We kicked off the event by playing two videos that showcase not only our productions but also the behind-the-scenes of our daily work. With a good laugh, we started our intellectual exchange session with discussions to identify the key obstacles faced by the two e-learning teams. As e-learning materials makers, we often work with teachers who are exceptional in teaching a class but not as comfortable talking to a camera. It was agreed that creating a similar setting to classroom and providing adequate training and rehearsals are effective ways to ease up the tension. The KEEP team also shared with us the equipment and facilities they use for e-learning production and their home-grown systems such as uReply and VeriGuide.
The discussion continued over a delightful lunch, which was followed by a visit to our “arsenal” where all our productions are crafted. The KEEP team was amazed by our lively offices and the close bonding of the team, which echo with Professor Ricky Kwok’s quotation of Mencius: 天時不如地利 地利不如人和 (Time isn’t as important as the terrain, but the terrain isn’t as important as unity with the people).
The KEEP team parted with the promise of a BBQ event in CUHK in the near future. So, to be continued……
Afternote: KEEP is an initiative developed by CUHK in collaboration with all UGC-funded institutions in Hong Kong. It provides a single gateway to online learning content around the globe. Learn more here: https://keep.edu.hk/
Date : June 6, 2016 (Monday) Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU Speakers : Dr. Lap Ki Chan
Assistant Dean (Pedagogy), Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine
Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences
Panelists :
Dr. Charlene C. Ho, School of Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Fraide A. Ganotice, Jr., Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education
Dr. Veronica Lam, School of Nursing
Dr. Law Ming Fai, Department of Social Work and Social Administration
Dr. Gordon Wong, Department of Anaesthesiology
About the seminar:
Interprofessional team-based learning (IPTBL) is an innovative teaching initiative which aims at promoting active learning and collaborations across disciplines. The students work in teams and learn how the various medical specialities resolve clinical cases together. IPTBL gives students from various disciplines an opportunity to develop friendship and work with pre-professionals of other expertise before they practice in the “real world”.
In this seminar, Dr. Lap Ki Chan, the Principal Investigator of a UGC-funded project on IPTBL, will share with you the key features of this new pedagogy, as well as his pioneering experience in implementing IPTBL with 500+ students from HKU and PolyU across 7 different programmes related to medical health care.
Dr. Lap Ki Chan, M.B.B.S. (HK), F.H.K.A.M., F.H.K.C.O.S. (Orthopedics), F.R.C.S. (Edinburgh), Ph.D. (Duke), is an associate professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, the Deputy Director of Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education, and an Assistant Dean (Pedagogy) at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. He has a background in orthopedics and physical anthropology and teaches gross anatomy to medical and other health professional students and is the coordinator of the Education Division of Anatomy in the School of Biomedical Sciences. His teaching excellence has been recognized by such awards as the Outstanding Teaching Award from The University of Hong Kong. He is the educator in the Asia Pacific region for the AO Foundation (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen). He serves as an associate editor for Anatomical Sciences Education and has co-edited the book “Teaching Anatomy – A Practical Guide” (Springer). His research interests include innovative pedagogies in anatomy education, teacher training, and interprofessional education.
Date : May 31, 2016 (Tuesday) Time : 12:30pm – 2:00pm Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU Speakers :
Professor LIM Cher Ping, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, HKIEd
Mr. Darren Harbutt, Educational Development Centre, PolyU
Assistant Professor Veronika Schoeb, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, PolyU
Mr. David Watson, Educational Development Centre, PolyU
* To be conducted in English
About the seminar:
The Blended & Online Learning & Teaching (BOLT) Project is a UGC-funded collaboration in which participating Hong Kong tertiary institutions look at developing online teaching and learning in Hong Kong. The project includes multiple different approaches, ranging from initiatives within a particular institution – such as Hong Kong Institute of Education’s grassroots approach to blended learning in a faculty, and Baptist University’s Faculty Professional Development Series of workshops – to more central elements, such as the BOLT foundation course, led by PolyU and open to teachers from all participating universities. More information available at http://www.bolt.edu.hk
In this seminar, the speakers will lead presentations on the BOLT project so far, share success stories, report on upcoming events and offer an opportunity to engage in discussion about blended learning in a Hong Kong context.
