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Hawaii will be seeing a lot of changes in technology in
education thanks to the driving force of Sharen Arakaki. Upon entering
the Hawaii Department of Education, Ms. Arakaki has pushed for statewide
and nationwide connections. The initial propelling factor is undoubtedly
the use of videotex terminals in the schools and DLT Mail originating out
of Distance Learning Technology in the Office of Information and
Telecommunication Services (OITS).
It is her continuous dedication and foresight that has kept the project growing and developing. The educators who have participated from the beginning have stuck by her and have been delivered to the world via the pilot project NINSDE, National and International Services for Distance Education. But, it does not stop here. Questions are still unanswered and new questions are still being asked. Determined to find the answers, she launched a chain of workshops on live cable television. However, to no surprise, more questions were being asked and more educators began becoming excited about the possibilities in their new found abilities and sharing them with others. Soon, what had begun as a 100-team pilot, was a 1000 plus-team pilot demanding for more, more training and more access. After posting the need to the Assistant Superintendent of OITS, Arakaki developed the basis of which the Federally funded project, HERN (Hawaii Education and Research Network) was created. HERN is currently researching questions being posed and answered by teams of project participants from multiple institutions and educational arenas via the upcoming HERN Summer Institute '95. Sharen Arakaki, former EDTECH President 93/94, is currently working for the Hawaii Department of Education in the Advanced Technology Research Group of OITS. Her major responsibility is the implementation of the research project for which she spends most of her time at the HERN Headquarters on the UH Manoa campus and online supporting the integration of Internet resources with the DOE educators.
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