They used to say you can't go home, but Dr. Darren
Okimoto found a way.
"I am a Hawaii boy at heart! I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and
attended the University of Hawaii where I received B.A. and M.S.
degrees in zoology," says Darren Okimoto, assistant professor,
Department of Biological Sciences.
But
Okimoto moved to Delaware in 1990 to earn his Ph.D., then later joined
the UD faculty. Although he has lived here for over 10 years,
he wants to stay connected to the Hawaiian community.
Okimoto now develops MyCourses materials for the Hawaii Department of Education e-School.
Developed with funding from a 1996 Technology Innovation Grant, the
virtual school provides distance learning courses for public high school
students throughout the island state.
"My master's thesis advisor, Dr. E. Gordon Grau, and his postdoctoral
fellow, Dr. Malia Chow, were the ones who first brought up the idea
of me working with E-school to develop a biology course.
"They
were aware of my desire to contribute some type of service effort to
the Hawaiian community. When this opportunity came up, I decided to
go for it."
Working with Soo Boo Tan,
an E-school science instructor, Okimoto develops content for a basic
science course using MyCourses. The team developed a one-year survey course
on the plants and animals of Hawaii, which began last fall.
"Darren's
been taking care of the course content, while I do the teaching. If
I feel
students need an alternative approach or strategy, I then make the appropriate
adjustments," says Tan.
"Using
MyCourses, we have incorporated weekly assignments, journals, field observations,
quizzes, term/research papers, interactive chats and bulletin board
discussions, and a culminating project web page."
In addition
to his island activities, Okimoto uses MyCourses for courses he teaches
at the University of Delaware.
"I was also looking for a more
secure online environment for my supplemental course materials at UD.
Before MyCourses, I had developed a web site that housed my materials for
my lecture-based courses, but it was limited in that I could not provide
any information to my students on grades. Also, if I wished to use a
newsgroup, the students would have to use a separate software program.
With MyCourses, everything I need is there (chat rooms, newsgroups, grades,
etc.). So I have two really good reasons to use MyCourses and at this point
in time, I'm pleased with the results."
Darren Okimoto