Incorporating “active learning” into classrooms.
Taking online learning to the next level.
And embracing place-based education.
Those were some of the central themes tackled in a recent week-long professional development workshop for faculty and staff members from Chaminade University and Kapiolani Community College (KCC).
Chaminade’s Center for Teaching and Learning hosted the ALOHA E Institute from August 9 to 13 as part of their ongoing efforts to help faculty members reflect on their own practice, advance engaging pedagogy and instructional design and bolster engagement to enhance student success.
The inaugural ALOHA E Institute included 60 participants—30 each from Chaminade and KCC. The workshop’s sessions were delivered online, in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. And Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng, who has helped launch peace education initiatives in the islands and is an adviser to the Obama Foundation, delivered a talk at the institute on the critical importance of inspiring students.
ALOHA E Institute enrollees selected from one of three possible tracks:
- Active learning, which focused on how faculty members can “intentionally design” course materials and activities to improve student engagement. Participants brought current syllabi so they could redesign their courses to incorporate key elements of what they learned.
- Online hui, which sought to help faculty members transition from “surviving” in an online classroom format to thriving in one. Participants created classroom-ready materials designed to maintain the instructor presence and cultivate a warm, welcoming learning environment.
- And aina-based education, which offered participants opportunities for employing a culturally responsive approach, enabling them to ground their course content in Native Hawaiian traditional knowledge with strategies for activities, assignments and assessment.
The ALOHA E Institute was made possible in part to a federal Title III grant. The funding helps cover programs for strengthening peer mentorship and experiential learning opportunities and includes a focus on faculty professional development. The Center for Teaching and Learning plans to coordinate future institutes for Chaminade and KCC faculty and staff members.
