On June 22, 2018, Governor David Ige signed House Bill 2607 into law which provides the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) $500,000 to invest in a K-12 computer science curriculum. With these funds, the HIDOE hopes to prepare students for a future where computer skills will be necessary for any career they choose. It’s an investment not only for our future leaders but for our state.

Fast-forward to today, while that vision remains unchanged, many elementary schools and teachers are not ready to integrate computer science (CS) into the classroom. The decision to have all schools deliver a computer science curriculum by the year 2024-2025 school year means teachers will need to find the time to research and learn these skills independently with little or no support.

This presentation offers a 5-module course to help elementary school teachers understand computer science, particularly algorithms and programming, by introducing Scratch coding. The design of this course will give teachers the confidence and skills to teach and further develop a computer science curriculum by experiencing the lessons, instructions, and activities through the eyes of their potential students.

Many master’s degree programs require graduate students to complete a thesis paper in order to graduate. One of the biggest factors students face is finding a research topic that is focused, interesting, innovative, and relevant within their chosen field of study. Many graduate students view the research topic selection process as quite stressful and time-consuming, taking a year or longer. Ideally, students should start identifying a potential research topic during their first semester in graduate school. Writing a thesis is designed to measure the graduate students’ ability to integrate skills, knowledge, and research abilities to show their academic competencies as a final assessment for degree completion. The first step to research is developing a topic that is not too broad or narrow in scope. Finding a thesis topic is not an easy task. In this session, I will explain how I designed a four-part module course entitled Developing a Thesis Topic using Articulate Storyline in a fun 2D metaverse space called Gather Town for graduate students to successfully identify a thesis topic, a problem statement, a purpose of study, and conduct a mini literature review on the topic selected. I will also discuss the lessons I learned while transforming a traditional topic into a non-tradition virtual learning experience platform (LXP) using avatars and treasure islands for a non-traditional engaging classroom approach.

This is a mini online course developed for fulfillment of LTEC 632. The target audience for the course is students at the College of Micronesia-FSM. Many of these students are deficient in mathematics, particularly in graphing and using technology in mathematics. Many of them attended high schools where computers were not used in the instruction of mathematics.

The course will cover an introduction to functions, function notation, basic functions used in college algebra, and transformations of these basic functions to create new functions. Instruction will rely heavily on the online graphing calculator Desmos. It will be delivered online, predominately asynchronously but with some synchronous components.

Conducting an interdisciplinary unit with Math and Science seems like a natural phenomenon. This presentation describes the journey to develop a unit with 8th grade students who are taking Algebra 1 and Earth and Space science. The project focuses on force and motion. This project is the beginning of building a STEM unit at the school. An important skill for middle school students to develop is critical thinking. A STEM curriculum is beneficial to teaching students critical thinking skills in conjunction with their Science and Math skills. This interdisciplinary unit fills the need for students to learn the skills they need to build a STEM-based foundation.

This STEM project focuses on the application of concepts. Applying the information with guidance from their instructors has implications that participate in constructing meaning in their learning is a step to developing critical thinking. Although schools focus on applications, the competencies connected to our socio-emotional status are linked through meaningful communications based on the competencies learned in Algebra. These competencies require that our students can think critically. STEM education provides the vehicle for teachers to address critical thinking beyond a single subject.

Misinformation found in the media and online is not a new problem, but it is one of growing concern. Students at Kapiʻolani Community College (KapCC) struggle to evaluate information resources in order to complete their research assignments. Beyond completing school assignments, there are broader implications for the need to apply these types of skills in everyday life. At many institutions, librarians teach information literacy (IL) skills to help students search for, and analyze information and resources they encounter; and these skills can become useful tools in the defense against misinformation. This project sought to support students and faculty with IL via an online asynchronous instructional e-learning. The instruction was designed based on instructional strategies such as Keller's ARCS Model of Motivation and Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia. To evaluate the e-learning, a brief usability study was administered to participants (n = 3) to analyze ease of use, instructional content, and functionality. A learning assessment was then administered to students (n = 15), with results indicating the use of multimedia IL instruction was effective and had a positive impact on students' understanding and motivation. Pre- and post-tests measuring cognitive performance showed an increase in average participant IL scores. In addition, survey responses revealed an increase in the number of participants agreeing they felt more motivation to apply IL skills, and greater confidence in their ability to practice IL skills upon completion of the e-learning. Recommendations for future research include streamlining the e-learning's assessments to provide more instantaneous feedback and continuing to refine instructional content within.

