Programme (Online)

Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, the conference will be held Online via Zoom.

The IAFOR International Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment – Hawaii (IICSEEHawaii) is a multidisciplinary conference held concurrently with The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii (IICEHawaii). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either of these conferences permits attendance in both.

This page provides details of featured presentations, the conference schedule and other programming. For more information about presenters, please visit the Speakers page.


Conference Outline

All times are Hawaii Standard Time (UTC -10 hours). See the time converter tool

Wednesday, January 06, 2021Thursday, January 07, 2021Friday, January 08, 2021Saturday, January 09, 2021

14:00-14:30: Announcements, Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners, & Welcome Address

14:30-15:15: Keynote Presentation
Recalibrating Educational and Institutional Choreographies to Lead Learning for Tomorrow
Som Naidu, University of the South Pacific, Fiji

15:15-16:00: Keynote Presentation
Critical Empathy: The Role of Education Amidst Xenophobic Pandemonium
Christine R. Yano, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States

16:00-16:15: Break

16:15-17:15: Panel Presentation
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Beth Tillinghast, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Billy Meinke, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Veronica Howard, University of Alaska Anchorage, United States

17:15-18:15: Networking Coffee
This session is hosted by the conference organising committee to bring together participants who are interested in creating new ties with fellow educators & researchers.

14:00-14:15: Welcome Address
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan

14:15-15:15: Panel Presentation
Cultural Resilience in a Changing World
Amber Strong Makaiau, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Mary Therese Perez Hattori, East-West Center, United States
James W. McNally, University of Michigan and NACDA Program on Aging, United States
Sela Panapasa, University of Michigan, United States

15:15-15:30: Break

15:30-16:30: Panel Presentation
Post-pandemic Online Education: Moving from Crisis Intervention to Optimal Experience
Michael Menchaca, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Ariana Eichelberger, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Peter Leong, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Paul McKimmy, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States
Moderator: Daniel Hoffman, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, United States

16:30-16:35: Short Break

16:35-17:20: Keynote Presentation
Resilience: One Man’s Journey Across the World
Lowell Sheppard, HOPE International Development Agency, Japan

17:20-18:20: Networking Coffee
This session is hosted by the conference organising committee to bring together participants who are interested in creating new ties with fellow educators & researchers.

13:00-14:15: Live-Stream Session 1
Room A: Climate Change
Room B: Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis

14:15-14:25: Break

14:25-15:15: Live-Stream Session 2
Room A: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Room B: Education Policy, Leadership, Management & Administration

15:15-15:25: Break

15:25-16:40: Live-Stream Session 3
Room A: Education in times of COVID-19
Room B: Education & Difference: Gifted Education, Special Education, Learning Difficulties & Disability

16:40-16:50: Break

16:50-18:05: Live-Stream Session 4
Room A: Education, Sustainability & Society/Culture Movements
Room B: Higher Education

18:05-18:15: Break

18:15-19:05: Live-Stream Session 5
Room A: Interdisciplinary Topics on Green Issues

13:00-14:15: Live-Stream Session 1
Room A: Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis/Language Teaching

14:15-14:25: Break

14:25-15:15: Live-Stream Session 2
Room A: Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
Room B: Learning Experiences, Student Learning & Learner Diversity

15:15-15:25: Break

15:25-16:40: Live-Stream Session 3
Room A: Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis
Room B: Interdisciplinary

16:40-16:50: Break

16:50-18:30: Live-Stream Session 4
Room A: Professional Training, Development & Concerns in Education
Room B: Design, Implementation & Assessment of Innovative Technologies in Education

18:30-18:40: Break

18:40-19:30: Live-Stream Session 5 (Workshops)
Room A: The Poetry Box
Room B: Engaging Participates Online and In-Person

19:30-19:40: Conference Closing Address
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan

The draft version of the Conference Programme will be available online on December 09, 2020. All registered delegates will be notified of this publication by email.

*Please be aware that the above schedule may be subject to change.


Featured Presentations

  • Resilience: One Man’s Journey Across the World
    Resilience: One Man’s Journey Across the World
    Keynote Presentation: Lowell Sheppard
  • Post-pandemic Online Education: Moving from Crisis Intervention to Optimal Experience
    Post-pandemic Online Education: Moving from Crisis Intervention to Optimal Experience
    Panel Presentation: Michael Menchaca, Ariana Eichelberger, Peter Leong, Paul McKimmy & Daniel Hoffman (Moderator)
  • Cultural Resilience
    Cultural Resilience
    Panel Presentation: Amber Strong Makaiau, Mary Therese Hattori, James W. McNally & Sela Panapasa
  • The Development, Use, and Exploration of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education
    The Development, Use, and Exploration of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education
    Panel Presentation: Beth Tillinghast, Billy Meinke & Veronica Howard
  • Recalibrating Educational and Institutional Choreographies to Lead Learning for Tomorrow
    Recalibrating Educational and Institutional Choreographies to Lead Learning for Tomorrow
    Keynote Presentation: Som Naidu
  • Critical Empathy:  The Role of Education Amidst Xenophobic Pandemonium
    Critical Empathy: The Role of Education Amidst Xenophobic Pandemonium
    Keynote Presentation: Christine R. Yano

Final Programme

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.


Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.


Previous Programming

View details of programming for past IICEHawaii conferences via the links below.

Resilience: One Man’s Journey Across the World
Keynote Presentation: Lowell Sheppard

Lowell Sheppard will address us from his 40 foot Sailboat currently in Tokyo Bay. His talk will focus on what he is learning about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how he is involving students in the Pacific Solo expedition. During the last twelve months, he has successfully launched a YouTube Channel and drawn the interest of History Channel and other media outlets. His is a timely mission as we seek to educate and motivate future generations to have high regard for water generally and the world's oceans particularly in order to ensure a safe and sustainable future.

Read presenters' biography
Post-pandemic Online Education: Moving from Crisis Intervention to Optimal Experience
Panel Presentation: Michael Menchaca, Ariana Eichelberger, Peter Leong, Paul McKimmy & Daniel Hoffman (Moderator)

While the global pandemic has had a wide impact, education has been particularly affected. UNESCO estimated over 1.5 billion learners impacted worldwide by April 2021. As of December 2020, over 200 million students were still out of school. Even those that are back in school are still learning mostly via distance education. This crisis-based learning has had profound influence on teachers, students, parents, as well as administrators. Early research indicates a lack of appropriate access coupled with poorly implemented emergency instruction will have long lasting adverse effects on global learners. Key to combating this discouraging trend is to provide optimal online experiences such as retooling traditional orientation and graduation functions and providing overworked instructors with appropriate skills and training for distance settings. To begin to address such areas, the Department of Learning Design and Technology (LTEC) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa engaged in innovative practices ranging from providing professional development training to redesigning non-classroom experiences for digital spaces. In this panel, LTEC faculty will briefly describe their specific projects and the outcomes. In addition, panel members will take questions and share their vision for optimal distance education in the future.

Read presenters' biographies
Cultural Resilience
Panel Presentation: Amber Strong Makaiau, Mary Therese Hattori, James W. McNally & Sela Panapasa

Presentation information will be provided here shortly.

Read presenters' biographies
The Development, Use, and Exploration of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education
Panel Presentation: Beth Tillinghast, Billy Meinke & Veronica Howard

This panel presentation will provide an overview of Open Educational Resources (OER), highlighting the publishing and collaboration efforts of the OER initiative at UH Manoa. It will also highlight the faculty experience of adopting, adapting, and involving students in the curation and development of new OER. Finally, it will provide an overview of research conducted on this topic, touching on local, national, and international research. Resources in support of further OER research will also be outlined.

Read presenters' biographies
Recalibrating Educational and Institutional Choreographies to Lead Learning for Tomorrow
Keynote Presentation: Som Naidu

Contemporary educational institutions are experiencing disruptions to their modus operandi from a variety of sources—COVID-19 notwithstanding. A changing student demographic across the higher education sector, along with their changing educational needs is driving much of this disruption. Other drivers are the need for different kinds of skill sets required in the contemporary workplace, the need for alternative methods of credentialing and a demand for flexibility in the education space. How prepared are contemporary educational institutions for leading learning for the future? A recent Ernst Young report on the University of the Future in the Australian context suggests that, “Australia’s universities are monolithic institutions that control all aspects of their teaching and research activities, anchored by physical spaces and time-bound schedule”. This is a rather harsh indictment, but not an incorrect reflection of the contemporary higher education space broadly. While educational institutions are willing to experiment with new models and approaches on the peripheries of their core business, most are not bold enough to rethink and reconfigure their mainstream operations. It is rare to find enterprise-wide operations that are appropriately aligned to lead learning and teaching for tomorrow. Why is this so, and what can be done about a rethink and recalibration of how universities create, capture and offer value.

Read presenters' biography
Critical Empathy: The Role of Education Amidst Xenophobic Pandemonium
Keynote Presentation: Christine R. Yano

How does race shape some of the responses to the ongoing global pandemic? How does the pandemic shape the experience of race – in politics and in everyday lives? How might education play a role in strategizing answers to these fraught conditions? These questions structure my approach to discussing anti-Asian racism amid the pandemic with the goal of developing strategies of action for the targets of such racism, as well as for others for whom race-based violence is anathema. I argue that education must take responsibility for developing leadership based in critical empathy – that is, reaching out to others with both hearts and minds. In doing so, we teach not only tolerance and respect, but also actions of engagement. Through critical empathy we commit ourselves and future generations to embrace the full humanity of the community.

Read presenters' biography
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