HKU Faculty of Dentistry presents a 4-Week Biomaterials and Your Health Massive Open Online Course on edX platform (https://www.edx.org/course/biomaterials-and-your-health). In this course, you will explore novel biomaterials and biotechnologies in oral health care with Professor Jukka Matinlinna and Dr James Tsoi along with more than 20 dental practitioners and researchers across 10 dental specialties in different parts of the world, Europe, the United States, China and Hong Kong. You will learn about the development of biomaterials and biomaterial research in dental health care. The course starts on 19 July 2022.
Would you be interested to go inside the laboratories of researchers and hear their stories of exciting biomaterials research? Would you be curious to find out what they discovered about cutting-edge technologies such as nanoneedle in oral cancer? And learn about biomimetic dentistry and the implications and applications of polymeric materials, resin composites, and silicon in today’s oral health care? In this 4-week course, you will find out about these and more.
How do you join the course?
This 4-week online course is available free of charge with no entry requirements for participants around the world. The first course run starts on 19 July 2022. The course is recurrent and will be re-run after this debut.
Who is this course for?
The course is specially designed to serve multiple groups of learners: From dentistry students to dental practitioners who wish to broaden their knowledge in dental materials science and practitioners in related fields such as clinical medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, material science, and engineering, and in particular those who wish to make a difference in materials research in tomorrow’s oral health care development.
General information about Biomaterials and Your Health on edX:
Course Start Date: 19 July 2022
Course Length: 4 Weeks
Prerequisite: No entry requirement
Course Payment: Free of charge for all learners in the Audit Track
(Audit Learners have an option to upgrade for a Verified Certificate, see the course page for details.)
For enquiries, please send your message to gdco@hku.hk.
Coursera launches a free Coursera for Campus Student campaign and HKU is eligible for participating in this campaign, therefore HKU students and staff now can enjoy a wide range of massive open online courses (MOOCs) sponsored by HKU and supported by Coursera. With the sponsorship, you may enroll in courses under the course catalog and get a certificate for free after course completion. This guide will introduce you to more details about learning with HKU Coursera.
What is Coursera?
Coursera is a worldwide MOOC learning platform that offers access to online courses, certifications, and degrees in various subjects. You can learn from leading universities and companies anywhere and anytime. Some universities join the Coursera partnership to enable university students to have free access to limited courses such as Guided Projects, Courses, and Specializations. HKU is one of the participating partners.
Create an account with HKU license on Coursera
For current HKU students and staff, to create an account with HKU sponsorship on Coursera, you will need to fill in an application form. Following steps may help:
You can search for any specific courses with the keywords on the searching bar. Specifically, you can search courses by themes, categories, or the name of any university. On the course information page, you can see the course description, syllabus, instructor information, difficulty level, references, etc. You can also set your weekly goals and link the course reminder to your Google Calendar. You are advised to watch the video for more information.
Course management and Name verification
When you land on Coursera, you can access ‘My Courses’, ‘Profile’, ‘My Purchases’, ‘Settings’, ‘Updates’, ‘Accomplishments’, and ‘Help Center’ through the button (the one with your name on it) on the top-right corner.
You may need to verify your real name to ensure you are able to receive a certificate after you complete a course. Therefore, you may go to your account and verify your name with a few steps:
Go to ‘Settings’, and
Click on ‘Verify My Name’ and complete the verification.
You will lose all access to Coursera after graduation (for students) or resignation/retirement (for staff). Therefore, you are strongly advised to back up your learning records by changing your login email account from the HKU one to your personal one. You can add/change your personal email account by following these steps:
Click on the top-right side button (the one with your name on it);
Select and click on ‘Settings’;
Check out the section ‘Personal Account’ and add an alternative email;
Save the setting.
Note: Please make sure you did not register a Coursera account with your alternative email previously. Otherwise, you cannot combine the learning records from two existing email addresses.
Four types of learning programs on Coursera
Coursera offers four types of learning programs, Guided Project, Course, Specialization, and Professional Certificate respectively.
Guided Project: Guided Project provides step-by-step instructions and you may complete a Guided Project within 2 hours. You can learn job-relevant skills guided by a subject matter expert and may earn a shareable e-certificate after completing a Guided Project.
Course: A Course usually includes video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and discussion forums. Courses are provided by universities or organizations all over the world. You may earn a shareable e-certificate after completing a Course.
