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.

벤쿠버에 눈이 정말 많이 왔어요!

제가 살고 있는 벤쿠버에 눈이 정말 많이 왔어요. 벤쿠버에서 13년이 넘게 살았지만 겨울에 눈이 많이 온 것은 손에 꼽을만 하답니다. 집 앞 눈을 다 치우고 들어왔는데 율리 알빈이가 이웃집 눈이 하나도 치워지지 않은 것을 보고 치워주고 싶다고 하길래 날씨도 춥고 해서 걱정도 되었지만 기특한 마음에 알아서 해보라고 허락을 해주었답니다. 한 시간, 한 시간 반이 지나도 아이들이 돌아오지 않아서 창문을 열고 두 아이 이름을 불렀답니다. 대답이 없길래 40대 한국 여인네의 거친 음성으로 "율리야 알빈아" 하고 악을 썼더니 짜증스런 대답이 들려옵니다. 그래서 10분 이내로 들어오라고 협박을 하고 책상에 앉아있는데 전화벨이 울립니다. 받아보니 딸아이의 음성이 들립니다. 그 어눌한 한국말로 "엄마?" "응" "엄마, 밖에 다른 사람이 있는 곳에서는 yelling하지 마세요. Communication에 아무 도움 안돼요." "응, 엄만 너네가 대답이 없길래..." "곧 들어갈께요. 일은 complete 해야 돼잖아요." "그래, 알았어..." 웽???


난 늘 그렇다. 아이들에게 체면이 안 설 때가 있다. 이 급하디 급하고 이기적인 모성애 땜시...


좀 미안한 마음에 얼른 핫초코를 타서 딸아이 셀로 전화를 했다. 딸아이가 왔다. "이거 둘이 나눠마시고, 그래 시간이 얼마나 더 필요하니?" 라고 했더니 딸아이가 "Thanks, mom" 하면서 20분이 더 필요하다고 한다. "애고 뭣 땀시 사서 저 고생인가..." 하고 아까운 마음이 들었지만 꾹 참기로 했다. 창문 귀퉁이를 통해서 열심히 일하고 있는 두 아이들의 모습이 눈에 들어왔다. 특히 키가 작은 아들 녀석은 자기 보다 더 큰 shovel 을 열심히 움직여댔다. 기특하기도 하고 대견하기도 하고... 그러면서도 혹시나 감기나 걸리지 않을까 내심 걱정이 되었다. 한참 후 다시 한 30분쯤 되었을까, 두 아이가 재잘거리며 집으로 돌아왔다. 여기 저기 눈을 터느라 분주했다. 그리고 딸아이가 5불 짜리 지폐를 아들 녀석에게 훽 던졌다. 보아하니 $10을 수고비로 받은 모양이다. 그래서 물었다. "웬 돈?" 딸아이가 설명하기를, "그냥 공짜로 해주는 것이라고 했는데도 $10을 주었단다." 그래서 내가 다시 "그래 올 겨울 내내 눈 좀 많이 왔으면 좋겠네, 우리 율리 알빈이 용돈 좀 많이 벌게."


아이들의 건강한 정신과 건전한 사고 그리고 깨끗한 영혼과의 교류 속에서 난 가끔 부족한 어머니임이 부끄러울 때도 있고 때론 그런 아이들의 어머니임이 자랑스러울 때도 있다. 난 어린날 우리 어머니께 어떤 딸이었을까 하고 생각해 보았다.

McGraw-Hill Ryerson, National Teaching, Learning & TeachingConference, 2008 (May 13-15)

Stephen (instructor of ETEC 500), Jeff, and I presented at 33rd McGraw-Hill Ryerson, National Teaching, Learning, & Technology Conference which took place on May 13-15 at SFU Burnaby.

