PRESENTERS
Dorothy Hirata, Ph.D.
Instructional Design Manager, University of Hawaiʻi System, Information Technology Services
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Dr. Hirata is the Instructional Design Manager for the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) system. She leads the UH Online Innovation Center instructional design team and works cross functionally with diverse faculty and staff to support quality online learning initiatives across the three universities and seven community colleges. She also serves as an adjunct instructor for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Learning Design & Technology Department in the College of Education, and enjoys facilitating the culminating course for the Graduate Certificate in Online Learning and Teaching (COLT).
Barth Baron “JR”
Hawaiian Airlines Captain.
Project Associate, San Jose State Research Foundation at NASA Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, USA
JR was born in Honolulu and has lived in the Bay Area, Boston, and Germany. He received a B.A. in Physics from the University of California at Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!) and received his M.Ed in the LTEC program in 2021. He is a captain at Hawaiian Airlines flying internationally and to the Mainland, and is currently applying his LTEC skills researching human contributions to safety at the NASA Ames Research Center Division of Human Systems Integration.
Chiao-Wen Chiang
Ph.D. Student, Music Department of UH Mānoa
Taitung City, Taiwan
Chiao-Wen is a Ph.D. student from Taiwan studying in ethnomusicology program at UH Mānoa. Her research interests focus on music and identity, indigenous cultures in Taiwan,, environment, and resistance. She has been using online platforms and resources as a tool for learning, teaching, and researching remotely since 2016.
Michelle Gima
Teacher, Hawaiʻi Department of Education "
Paia, Hawaiʻi, USA
Michelle is a high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher on Maui. She received a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Business and Information Technology and a Master’s of Education in Learning Design and Technology from the University of Hawaiʻi. She has been teaching at her alma mater for a total of four years.
Byron M. Pulu, M.Ed, PMP
Project Manager, Global Operations Learning, Meta
Santa Clara, California, USA
Byron is a learning & development professional with 12+ years of corporate experience implementing learning tools to a global workforce at companies like Tesla, Google, and Meta. He holds a bachelor's degree in Human Resources and a 2nd bachelors in Hospitality and Recreation Management from San Jose State University. In 2021, Byron received his M.Ed in Learning Design & Technology from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Now, Byron works as a Project Manager of Global Operations Learning at Meta as well as a learning consultant for start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area.