Specialization: A Specialization includes several courses to support learners to earn a specific career skill. After completing a series of rigorous courses, you can receive a shareable Specialization Certificate.
Professional Certificate: Professional Certificate provides knowledge and skills to help learners to start a new career. There are several courses in one Professional Certificate and you can apply new skills to hands-on projects. After completing, you can receive a career credential.
Add Certificates to your LinkedIn Profile
You will receive a course certificate to show your accomplishment. After receiving the e-certificate(s), you can add to your LinkedIn profile to showcase your knowledge and professional achievements.
You can find your certificates in ‘Accomplishments’, then click ‘Add to LinkedIn’ to view the details of the certificate. Following steps will guide you to add the certification details to your LinkedIn profile:
Go to your LinkedIn homepage and log into your LinkedIn account;
Click on ‘Me’ at the top-right corner and then click ‘View Profile’;
Click ‘Recommended’ and ‘Add licenses & certifications’;
Fill in the blanks with the Coursera course and certification details (i.e., Name, Issued Organization, credential ID, and URL);
Save the change.
You can also refer to the video for more information.
HKU Courses on Coursera and edX
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) launches courses on the e-learning platforms Coursera and edX. You can browse the HKU web page – https://tl.hku.hk/hkuonline/ for the course lists. You can also view courses on two platforms:
Managing Study and Work with Digital Tools: Notion, OneNote and Evernote
Whether fully online mode or blended mode, digital tools can help teachers and students manage projects and resources across different subjects more effectively and efficiently. This article explores and compares the prominent features of three digital tools: Notion, OneNote, and Evernote. HKU teachers and students may see this article for a reference to select tools to help facilitate work and study.
Access to three apps
To sign up for these apps, you can visit official websites and create an account with your HKU email. Notion now offers an educational free plan link for educators and students, and HKU teachers and students can enjoy Microsoft OneNote for free with the HKU license for Microsoft Office 365. There is no educational plan offered by Evernote but there are still some good features to help users to manage work or study.
How digital tools help teachers and students
For teachers, these tools may help:
create a 24/7 digital learning space for students to access;
enable student collaboration and extended learning outside the classroom;
track students’ learning progress;
design and provide summative and formative feedback to students.
For students, these tools may help:
organize school work and projects;
take notes for on-the-spot exercises;
visualize learning progressions.
Features: Similarities and differences
The table below compares features among Notion, OneNote and Evernote. You can refer to the given information to help you select the tool that suits your teaching or learning needs:
take class notes, set plans or complete homework as a personal workspac
Students can:
quickly create custom templatesfor each type of class or activity (lectures, lab work, group discussions, etc.)
manage their priorities and schedule
establish a consistent way to organize information by creating a logical notebook structuredefining a set ofreusable tags, and establishing naming conventions
Supporting Platform (Web Browser, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows
Yes
Yes
Yes
After the comparisons, it shows that Evernote helps users to organize work and study but with limited functions and features for free. Notion and OneNote may benefit teaching and learning activities more. The following highlights more functions and features that teachers and students can realize with the tool Notion or OneNote:
For teachers who are seeking tools to realize the following goals:
For students who are seeking tools to realize the following goals:
Notion
Build a lesson plan database with the syllabus, course materials and collaborative learning space
Create a searchable and sharable class website
Organise the teaching resources by labeling their types and enable filters functions
Create spaces to track students’ progress and require learners to visualise their learning progress
Look for low-code-no-code learning website building tool
Manage knowledge and study
Look for a low-code-no-code personal portfolio and website building tool
Take note of maths equations and symbols
Manage assignments and schedules with free templates
Engage and collaborate with other users online
Look for low-code-no-code learning website building tool
OneNote
Create lesson plans and classroom planner
Build a personalised class notebook
Integrated with handwriting tools that support teaching some subjects such as maths, English, arts, and design
Allow to access, collaborate, and share content
Enjoy sync-up functions with other Microsoft software (i.e., Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive)
Create students’ works
Take notes by typing texts, and words, and even draw with a stylus, finger, or mouse
Manage assignments and schedule
Collaborate for group work
Enjoy sync-up functions with other Microsoft software (i.e., Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive)
For teachers who are interested in using e-learning tools in the classroom but still need some help, you are welcome to book a consultation with Technology-enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) for more ideas by contacting via enquiry@teli.hku.hk.
