Message from Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President & Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning)

Dear colleagues

Just a few additional technical matters.

Panopto, Zoom and Teams

We’ve made some basic ‘how to use’ videos:

– How to use Panopto: https://hku.to/UsePanopto

– How to use Zoom: https://hku.to/UseZoom

– How to use Teams: https://hku.to/UseTeams

Zoom vs Teams

Until recently, it’s been easier to use Zoom for teaching because it’s integrated with HKU Moodle. Now, however, Teams is also fully integrated with Moodle. Two buttons are shown one on top of the other in Moodle. So both Zoom and Teams can readily be used by teachers. The Zoom vs Teams choice needs to be made by teachers and then made known to students within a course. It’s not up to students to make this choice. An updated Zoom vs Teams comparison and useful videos are here: https://tl.hku.hk/2020/08/online-teaching-through-zoom-or-microsoft-teams/.

Dual-mode teaching

For lectures involving both f2f and online teaching, this is a simple video (making reference to Zoom, though the points also apply to Teams): https://tl.hku.hk/elearningblog/?pid=30618. One way to conduct an interactive tutorial with both f2f and online elements is to ask all online participants to mute themselves and contribute to the discussion only through the ‘chat’ function. The teacher or moderator can then voice out points made in the chatroom and blend them into the discussion.

Support

All ten Faculties have been allocated funding to recruit additional TAs to help with online learning. Your Faculty Office will have details. The TeLi WhatsApp number remains as before: 6437 8034. Instant technical support during lessons is available 08:00-20:00 Mon-Fri and 08:00-13:00 Sat via the LES team at 3917 5122 (Main Campus) or 3917 8888 (Centennial Campus). These phone numbers are also displayed in classrooms.

Best wishes, Ian

Professor Ian Holliday
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning)
The University of Hong Kong