About the speakers:
LIM Cher Ping is a Professor of Curriculum and Innovations at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the Editor-in-Chief of the Internet and Higher Education. He was a Professor of Education, Director of International Partnerships and Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence for Teacher Education and Innovations in Western Australia before moving to Hong Kong in late 2010. Over the last two decades, he has engaged major stakeholders of higher education at the institutional, national and international levels. Organisations including UNESCO, Microsoft, BHP Billiton, World Bank, Sampoerna Foundation, and government agencies have become his partners for many of the education research and development projects that he has led. He is co-Project Leader of the BOLT Project.
Darren Harbutt is an Educational Development Officer in the Educational Development Centre of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before this he worked as an Instructional Designer at the University of Hong Kong. Darren has worked in education for over 20 years and in the last few years he has also helped to design, build and run MOOCs. Darren is co-Project Leader of the BOLT Project.
David Watson joined PolyU with eight years of experience in the higher education sector, providing technological and instructional expertise in numerous online projects, with his development skills incorporating the pedagogical requirements and alignment in eLearning and online teaching. Supported by Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCTHE), CMALT and Masters in Web Development, his current role focuses on areas such as Augmented & Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Professional Development Delivery and the development of various funded instructional technologies.
Veronika Schoeb currently performs as Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at PolyU. She holds a first degree as a health professional from Switzerland, and received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Nottingham, UK. Prior to joining PolyU in February 2015, she was a Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Western Switzerland. She teaches qualitative research courses (in a very quantitative environment) and tackles this challenge by trying out different teaching modalities. Her research interests lie in communication as well as interprofessional collaboration, and she investigates topics related to social interaction, both in health care as well as in education.
Despite the growing popularity of the flipped classroom approach, many teachers are concerned about students not watching online videos before class. Dr. Lily Zeng addressed this common concern in a seminar on 8 March 2016.
Major challenges in flipping
Over 70% of seminar participants had not flipped a class before, but were considering to do so. They anticipated the following challenges in flipping:
Student preparation was an obvious concern. Related items include “lecture video not watched”, “students not equipped”, “unprepared students”, “preparedness”, “preparation” and “student commitment”.
What should teachers do?
To overcome this challenge, Dr. Zeng recommended that teachers ensure the alignment of pre-class, in-class and after-class activities. In designing a course, they should always keep in mind the intended learning outcomes and make sure that concepts covered in the short videos are related to the in-class activities and assessments. This will create a backwash effect and push students to get prepared for class, or else they will not be able to participate in in-class activities where everyone else is engaged.
When asking students to watch videos before class, consider giving:
extra credits as incentives for those who watch the videos and complete knowledge check questions before class;
clear expectations, i.e., explain to them why they should watch the videos; and
guidance about what to take note of in the videos, such as a short “curator’s message”, some highlights and key questions to think about while watching.
It can be frustrating to know that some students did not do preparations for class. However, we can make use of this opportunity to teach students the importance of doing preparations as a “pre-requisite” of a deep learning experience.
Dr. Yat Ming Chan from the Department of Mathematics gave a public lecture on group theory on April 9 to over 120 participants, most of whom were secondary school students. TELI enhanced the event with real-time polling activity and an interactive demonstration of “perfect shuffle” using gigantic poker cards.
Group theory is an important area of study in abstract algebra. Using the examples of mattress flipping and contra dance, Dr. Chan explained to the audience the four conditions of being a group, namely, closure, associativity, identity and invertibility. While these big terms and concepts might be too abstract to first-time learners, Dr. Chan checked their level of understanding by posing this question on mentimeter, the online polling tool:
“How many perfect shuffles do you think it will take to restore a deck of 52 cards to its original order?”
Many “confessed” through anonymous submissions that they were just randomly guessing. Therefore, Dr. Chan invited 9 students to go on stage and demonstrate what would really happen when we shuffle the 10 cards perfectly (i.e., divide the cards into two equal decks, and then interleave them one by one). This activity presented an opportunity for participants to creatively take ownership of their learning.
Dr. Chan concluded his lecture by showing participants how group theory can be used to appreciate symmetry in 3D shapes (using http://hkumath.hku.hk/PublicLecture2016/), wallpaper designs, and other specialties in science.
