ʻAha Kūkā:
​Kani ka pū
Distance learning summit 
​June 2-3, 2020

On June 2 & 3, 2020, ʻAha Kūkā will present “Kani Ka Pū,” a special distance learning summit for public, private, and charter school educators and education leaders. This interactive virtual summit is a call to reflect on distance learning journeys during our COVID-19 response; we will identify innovations in virtual teaching, learning, and leading, and articulate educator needs as Hawaiʻi moves forward. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from renowned education change agents/activists and will participate in facilitated breakout sessions designed to find “cutting edges” in teaching and learning. This is an opportunity to define what school could be; what school must be in Hawaiʻi. Details will be shared in the coming week. During the event, all attendees will be expected to share specific examples related to the lessons they have learned about education, teaching, and learning during the last few months of distance learning. 

**REGISTERED ATTENDEES**
CLICK HERE FOR DAY 2 INFORMATION.

Please log into Zoom at 8:00AM promptly on
Day 2 - Wednesday, June 3

DAY 2 tOPICS ARE HERE

general information

​Tuesday, June 2  8:00am - 12:00PM
Wednesday, June 3   8:00am -12:00Pm​

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Ted Dintersmith
Venture capitalist Ted Dintersmith has become one of America's leading advocates for education policies that foster creativity, innovation, motivation, and purpose. Ted is on a mission to give our kids a real chance to thrive in the innovation era. He organized and produced Most Likely to Succeed, an acclaimed documentary that premiered at Sundance and has been screened by thousands of communities around the globe. His top-selling book "What School Could Be" shares inspiring examples of learning at its best, based on his travels to all fifty states in a single school year. Earlier, he and education thought-leader Tony Wagner wrote "Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era."  In 2018, Ted received the prestigious NEA “Friend of Education” Award. Ted, a Partner Emeritus with Charles River Ventures, was ranked by Business 2.0 as the top-performing venture capitalist in the U.S. for the years 1995-1999. In 2012, President Obama appointed Ted to represent the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly.
Dr. Kū Kahakalau 
Dr. Kū Kahakalau is a native Hawaiian educator, researcher, cultural practitioner, grassroots activist, songwriter, and expert in Hawaiian language, history, and culture. A resident of Hawaiʻi Island, Dr. Kahakalau is the first person in the world to earn a PhD in indigenous education. Her research has resulted in an indigenous research methodology called Māʻawe Pono as well as a highly successful pedagogy of aloha, which promotes the revitalization of Hawaiian language and culture, hands-on learning in the environment, community sustainability, food sovereignty, and Hawaiian self-determination in education and beyond. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Kahakalau has founded and administered multiple, innovative Hawaiian-focused programs, including a series of Hawaiian summer immersion programs, a Hawaiian academy, Hawaiʻi’s first culturally-driven PK–12 charter school, an Indigenous teacher licensing program, and a successful social enterprise. Her latest efforts center on developing EA Ecoversity, a Hawaiian-focused postsecondary program that transitions Hawaiian youth to culturally grounded, happy, successful, thriving adults and responsible global citizens able to walk comfortably in multiple worlds. EA, which stands for Education with Aloha, also means sovereignty in Hawaiian, since EA Ecoversity is envisioned to become the first component of an independent Hawaiian system of education.
Ian Kitajima 
Ian Kitajima is the Director of Corporate Development, and is best known as the "Technology Sherpa" at Oceanit – a "Mind to Market" innovation lab of 160 scientists, engineers, technologists, designers, and dreamers conducting advance technology development research for government and private clients worldwide. If you watch James Bond movies, Oceanit is like Q's lab of scientists and engineers inventing the next great thing to save the world. As Oceanit's Technology Sherpa, his role is to move science and technology breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace, which has included opening the South Korean market since 2014, and 3 venture backed Oceanit startups as a co-founder at Hoana Medical, Nanopoint, and Ibis Networks. He is the co-founder of the Design Thinking Hawaii movement beginning in 2010, the "Altino" movement in 2017 to teach 5000 non-technical teachers creative problem solving skills via computer programming so every student in Hawaii can be exposed to Computer Science, and the Aloha AI Network in 2019 to put the future of Artificial Intelligence into the hands of teachers and students now. Prior to joining Oceanit in 2001, he played senior leadership roles in companies focused on wireless warehouse management systems in Los Angeles, global toy marketing, and virtual communities for mobile phones in Helsinki Finland. Recognitions have included "Corporate Intrapreneur of the Year" in 2017 and Social Impact Enterprise of the Year in 2018 by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, 20 people to watch for the next 20 years by Hawaii Business Magazine in 2015, and as an honoree by several community organizations. He brings an innovation mindset to several boards including PBS Hawaii, the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation, Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, and the Workforce Development Council. He is a proud public-school graduate of Castle High School, Windward Community College, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.