As the generation of digital natives, our students are accustomed to immersing themselves in virtual environments for entertaining and socializing every day. Education should also make a quick response in constructing a fantasy learning context where students could perform multiple learning tasks beyond the reality restriction. In an educational setting, fantasy has often been used in the form of narrative-based scenarios to engage learners and immerse them in virtual activities.
In this session, we will present three cases of using fantasy context in different learning activities to enhance students’ learning performance, course engagement, and provide a joyful learning experience. One educational technology software Pixton will be applied to set up the fantasy context. With easy-to-build illustrated comics, storyboards, and custom characters, the three cases utilized different functions to build fantasy context from course assessment, in-class collaborative learning, to overall gamification. This session will also introduce practical guidelines and pedagogical implications to inform better use of the fantasy context and the software itself.
Since the early stage of the pandemic in early 2020, teachers have had to adopt online, hybrid flexible (HyFlex) or other new modes of teaching. Teachers are often excited to design learner-centred and sustainable online/virtual/blended learning experiences with cutting-edge learning technologies. However, teachers often need adequate technical/pedagogical support for the development beyond emergency virtual instruction.
“Instructional Design Extension Assistant (IDEA)” is a UGC-funded scheme implemented by TELI from 2021 to 2023. Instructional designers co-develop virtual instructional materials with teachers for blended learning. The scheme supports teachers transforming their blended instruction in the next stage, based on the scholarly research from the learning science field.
In this webinar we would like to showcase several cases from different Faculties in the e-learning co-development process. In particular, we would like to introduce several useful e-learning/teaching tools succinctly:
Sustainable education (Learning analytics)
Collaborative group learning activities (Miro)
Student knowledge management (Notion)
Self-paced learning modules (Open edX)
This webinar is supported by the UGC Special Grant for Strategic Development of Virtual Teaching and Learning.
With the increasing digitisation of classrooms, there is constant interest to adopt emergent technologies into teaching and learning. Virtual reality (VR) is one of the new technologies that piqued the interest of educators around the world with the promise to create new learning experiences. It is seen as a valuable tool to create immersive environments and provide a student-centered learning experience through interactions.
While the benefits of AR are apparent, widespread adoption of this technology remains a work in progress. There are many practical issues and concerns yet to be addressed, such as ease of use, scalability and comparative effectiveness. As such, steps taken by pioneers in adopting VR would be insightful for mindful educators.
In this two-part webinar we have invited professional educators from different institutions to share their experience in using VR technology in their classes. In particular, our guest speakers will cover the following topics:
Part I – 28 March 2022 (Monday) 14:30 – 15:30 (HKT, UTC+8)
Secondary students using VR for heritage discovery
Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning with VR
Leveraging VR creation in cultural heritage education
Part II – 4 April 2022 (Monday) 12:30 – 13:30 (HKT, UTC+8)
Practical VR & AR in studio-based learning for architectural design
Using web-based VR for crime scene investigation studies
Large-scale VR adoption in medical anatomy classes
Speakers details and more information can be found on the event webpages:
Date: 10 Jan 2022 (Mon) Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm Venue: Virtual Venue – via Zoom Participants: HKU staff and students only Speakers:
Leon Lei, Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative
Cindy Liang, Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative
Patrick Desloge, Centre for Applied English Studies
Cesar Jung-Harada, Faculty of Architecture
The use of digital tools has been a growing trend in teaching and learning activities. For example, teachers manage course schedules and content with Moodle, teach synchronously/ asynchronously with Zoom. At the same time, students create assignments via Google and Microsoft applications, submit assignments via Moodle or Turnitin, and communicate with peers and instructors through different social platforms. Have you ever thought about an all-in-one platform that helps to compile most of the work and keep the instructor and students working together in a shared space? Have you thought about a space that enables students to manage their projects, visualise learning progress and collaborate with student peers?
In this webinar, we invite guest speakers from different sections in HKU to share their experiences with Notion, an all-in-one workspace that supports note-taking, collaborative work and project management.
You are invited to join the sharing and discussion with our guest speakers on how they have compiled teaching and learning activities, facilitate students to work collaboratively and manage teamwork with Notion.
HKU Cardiac Imaging Massive Open Online Courses won the prestigious 2021 Wharton-QS Reimagine Education GOLD Award in Life Sciences and is also edX Prize 2021 Top 12 Finalist!
