Students from Ke Kula Ni‘ihau O Kekaha enrolled in e-School summer courses met at the Kapa‘a High School computer lab for their only “fact-to-face” with an e-School instructor this month. E-School is a supplementary education program run by the Hawai‘i
Students from Ke Kula Ni‘ihau O Kekaha enrolled in e-School summer courses met at the Kapa‘a High School computer lab for their only “fact-to-face” with an e-School instructor this month.
E-School is a supplementary education program run by the Hawai‘i Department of Education out of the Advanced Technology Research Branch. Resource teacher Allen Cole met with the students to teach them what it means to be on-line students and how to navigate the WebCT software through which the students will participate in credit classes utilizing digital technology tools.
“For a small school, (such as this one) distance learning is the wave of the future,” Principal Haunani Seward said.
The school was able to get a grant through the Department of Human Services to pay for the e-School summer session fees and for teachers who will support the students as they navigate their way through the online curriculum, he added.
Seward said KKNOK students have enrolled in online courses before, but the completion rate was poor.
“(Online-courses) take a lot of initiative and dedication,” he said.
That’s because students are more used to guided instruction rather than the individualized learning of online courses.
Cole began his instruction reviewing the “Read and Think” activity that precedes the on-line registration process. The activity asks students to answer true or false to five statements. At the end of the statements, a note cautions students that if any answer was false, they should reconsider registering.
One statement was, “I am NOT considering an e-School course because I think it will be easier than a ‘real’ course.” Cole told the students that the expectation is that they go online everyday. During the regular school semester they would be expected to go on-line six to eight hours a week. Because summer school is done in a shorter time, they would be expected to be online double that.
Cole said e-School courses might even be harder because students cannot sit in back of the classroom and just listen. They have to actively communicate with the teacher and other students in online discussions, chats and e-mails.
“The burden of education is more on your shoulders than ever before,” Cole said. “You have to learn a new way of learning.” In addition to content, the students must contend with computer viruses and crashing hard drives.
Cole said he wasn’t trying to scare them. He just wanted the students to know what they were getting into in order to be prepared.
He said they were the lucky ones because every day he gets calls from parents, students and counselors begging him to let students enroll. All the summer school courses are full and have long waiting lists.
What Seward is offering is a “hybrid,” where students are enrolled in E-School, but will do their work in the school’s computer lab with the assistance of two teachers.
Jasmin Camara, one of the teachers, attended the introductory session with seven KKNOK students. She said the students were enrolled in Language Arts and Pre-algebra courses to get ahead.
Joseph A. Kanahele, who will be in the 10th grade, said he uses computers often and is looking forward to taking the online class.
Hiwa Kanahele said she is very comfortable on computers and decided to take the language arts class to help her with English. She hopes it will help her as she plans to attend college.
The three public high schools on Kaua‘i have coordinators who send out announcements about the e-School offerings, but students are expected to work on their own, outside the school day.
“Not a lot of students are willing to take on more than what they already have in school, especially if they are involved in athletics and extra-curricular activities,” said Larry Gardner, counselor at Kaua‘i High School and the E-School coordinator. ‘They do not have the time.”
Gardner said students who transfer as 11th- or 12th-graders often choose to use e-School to earn credits for courses required for graduation that are normally taken as underclassmen.
A few students who wish to get ahead in credits also try e-School courses. Gardner noted that even some of his “good kids” turn up at his door with “sad faces” when they discover that they don’t have time for the additional class.
Wilma Holi at Waimea High School said students sign up for e-School depending if there is an interesting course not offered at school. Most students prefer to take the courses that are offered on campus.
Nellie Okamoto at Kapa‘a High School said that as a counselor she makes sure students are aware of the availability of e-School. Whenever students express an interest, she tells them that they have to have time to get the work done. She encourages students to sign up together, so there is a support system.
Cole said Kaua‘i students are not highly represented in e-School. Numbers have varied over the years, but there hasn’t been a lot of student usage.
Kohala High School on the Big Island, with a population of about 300 students regularly enrolls about 20 to 25 students per semester. Cole said they have the highest usage.
E-School is part of their master schedule, so students take the e-School class as one of their classes during the school day.
Cole has been with e-School since its inception 10 years ago. It started through a grant in 1996 to create five units. They ended up creating five classes.
With the grant, teachers were hired to develop and teach online curriculum.
When they first started, not many people had e-mail or surfed the Web. Broad-band connection wasn’t great.
“It has been a learning experience for everyone in terms of using the tools of Internet to educate children,” Cole said.
From the beginning, their philosophy or credo has been, “Any place, any time, any one.”
Despite its slow start for some — Cole knows of at least one high school that will not allow their students to enroll in e-School courses — Cole feels online distance learning/education is here to stay. In some form or another distance learning tools are used in almost 100 percent of all post-secondary education course work. The WebCT software that e-School uses is the same as the one used in the University of Hawai‘i system.
More and more teachers are taking professional development course work online. Some get advanced degrees online.
As digital technology evolves, so does e-School. On the e-School Web site, Cole wrote that the classes utilize “many digital technologies including Internet communication tools such as Web pages, e-mail, threaded discussion, chat, streaming video and online textbooks.” Now there are blogs and podcasts that have educational implications.
The grant money ran out in 2001. Since then, the program has been relying on DOE program funding. Because funding is limited, they no longer hire their own teachers. They contract DOE teachers. Like students at the three Kaua‘i public high schools, these E-Schools teachers are school teachers who do it “on their own time.”
The limited number of teachers limits the number of courses that can be offered. Cole said he has the numbers and the curriculum developed for a couple classes, but he doesn’t have the teachers.
The courses offered during the school year are at no cost to DOE high school students. Home school and private school students are not offered the opportunity to register during the regular school year. They are allowed to register for courses during the fee-based summer session.
For more information, go to the e-School Web site, www.eschool.k12.hi.us.
• Cynthia Matsuoka is a freelance writer for The Garden Island and former principal of Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. She can be reached by e-mail at aharju@kauaipubco.com.