Debunking the online course cookie-cutter myth: the impact of the instructor

The question of learner-centered, interactive learning has long been an issue in the discussion of the benefits of online distance education. Collaborative/cooperative learning, social development theory, and communities of practice are concepts underlying this issue. At the University of British Columbia (UBC), the birthplace of WebCT, more than 100 courses are delivered online, including a number of courses which are concurrently delivered by different instructors.
This paper addresses how instructors plan, develop, and promote interactive learning. By examining a course which has multiple sections taught by different instructors, factors leading to different levels of student-student and student-instructor interactivity will be investigated. Depending on the instructor’s attitudes towards teaching and learning, knowledge of and capabilities in using technology, relationships with students, and ways of facilitating communication, there is a difference in the way student learning takes place. This paper sheds light on how the instructor’s facilitation/scaffolding makes a difference to student learning in a learner-centered and interactive learning environment. The intended audience members include instructional designers and instructional support staff for online courses, and instructors teaching online courses.

AAOU, 2007 (Oct. 29-31)

Thanks to our departmental support, Doug and I successfully presented our paper, Developing Effective Interactive Learning Experiences for Online Distance Education Courses, at AAOU (Asian Association of Open Universities). About 300 people from 20 different countries gathered in Malaysia Kuala Lumper and shared their common interests and distinctive experiences. The rich and informative conference helped me to open my eyes to a new context, Asian Open Universities.

With the Vancouver sky covered with grey clouds, I headed to the airport. Hoping to meet different people, I became a little bit excited and nervous. Life is full of indescribable moments. The mysterious moments always come to me and I sometimes fall into an ocean of unknown territory, dreaming of new explorations.

Previous expectations: I felt I was a naive in the environment of Open University but expected to see some common interests from this conference. At the same time, I wanted to compare and contrast between Asian and Western cultures in the discussion of Distance Education.
Experiences: The conference theme was Empowering Asia through Partnerships in Open and Distance Education. Therefore, sharing and partnership were the key words throughout the conference.

One of the Keynote speeches was presented by Sir John Daniel, who is the President and CEO of Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver. His title was Blending for Success in Open and Distance Education: Public/Private Partnerships; Human and Social Capital; Free and Copyrighted Content; Mixing the Media. He emphasized that it is timely to discuss sharing and partnerships in open and distance education and he elaborated some related issues for healthy partnerships.

Here is an interesting citation from his paper.

Our challenge, as open universities, is to blend technology and people so as to help students learn. The way to achieve success is to keep our focus on our students, not on the latest technology or on the internal dynamics of our institutions. If we keep that focus then we will find our way naturally into partnerships. We shall find ourselves blending the private and the public, thinking in terms of both human and social capital, being pragmatic about our use and licensing of learning content, and being ready to blend different media to achieve our purpose.

In line with Sir John Daniel’s partnership, I attended an interesting presentation, entitled Empowering Asia through General Curriculum Adaptively Based on Cultural Differences in Open and Distance Universities presented by Iranian scholars. They shared barriers in sharing and creating partnerships. There are issues which thwart creating partnerships: language barriers, literacy issues, lack of respect, recognition, trust, and reciprocation. The presenters pointed out different cultural aspects between Asia and North America. I thought that the meaning of sharing could be differently interpreted and practiced in different contexts.

In addition, language is one of the practical issues. I wonder how the language problem could be solved for non-native speakers of English. How can a partnership be accomplished without a shared language?

Also, how can we deal with the cultural differences, because it is hard to generalize what Asian culture is because there are many uniquenesses existing among Asian countries? The term, culture, which is made by the values that its people bring to their daily lives, always makes me confused and fascinated at the same time.

In other sessions I attended, some barriers in sharing and building partnerships were also discussed. There were three main issues in the discussions: language, cultural differences, and accessibility.

Doug and Sunah’s Presentation Our presentation went well. We had good feedback and several questions after the presentation. Our twenty min presentation was extended to forty min due to the next presenter’s absence. We had a good number of audiences (more than 30). Doug’s professional and profound experience in distance education services made our presentation successful.

ReflectionsI was surprised at the large number of students studying in Open Universities in Asia. For example, In Malaysia, 60,000 students (20 PhD students through online) with a wide variety of different students from different areas. In Taipei, there are 160 Open Universities with a four-year program. Through the journey to AAOU, I learned that UBC is one of the respectful sources in Distance Education. With Tony Bates’ legacy in contribution to Open Universities and Distance Education, reputation as the birth place of WebCT, and our continuing and flourishing leading role in technology and education, I became proud of being a member of OLT here at UBC.