The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ System is working to expand its online program offerings following the findings by two major strategic reviews: a comprehensive study by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and program portfolio and opportunity mapping analyses by UPCEA. A phased expansion is intended to add to, not replace, existing in-person instruction as needed.

The urgency of this transition is underscored by declining numbers of high school graduates and online student out-migration. Approximately 11,000 Â鶹´«Ã½ residents enroll in online programs offered by out-of-state providers every year, a number equivalent to a midsize university. The goal is to retain these students, grow enrollment across UH campuses, and increase access for adult and part-time learners for whom traditional in-person degrees are not possible or desirable for a variety of reasons.

UH President Wendy Hensel said, “We are dedicated to making our programs relevant and accessible to every student in Â鶹´«Ã½. These comprehensive analyses provide a data-driven strategy to align the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ System with the state’s critical workforce needs, offering flexible formats that work for everyone and speeding up the launch time for new offerings.”

Building pathways, stackable credentials

Kim Siegenthaler, senior advisor to Hensel, presented the findings to about 50 members of the Workforce Learning Community on November 21. High-demand fields include business/management, healthcare, education, STEM and social work/public sector.

UH is working to build strong online pathways and design stackable credentials that enable students to progress from credential to credential within major. UPCEA recommendations included adding online options to more than 100 existing in-person programs and introducing more than 30 new non-credit and for-credit offerings.

Conversations across the 10 UH campuses are being held to determine which of the recommended programs will be developed. The first wave of high-priority online programs is expected to launch in fall 2026 and spring 2027.

A textbook that could save University of Â鶹´«Ã½ students more than $400,000 a year has earned a WOW award from the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technology (WCET). UH is a member of WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education), which works to improve access to higher education and ensure student success. The WOW (WCET Outstanding Work) award, recognizes outstanding efforts to apply innovative solutions to a challenging educational need.

Annually, more than 4,000 UH students across 10 campuses can benefit from the anatomy textbook project since they take human anatomy and physiology courses, paying around $200 for just one of their many textbooks.

President David Lassner announced the recognition in his October 29, 2024 report to the UH Board of Regents. He called the project a great opportunity to create a zero-cost textbook that would reflect ±á²¹·É²¹¾±ʻ¾±â€™s culture and instill a sense of belonging in students, while providing a significant cost benefit.

Kapiʻolani Community College Associate Professor Sheryl Shook and former UH Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Hae Okimoto worked with dozens of faculty, 11 of them co-authors, across all 10 UH campuses on the , which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting textbook covers two semesters of course content. Because it is an OER, faculty can continue to update, refine and improve the content and pedagogy.

Lassner said. “Congratulations to all of them. They were supported by many colleagues who provided input, administrators and staff who supported them in spending their time on it. Important and impactful work like this truly takes a village.”

Shook and other UH instructors and colleagues are currently working on a second edition of the textbook with a focus on diving deeper into Native Hawaiian culture and language, further development of accessibility, and responding to student outcomes and student and faculty feedback.

Anatomy and physiology OER textbook coauthors

Luria Namba, Â鶹´«Ã½ CC–±ÊÄå±ô²¹³¾²¹²Ô³Ü¾±
Lissandra Baldan Jenkins, Â鶹´«Ã½ CC (Manono)
Gabriel Peckham, Honolulu CC
Amanda Lee, Kapiʻolani CC
Rachel Lindsey, Kapiʻolani CC
Sheryl Shook, Kapiʻolani CC
I-Chia Shih, Leeward CC
Trenton Niemi, UH Maui College
Jason Higa, UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹
Rebecca Romine, UH West Oʻahu
Joel Kaufmann, UH Hilo

Related story:

• Free online anatomy textbook to save students more than $400K, August 26, 2022

Thanks to dozens of collaborators across the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ System, an online, zero-cost textbook for two popular anatomy and physiology courses—Physiology 141 and 142—will replace the textbook that was used by almost 4,700 students during the last academic year for an estimated total savings of more than $433,000. The various textbooks currently used for these courses range in cost from $160 to $210. The new textbook is anticipated to be ready for fall 2023.

Kapiʻolani Community College Assistant Professor Sheryl Shook and former UH Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Hae Okimoto worked with 37 faculty, 11 of them co-authors, across all 10 UH campuses on the multi-year Online Educational Resource (OER) project.

Shook is the author of , which she uses to teach lecture and lab courses. She is a big fan of saving students money through OER.

“Students tell us they have to choose between buying food or a textbook. This creates an opportunity gap, not just an achievement gap, with an enormous impact on student success,” she said. “Look at the data about which students are least likely to afford the book. You’ll see that high textbook cost is a form of institutional racism, so I am very thankful our administrators and faculty are supportive of OER.”

Shook praised all the faculty involved, especially the co-authors, who had to shift gears in April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The team’s scheduled “book sprint” went all online into uncharted territory, which increased the time it took to write it.

“It was one of the most intense things I’ve ever done,” she recalled. “It was really challenging, but the team I worked with—they care so much about the students.”

Indigenized, localized content

The team Indigenized and localized content to give Â鶹´«Ã½ students a sense of connection. Their efforts impressed the book production company they are working with. According to Shook, , a company that facilitates book creation, said it has never worked with anyone who wrote that much original content.

The team is in the process of collecting and curating all the images for the book and ancillary tools. The work is extensive, since the visuals span body systems, gross anatomy and microscopic images. Some key team members in this effort are:

• Amanda Alimboyoguen, who teaches anatomy and physiology at Kapiʻolani CC and is leading the ancillary (lecture slides, study guides, homework questions, etc.) development project for the textbook.
• Rachel Lindsey, who teaches anatomy and physiology at Kapiʻolani CC and is creating the course shells (starter structures) that will be integrated with the textbook.
• LynleyShimat Lys, who is a UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ PhD graduate, is leading the OER image curation effort and also creation of student tools such as interactive quizzes and drag-and-drop activities for each chapter.

Free in fall 2023

The goal is to have the textbook completed by May 2023, then to do professional development with dozens of instructors across the UH System since the anatomy and physiology text is used in courses that are prerequisites for most programs in nursing, medicine, pharmacology, dental hygiene, radiology technician, physical therapist, physical therapy assistant and respiratory therapist, as well as some biological sciences.

Shook said, “The hope is to have this be a best practice so we can share it with people all over the world.”

She also recommends the as a resource to find campus OER leads, information about OER 101 (an asynchronous online course) and more.

Anatomy and physiology OER textbook coauthors

Luria Namba, Â鶹´«Ã½ CC–±ÊÄå±ô²¹³¾²¹²Ô³Ü¾±
Lissandra Baldan Jenkins, Â鶹´«Ã½ CC (Manono)
Gabriel Peckham, Honolulu CC
Amanda Lee, Kapiʻolani CC
Rachel Lindsey, Kapiʻolani CC
Sheryl Shook, Kapiʻolani CC
I-Chia Shih, Leeward CC
Trenton Niemi, UH Maui College
Jason Higa, UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹
Rebecca Romine, UH West Oʻahu
Joel Kaufmann, UH Hilo

—By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch