Guidelines

At Kapi'olani Community College, consultant Gary Kleemann led the design team through an exercise exploring the roles various people might play in an online student service.

Each retreat participant was assigned a student role to play during the discussions. The roles are described below.

1. Mary Suzuki – 18-year-old high school graduate, living at home, part time job at McDonalds to pay for tuition, Honolulu resident. Is interested in purchasing a computer and the Medas program.

2. Emily Johnson – 35 year old, recently divorced, two children, has a BA degree in psychology, working at Pizza Hut, desires a degree in Medas. Receiving welfare assistance.

3. Kimo Gomez – 21-year-old high school graduate, living on Kauai, has completed some general education coursework at Kauai CC and caring for disabled parent. Desires an online Medas degree. A remedial student in math.

4. Loretta Piianaia – 16-year-old Hawaiian high school freshman. Has in interest in the Medas program and scholarship/financial aid opportunities.

5. Emily Smith – 28-year-old female in Mililani, married to sergeant in Army. She has completed 1 semester of the Medas program and has been notified that her husband is being transferred to Spain in two months.

6. Vegas Jones – 30-year-old male, currently serving two years in jail for a gambling offense. Interested in the Medas program. Has completed all general education course work from distance courses at Honolulu CC. Desires a large loan so that he can enroll full time once he is out on parole.

7. Dr. Harold Washington – Practicing physician. Wants his Medical Assistant to upgrade her medical coding and transcription skills. He is looking for interns and wants to let the Medas program director know that he wants future students to have skills with voice recognition systems on the pc. She however, cannot afford the $400 tuition for the non-credit medical coding class.

8. Annabelle Chung – 1998 Medas graduate from Heald College currently living on Kauai. Wants a review course to sit for the national certification exam. Has family in in Wahiawa and is looking to relocate nearby and is interested in jobs in central Oahu.

9. Staff Sergeant Anita Ramirez – retiring from Army. Has spent 20 years in the military in health related occupations and has formal training in military. Interested in Medas, but wants credit for her work experience. She is a single mother of a three year old and in need of childcare.

10. Lisa Young – 22-year-old liberal arts student. Interested in a health sciences degree. Has nearly 60 credits of course work in psychology, business, and art. Has recently moved out on her own and is working full time during the day. Wants to complete classes at night as much as possible but willing to return for day classes only when required.

11. Jonathan Kubo – 20 year old, first year liberal arts student on the island of Hawaii, taking courses at Hilo CC and Biol 130 from Kapiolani CC online. Wants to major in Medas. He is struggling in Biol 130 and wants assistance. He is also finding it difficult to juggle a job and classes at two colleges.

12. Michelle Skates – 18-year-old Virginia resident, moving to Honolulu. Needs a place to stay. Her mother wants to know as much about KapCC as possible. Mrs. Skates is a medical assistant and wants her daughter to enter one of the health professions. She wants to talk to someone about living in Hawaii. Is interested in Michelle taking a course online before sending her to Hawaii.

13. Juan Valdez – has completed the Medas certificate program and living in Massachusetts. Has been accepted into another community college there and plans to study there for a couple of years to get away from mom and dad. However, he wants to return to Hawaii and wants to be able to maintain his network of friends developed in the certificate program. He also wants to be on top of job opportunities within the state.

14. Rosanne Rose – 1990 Medas graduate. Now vice president of operations in a medical supplies company. Wants to form an alumni group to create a scholarship fund for Medas students and wants to hire a Medical Assistant with several years front/back office experience at the company in the area of customer assistance. She also wants to improve her knowledge of managerial accounting but wants to take it online.

15. Abel Wong – first year student in Medical Assisting. His computer is displaying the Windows blue screen of death. He is really, really angry at the instructor for creating such an incompetent distance course. Wants help now, before the midterm tomorrow. Time: 10:00 pm. His girlfriend has also recently dumped him and he is feeling suicidal at times.