Kamehameha Schools Distance Learning (KSDL) Owau

I thoroughly enjoyed attending DevLearn 2015, a conference specifically focused on educational technology. I have never seen so many instructional designers gathered together at one particular conference. It was great to be able to network and hear about the work others did in the same field. Reflecting on the conference notes , my three main take-aways and items I plan to focus on implementing include: Agile Project Management : This full day workshop covered the basics of agile project management to practical application examples that could be applied to any eLearning project. I plan to: Share agile project management concepts with my team, in particular this infographic: “Agile is as much an attitude as it is a project management method.” Discuss collaboratively to determine what would further enhance and streamline our DL development process; In the discussions, I also plan to incorporate discussions related to Carnegie's Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle, profiling p...

How I felt after attending the Adaptive Schools Workshop The facilitator of the workshop, Mrs. Carolyn McKanders , was dynamic! Throughout the 2-day workshop, Carolyn modeled the strategies needed to set the environment, climate, culture, and practices in place for a truly adaptive school. In building a school community environment that is focuses on developing organizational capacities and developing professional capacities, it's critical that there is a collective responsibility for student learning and sharing ‘ike for the larger good of the group.  Two ‘Ōlelo No‘eau come to mind when I reflect on the intent of this workshop: ‘A‘ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka hālau ho‘okāhi All knowledfe is not taught in the same school. ~203. Relevancy:   When learning in a community, the group benefits from growing and developing from the mana‘o and ‘ike shared, creating collective wisdom. Lawe i ka ma‘alea a kū‘ono‘ono. Take wisdom and make it deep. ~ 1957....

Attendance at the 2015 summit doubled from the previous year. As I looked around and observed the number of attendees and took in the significance of the place and space we were in, I began to wonder how this special moment will be replicated in future years as attendance grows. It's inspirational and motivational to be apart of the grassroots movement to fulfill Pauahi's mission and vision. During the conference I was able to build pilina with Native Hawaiians which strengthened my understanding of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i and ‘ike Hawai‘i and my connection to my purpose. Key goals that were discussed included progress on the goals from last year's conference: Goal 1 ‘ Ō lelo Hawai ‘ i —In the next 10 years, our learning systems will: Advance  ʻŌ lelo Hawai ʻ i Expectations –  Develop and implement a clear set of expectations for ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi that permeates all levels of education. Actualize a Hawaiian Speaking Workforce –  Increase a prepared ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ...

Stripeys are surprisingly hard to find from my experience. I’ve seen this fish only 2 times in my frequent visits in Kaneohe Bay. Both times it was viewed it in Kaneohe Bay.   Stripeys thrive in brackish water and love mud bottom flats, often hide in mangroves along the shore. They grow up to 6 inches. I’ve heard from others that Kaneohe bay was the only place that I’ve seen this fish Fish description: they are bright yellow with stunning black stripes and are very attractive for the aquarium.   They are easy to kept in captivity, eating a wide range of prepared food and normally get along with most fish. It is a striking looking fish, black stripes continues right into the eye socket area and continues to the tail of the fish.   When they get older the color is less intense and eventually dulls, to a copper color. I love finding this fish whenever I can. Kelly Shishido

As we researched learner impact one of the areas that was looked into further was on servant leadership.  Servant leadership is one type of leadership and part of Educational Pathway Milestone 6 which states:  “Demonstrated local and global servant leadership and cultural engagement.”  Before we can demonstrate it at a local and global level we must first have a standard definition, criteria and assessment method.  Our research started looking at this challenging topic and has led to the following: Definition by Greenleaf.org which states:  “A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.” Servant Leader Criteria ...

This year’s Ed Tech Conference theme was Hana Pono “to work with purpose/passion.”  The passion was definitely evident in some sessions I attended.  These presenters remind us that we need to choose what we are passionate about and to take action on it.  We all too often get inspired then return to our normal life as we let our inspirations fade away.  Our passions don’t need to change the world they just need to change ourselves.  Here are a couple presenters whose passions have brought positive change to themselves and others.    The Green Bronx Machine The opening keynote speaker this year was Stephen Ritz a South Bronx teacher/administrator who gave a motivating, high energy and inspirational talk on the Green Bronx Machine .  The Green Bronx Machine is an organization founded by Stephen and his students who focus on healthy eating, growing their own vegetables to reach academic success.  The Green Bronx Machine is an inspirat...

As part of our huakaʻi last month to Papahana Kuaola and the opportunity to work in the loʻi, I wanted to continue that thought by sharing my experience of making a papa kuʻi 'ai (poi-pounding board). In 2008 with the encouragement from me and my co-worker, Pili Wong, Earl Kawaʻa offered to teach a papa kuʻi ʻai papa to those of us that were interested in learning what our kūpuna did as a daily way of life. For our kūpuna they had loʻi in their yards and grew their own kalo, the major source of starch in their diet. They steamed it and pounded poi or kept it whole and sliced it and ate it like bread with butter or condensed milk. Kawaʻa was very specific on our kuleana and the commitment he required of us. Our first task was to find an au koʻi (handle) for our koʻi (adze tool). I found myself suddenly looking up at every tree I saw looking for the right branch for my koʻi. My husband found mine at a jobsite from a Haole Koa tree otherwise known as ...

Mobile devices go everywhere with you and can capture everything you see. Two apps connect to Twitter so you can create your show on the go, live!  Why?  To share something you are experiencing in the moment, to carry on live conversations for learning, issues exploration or marketing and just sharing because you want to.  Meerkat was first on Twitter.  Open the app and it immediately begins recording what your phone or iPad camera is seeing,  That, in turn is streaming live to your Twitter feed. You can schedule it to air later if you wish and it will you how many are watching, and even who. When you stop broadcasting, itʻs gone, evaporated.  You can save it to your photostream as the broadcaster, but viewers cannot. Although Meerkat was cut off from Twitterʻs social graph, making it difficult to find other Meerkat users, its developer Rubin got to work. Itʻs now available by businesses on Facebook, has "mobs" of concurrently broadcasting group...

KS Project Management in Action! ~Presenters~ Lance Tachino, Grant Murata, Siew Phua, Lauren Sodetani, and Kimble McCann (Guest) - Strategic Planning & Implementation Division - The presenters utilized lecture, guest speakers, videos, real world examples and team-based exercises to teach us Project Management Terminology, Methodology of Triple Constraint and Process; and Initiating, Planning, Executing, and Closing. During these discussions we also were able to work with various templates, such as Project Charters, WBS, Network Diagrams, Risk analysis, Communication Planning and Closure. The presenters also covered the more nuanced interactions needed to maintain and motivate a cohesive and high functioning team. This is an important distinction of the KS methodology versus the standard project management guidelines. Most trainings of this type do not cover in as much detail the soft skills to successfully completing a project. The philosophy is that ...

My kuleana for the past two fiscal years has been to lead the KSDL graphics database team. One of my professional development goals this year has been to further develop my understanding and application of effective leadership skills based on DiSC strategies. As leader of the graphics database team, I need to learn how best to lead a team comprised of polar opposite DiSC profiles towards successful outcomes. In order to better understand my own leadership style and ways to improve, I turned to reading The Eight Dimensions of Leadership: DiSC Strategies for Becoming a Better Leader , authored by Jeffrey Sugerman, Mark Scullard and Emma Wilhelm. This book clearly and concisely clarifies the differences between eight basic leadership styles. It also suggests numerous ways in which to reach outside one’s comfort zone to incorporate certain aspects of other leadership styles into one’s own. Implementing strengths that differ from yours may feel uncomfortable. However, new insights ...