With Colton

Colton is good company that always makes me happy and peaceful even though he already invaded most of my territory on my bed. But everything is alright with Colton.

Do you want to take a photo of me? How about this pose? My tail looks a bit longer than usual but it is OK as long as my mom is happy. Meow...

Making Kimchi

I have demonstrated how to make Kimchi for our OLT staff members as a representative of our Health and Culture Committee. I successfully taught basic Korean expressions and how to make Kimchi. After making Kimchi, we enjoyed the Kimchi. The four small heads of Kimchi were surprisingly gone soon. I deeply appreciate all the participants' active participation and their open minds to learn about different cultures.

Thanks to my children's help, Julie and Alvin, I was able to put the Kimchi making process onto Youtube. My son's patience in holding the digital camera for many hours without any complaints was greatly appreciated. Whenever I made mistakes, he gently offered another shot. Also, he let me borrow his attractive apron he made himself. My daughter helped me to publish the video on Youtube. In the midst of her busy schedule, she is always ready to help her mom. Special thanks to my cat Colton, who wouldn't stop meowing during the video shooting. But it's okay Colton, we still love you.

Here is the Kimchi video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aix3Ztyeg40). I hope you enjoy it.

Canadian e-Learning Conference, 2009 (June 17)

I worked with my good colleague, Donna Scalzo, and we finally presented our paper at Canadian e-Learning Conference.

Title: Use of Needs Assessment for the Evaluation of Online Education in Higher Education

Despite extensive discussion (Frydenberg, 2002; MYU, 2002; OCEP, 2006; The Sloan Consortium, 1997) on the topic of evaluation of online education during the last decade, little attention has been paid to the significance of the use of a needs assessment. Distance education educators often hastily come to a conclusion without thorough reviews, effective identification of gaps, careful plans and optimal implementation. It is important to identify and assess the gaps in existing practices in the evaluation of online education in order to ensure the high-quality of education in an online environment. A needs assessment helps ask the appropriate questions in order to get the necessary answers because a needs assessment “identifies gaps in results, places them in order of priority and selects the most important for closure or reduction.” (Watkins and Kaufman, 1996) As a result of a needs assessment, a realistic and measurable solution should be put into place. In this paper we examine three major components in regards to the quality of online program management, evaluation of learning management systems, and evaluation of the processes used for existing instructional design models.

http://celc.sites.olt.ubc.ca/2009/04/22/use-of-needs-assessment-for-the-evaluation-of-online-education-in-higher-education/

Links

1. Voice it out with Wimba: UBC OLT (http://olt.ubc.ca/spotlight/feature/learning_techno/?CA=41498)

2. China International Distance Education, 2008 (http://news.xuexigang.com/special/jchg/2008/12/1652332615.html)

Filming Project for SOWK 570/NURS 586

How does video help the student learning process and become more conscious about the learning objectives?

For a new Graduate online course at UBC, Violence in Families, SOWK 570/NURS 586, the leading course instructor, Dr. Mary Russell, planned to include video components. So far, we filmed three scenes:

1. CABFV Mock Group: Understanding Anger and Developing Tools for Healthy Expression of Anger

- Location: Sexsmith School

- Participants: Two FSGV (Family Services of Greater Vancouver) Counselors and nine 10-12 year-old students

- Special thanks to Kareen Hudson, program manager of FSGV

- My sincere appreciation should go to the enthusiastic participants. The two counselors' (Sara Urbauer and Leanne Fessler) excellent preparation and performance made the plan work out.

2. The Car 86 Program

- Location: Vancouver Police Station at Cambie

- Participants: Janet Douglas (Child Protection Social Worker); Lindsey Houghton (Vancouver Police Sergeant)

- The Car 86 program is a partnership between the Vancouver Police Department and what is now the BC Ministry for Children and Family Development.

- Please see the participants' photos below (You can save the pictures by right clicking and clicking on Save Picture As on to your computer.)

3. Domestic Violence

- Location: UBC Telestudios

- Participants: Domestic Violence Role Play (Sandra Menker, Gali Bar, and Dr. Mary Russell); MCFD (Ministry of Children and Family Development) Interview (Sheila Robinson, Debbie Samija, Paul Houle, and Dr. Mary Russell)

- Special thanks to Paul Houle, who is the team leader of MCFD, for arranging the event

Photos below

I thank all the participants for their great contributions and dedications to this project. I believe the course will be very enjoyable and resourceful thanks to the participants' willingness and passion to be part of this course. We have a couple of more scenes to complete in this project. As soon as our video is finalized, I will send it to the participants. Last but not least, my grateful appreciation should go to Chris Crowley (Instructional Designer) and Saeed Dyanatkar (Media Technologiest) because I could not have gotten these done without their excellent commitments.