Gamification has become increasingly popular in education as a powerful tool to boost learners’ motivation and engagement by incorporating game elements into a learning environment.
As educators nowadays seek innovation from digital technologies to help make online courses more than just streaming and recording, gamified eLearning experience has received great responses and is highlighted by scholars as part of a new paradigm shift for future education.
To promote gamification in eLearning and equip teachers and students with the most cutting-edge technologies, KEEP is organising “VISUAL Seminar: Gamification with KEEP Open edX” to showcase the new gamification features adopted by our team.
In this half-hour event, you will be invited to explore the latest functions of the KEEP Open edX and discuss the key issues concerning the application of gamification in the Learning Management System (LMS). Assistance regarding our system will also be provided in the “Questions and Answers” session.
Content:
Introduction of the new functions on KEEP Open edX
Discussion on the key issues of gamification in the LMS
Q&A session
Registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact KEEP at marketing@keep.edu.hk. We look forward to meeting you soon!
Now Notion provides free Personal Pro Plan to educators and students. Through this guide, you will learn about what Notion is and how this productivity application can support your personal life, work and study.
What is Notion?
Notion is a productivity application where you can create notes, databases, wikis, calendars and reminders, etc. All these features can be used individually or in collaboration with others. It supports multiple platforms (Windows / MacOS, IOS / Android) and desktop applications. The databases in Notion will be automatically saved and synced among different platforms and devices. You can download a desktop application via https://www.notion.so/desktop.
Create an account
Before you start exploring Notion, you need to create a Notion account with several steps:
Enter your HKU email address and click ‘Continue with email’
Receive a temporary Notion signup code via email
Enter your name and set a password
Select the plan for personal use
Click the provided link or copy and paste the code to verify your login
Click ‘Get free Personal Pro Plan’ on the bottom left corner
Then your Notion workspace is ready to use! Please click this link to watch a tutorial video if needed. You can set a permanent password in Settings & Members -> My account.
Upgrade to Personal Pro Plan
For first-time users
Different from the free Personal Plan designed for individual use, the Personal Pro Plan allows you to collaborate with more people. With the Personal Pro plan, you will have unlimited pages and blocks, guests and files uploaded. If you create the Notion account with your university email via HKU Portal, your account will be automatically upgraded to the Personal Pro Plan for free. To check if you are enjoying the Personal Pro Plan, go to the sidebar, then click on ‘Settings & Members’ and ‘Plans’. Besides, you can also manage your account information, notifications, connected apps, language & region, appearance, billing and integrations inside ‘Settings & Members’.
For those who already have a Notion account
If you already have a Notion account with your personal email, you can upgrade to the Personal Pro Plan for free by changing your login email account to the university email. To achieve this, please go to ‘Settings & Members’, ‘My account’, ‘Email’ then click on ‘Change email’. Click this link to watch a tutorial video if needed.
Create Your First Page
After successfully logging in, you can create a new Page by clicking on the plus sign (‘+’) button on the sidebar. Click on this link to watch a tutorial video to learn some basic features, including how to add icon and cover to a Page, create Blocks, and adjust the layout.
Customise your Page with Blocks and Databases
If you already have an account and have started to use Notion, and would like to explore more on the design and customisation, feel free to check out the below content! The Block and Database are characteristic features in Notion which allows you to create a multi-level hierarchy inside the Notion page for different purposes. You can design your page with Blocks and Databases like having LEGO bricks to build a LEGO castle. Please check out the following tutorials supported by Notion for more information: For blocks:
For first-time users, it is great to start your Notion journey with different templates provided by Notion. Notion provides more than 50 in-app templates that you can adjust and customise as your own. You can easily find the ‘Templates’ on the bottom of the sidebar, or click on this link for more information.
For Teachers
Notion is not just designed for individual use, it also shows the potential to enable team collaboration. There are some templates that can help with classroom management, or facilitate collaboration in your classroom:
For teachers, if you are interested in using Notion in the classroom but still need some help, you are welcome to book a consultation with Technology-enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) for more ideas. Contact via email: enquiry@teli.hku.hk.
For Students:
You can use Notion to manage your study, personal life or other fantastic uses. There is a list of templates for your reference:
For HKU students who are interested in using Notion and would like to explore more, you can book a consultation with Digital Literacy Lab (DLL) via https://www.diglit.hku.hk/book.