Open water swimmers training with BC Endurance do not have easy and free access to reliable resources, especially when training out of season. To fill this gap, instruction was designed and developed for swimmers to improve their freestyle technique through a mobile app. Targeting the cognitive and psychomotor domains, the instruction drew on constructivism and Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning. The instruction was evaluated with live usability tests where users completed designated tasks via the think aloud method. Iterative changes were made between usability rounds followed by the evaluation of learning effectiveness of the instruction. Users (n=13) were given surveys to reflect on their experience with the instruction and ability to internalize its content. Users’ in-app experience was assessed via pre and post-tests and a psychomotor checklist. Users noted they enjoyed the flow of information and reported the video instruction was clear and helpful. All users achieved higher scores on the post-tests suggesting the instruction was effective regarding the cognitive domain. Additionally, all users completed the psychomotor checklist correctly, indicating they understood the task and were able to apply their new knowledge properly. The evaluation results suggest that the instruction addressed the problem specified for the target audience. Recommendations for future work include enhancing the learning experience by including more video instruction across related topics.

Visitors to Hanauma Bay often do not grasp the impacts they can have on the marine environment and are unaware of how important the environment is to their own lives and well-being. To address this issue, this project was designed and evaluated to educate visitors to Hanauma Bay about ocean literacy. The project’s instruction was centered on an interactive tool designed to engage visitors and alter their attitudes and behaviors when interacting with the ocean. Keller’s ARCS Model guided the development process and the way in which information was presented to learners. To evaluate the project, usability testing and learning assessments were conducted with the help of participants (n = 29) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the project. Participants of the usability study critiqued the design of the tool, as well as its ease of use. The learning assessment participants were given pre- and post-tests to gauge their understanding of the project and their willingness to change their behaviors after engaging with the instruction.

The results of the learning assessment showed a change in attitude across most participants. The results suggest that even brief interactive experiences might spark people’s curiosity and help them understand the world around them. While the tool itself worked well and increased participants’ interest, some aspects of the instructional design needed improvement. In the future, updating the design may make it more palatable to a wider audience.

Many college students who are hired to work at the University of Hawaii - West Oahu (UHWO) library often have little to no prior working experience. These student employees are often tasked with basic library duties such as shelving items or helping patrons locate information. Too frequently, student employees end up trying to help particularly difficult patrons or co-workers who are unaccepting of help—situations that may result in unwanted interpersonal conflicts. Unfortunately, there is currently no formal training aimed at teaching how to handle conflict using communication skills. To address this need, this project aimed to design and evaluate an online instructional module about conflict resolution. To design the instruction, research regarding library student employees, job motivation, and conflict resolution in the workplace were referenced. Keller’s (2016) ARCS-V model and Mayer’s (2005) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, guided the project in terms of understanding how multimedia can be used to motivate and stimulate learners cognitively and affectively. The project was evaluated through a usability study with three adults (n =3), and a learning assessment with 17 adults (n=17). The results indicated the module was organized into appropriate sections and most participants found the scenario-based videos relevant. Recommendations for future research include adding additional resources for future learning and expanding on the content of the online module.

Email etiquette is an important aspect of email communication. However, at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), undergraduates struggle with email etiquette as they do not have sufficient resources from the university to develop such knowledge and skills. Therefore, this project aimed to design a self-paced online module teaching students about email etiquette and motivating them to use email etiquette. The module’s design was informed by Keller’s ARCS model to address the affective domain, as well as microlearning principles to inform its cognitive component.

Once developed, the module was evaluated through a usability study and learning assessment. Usability was evaluated using a usability task protocol and System Usability Scale, while learning assessment was evaluated using pre-, embedded, and post-tests as well as a retrospective survey (Lewis, 2018). An analysis of usability results from three participants (n=3) revealed that the initial module’s design was usable; however, comments concerning navigation informed revisions before moving forward with the project. Learning assessment results from ten participants (n=10) revealed knowledge of email etiquette was gained and participants were more willing to continue to use email etiquette compared to their pre-module knowledge and attitudes. On this basis, the project achieved its goal. However, recommendations for future research include further exploration of tools, as well as a refinement of the module's content.

Student motivation and engagement in the classroom is a challenge for any educator especially when teaching difficult concepts. Many ideas have emerged as to how educators can promote engagement thus motivating learners. One approach is through playing games. Many studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of using games as vehicles of learning. Despite the known benefits of games, it is hardly incorporated into student learning. One reason is that many educators find it challenging to incorporate games into their instruction. To help address this challenge, a game-based online instructional module was developed to increase educators’ confidence in incorporating games into their instruction. The instructional module measured changes in the cognitive and affective domains of learning through a usability study and a learning assessment. Analysis of data from the usability study indicated that educators (n = 3) were satisfied with the ease of use of the online course. Results from the learning assessment conducted with educators (n = 12) demonstrated an increase in knowledge and overall confidence in integrating games in classroom instruction. For this reason, it is recommended that educators use this professional development module as a guide to implementing games in the classroom to increase student engagement. Recommendations for future development include evaluating this module with a larger sample size and measuring educator success in implementing games in the classroom.