and learner centered teaching were talking about adult situations, but it is interpreted to be okay for online courses for grade school children. A repetitive theme throughout the readings was the changing role of the teacher to be more of a facilitator. From that statement, for me it does not seem that teachers need to be experts in their field any longer, or have a vested interest in developing curriculum. That is my take right now, but I am open to what the next week will bring.

What to Keep or Change for My Courses
Change: Never assign the use of Group Pages on Blackboard if I can help it.
Keep: Subscribe and Flag features!