Thank you for your interest in Hawaii Online Courses (HOC)! If you are a student thinking about registering for HOC courses, please read and understand the following information. While you adhere to similar rules as a classroom student, there are additional requirements and expectations of an online student. 

1. Required: HOC Student Orientation

All newly registered HOC students must complete the HOC Student Orientation course in order to prepare themselves to use Canvas, which is HOC's course management system. This mandatory online training will guide students through the necessary Canvas skills needed to be an online learner.

After students are registered for a HOC course, they will have access to the HOC Student Orientation. Students must complete the HOC Student Orientation course prior to the first day of their online class.

2. Hardware and other computer requirements

To be able to access course information, the following equipment, computer systems, and technical specifications are required:

• Headset (Headphones and microphone).

• High bandwidth connectivity (cable modem).

• A computer that’s no more than 3 years old.

• A speedy computer that can also input and output sound.

• See Technical Requirements for a complete detailed list.

3. Required Forms

• Student Agreement Form: Students and parents/guardians must sign this online form and submit it electronically for each session. By signing this form, students and parents/guardians are agreeing to act in accordance with HOC's policies and requirements.  The link to the online form will be provided in the registration confirmation email. (Hard copies will not be accepted.)

• AUP (Acceptable Use Policy): HOC expects a student to follow the AUP policy of their school.

4. Working Email Address

• If a student doesn't have an email address, free email accounts are available from Google (Gmail) or Hotmail / Outlook.

• Please do NOT create or use a Yahoo account for HOC courses. Mail from the Hawaii DOE gets filtered into Yahoo's Bulk Mail and you may miss part of the registration process.

5. Code of Conduct

• HOC supports the Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 8, Chapter 19 – Student Misconduct, Discipline, School Searches and Seizures, Reporting Offenses, Police Interviews and Arrests, and Restitution for Vandalism and we uphold the Chapter 19, Subchapter 2, Student Misconduct during the Regular School Year. 

• §8-19-6 Prohibited student conduct; class offenses. The prohibited conduct applies to all students in the public school system, on campus, or other department of education premises, on department of education transportation, or during a department of education sponsored activity or event on or off school property. However, the particular offenses of misconduct that should be emphasized for students who are enrolled in online courses are the following.  Click Here for a definition of the listed offenses and to view the Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 8, Chapter 19.

  1. Class A offenses:

     1. Terroristic threatening

  2. Class B offenses:

     1. Cyber bullying

     2. Harassment

     3. Inappropriate or questionable uses, or both, of Internet materials or equipment

  3. Class C offenses:

     1. Abusive language

• All work submitted must be the student’s own work. If other resources are used, the student is required to cite sources. Cheating, plagiarism and other academic dishonesty are clearly a violation of this program’s policy. For more information, please reference Academic Integrity Violations in the Academic Integrity section of the HOC Student Parent Handbook.  These types of behaviors are monitored in HOC and consequences are determined by the individual instructor which may include a failing grade for the course.

• • Cheating: Cheating is a false representation of a piece of work that you claim as ownership which includes (1) direct copying of another person’s work and taking credit for it or allowing others to copy information from your work to take credit as their own, and/or (2) having someone else do your assignments and assessments and claiming it as your own.

  • Plagiarism:  Direct copying from any media including books, texts, graphics, music, website content, etc. without the proper citation is a copyright infringement.

6. Attendance

Even though there is no physical classroom, you are expected to "attend" your HOC class regularly throughout the session by logging into and working on your course daily for at least 1 - 2 hours at a time. When you log into your class, you should check your course announcements, messages, and actively engage in course work. This may include activities such as reading articles, viewing videos, and participating on discussion boards. Your instructor is able to track the dates and amount of time you have spent in the course working on activities. Advanced Placement courses may require you to spend more time in your course to complete assignments and assessments.

7. Who to Contact

The following is a list of people to contact if you need help with registration, coursework and technical problems.

INSTRUCTOR: Contact information for your teacher can be found under Course Info in your course. Your instructor can help with the following:

• Course content questions

• Questions regarding grading

• Technical issues with course

HVLN SUPPORT CENTER: HVLN Support Center can help with the following:

• Technical issues with a course that your instructor was unable to resolve

• Reset user ids and passwords

Submit a support ticket at HVLN Support Center website, https://hvln.freshdesk.com/support/home  

SCHOOL SITE FACILITATOR: Each school has a designated Site Facilitator.  The School Site Facilitator will process enrollments and removals, and provide general support at the school level. Please contact your school's counselor or registrar for the name of your school's Site Facilitator.

HOC REGISTRAR: Kammie Hayashibara can assist with enrollment, registration, and student-related concerns. 

Email: hoc@k12.hi.us

Phone: 808-784-6494

HOC SUPPORT COORDINATOR: The HOC Support Coordinator will inform schools of student academic integrity cases and be a communication liaison between the student, parent, instructor and school for unique student situations. Contact HOC Support Coordinator, Paula Li, by email at hocsc@k12.hi.us.

8. Reporting Student Progress

HOC tracks the coursework of Hawaii DOE secondary students in the state student information system known as Infinite Campus. The information in Infinite Campus is included in the individual student’s records and transcripts.  If the primary school does not use Infinite Campus (which is the case with some Public Charter Schools), HOC will send the charter school the needed information for the school to record that credit.

All grade reports (quarter, semester and year) for a HOC course will be mailed out directly by HOC to the student's family. This report will appear only on the HOC report card and not on the student's school report card. Final grades will be posted to the student's official DOE transcript at the end of the semester or year.

In addition, HOC also mails out mid-quarter Progress Reports directly to the family of the student. The Progress Reports are not actual recorded grades but provide a current status report of the student's performance and grade to date in that quarter.