TELI supports STEM education. We see ourselves facilitating best practices in STEM through e-learning, and we are keen to discuss plans about making the younger generation of learners curious explorers of the world. If you’d like to collaborate with us, please get in touch by emailing enquiry@teli.hku.hk.
Co-organized by Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) and Youth Arch Foundation
Date : May 11, 2016 (Wednesday) Time : 6:00pm – 7:15pm Venue : CPD 3.28, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong Speakers :
Mr. William Chan, Co-founder and Managing Director, Visual Squares Ltd
Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching & Learning), HKU
Mr. Alex Lau, Executive Director, Head of Digital Innovation, Institutional Banking Group, DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited
* To be conducted in English
Abstract:
Strategy looks like a buzzword – but it shouldn’t be. It takes on different meanings in different contexts and sectors, and there is still much room for us to learn from all these variations. In the dialogue session, business strategists from the technology and banking sectors will share with us their insights and experience of helping their companies to achieve success. We will explore how we can draw key lessons from them to come up with the best learning strategies while we are still in school.
Biographies:
Mr. William Chan is an experienced Internet and software technologist. He is currently the Co-founder and Managing Director of Visual Squares Ltd. He is also appointed as a member of the Enterprise Support Scheme (ESS) Assessment Panel under the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). Before returning to Hong Kong, William worked for Google and a Cisco-acquired startup in Silicon Valley for 8 years. William graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science and received the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award.
Professor Ricky Kwok is Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), assisting the Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) in various projects related to e-learning (e.g., MOOCs, blended learning and gamification). Ricky is also Professor in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at HKU. A computer engineer and scientist by training, he is now taking an avid interest in scaling out teaching and scaling up learning. His recent research endeavors are also related to incentive, dependability, and security issues in wireless systems and P2P applications. Ricky is a Fellow of various professional associations in engineering (IEEE, IET, and HKIE).
Mr. Alex Lau has extensive experience in the IT and banking industry. He is now the Head of Digital Innovation of Institutional Banking Group at DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Alex graduated from the Computer Science Department of Stanford University (BS ’96 with distinction, MS ’97). Upon graduation, he worked for Oracle Inc. and Motorola Inc. in Silicon Valley before returning to Hong Kong to head the Strategic Planning and E-banking of Dah Sing Bank. In his latest capacity, Alex is driving the digital innovations in SME banking and has captured 3 external awards for the Bank in 2015.
School-university partnership is an important concept driving TELI’s work in reaching out to the younger generation. On March 19, we co-organized the “STEM Learning Fair 2016” with Pak Kau College in Tin Shui Wai to showcase our work in MOOCs, flipped classroom, and engineering education. About 100 secondary school teachers and over 260 students joined the event, where we exchanged ideas and experiences on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.
At a time when discussions on innovation, entrepreneurship and information literacy are rekindling in the education sector, it is important that we communicate with young people and their teachers the opportunities afforded by STEM education in meaningful and appealing ways. For students, learning in these subjects is a first step to become good problem solvers. “They define objectives more clearly, think more logically, and are better at coming up with step-by-step solutions,” said Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), who gave a keynote speech at the half-day event.
Using a simple learning kit consisted of a battery, a wire and a magnet, TELI challenged a group of primary students to figure out theories behind maglev trains.
For teachers, STEM activities often help them understand better the curiosity and educational needs of their students. “The question is, how to make the most of face-to-face class time to take that interest further,” asked Dr. Leon Lei, E-learning Technologist of TELI, who gave a talk on the challenges of STEM education at the parallel session. Based on his experience in teaching first-year engineering students, he reminded teachers that bringing more hands-on components and group-work experience to class is key to achieving learning objectives of STEM subjects. You may view Dr. Lei’s powerpoint here.
Ricky made special mention that in late April, HKU will be launching an open online course on the basics of flipped classroom and blended learning. Both primary and secondary school teachers are more than welcome to make use of resources in the course to enhance their classes.
Partnering with secondary schools is a rewarding experience for TELI. We will continue to collaborate with different organisations in technology education to further our impact in the community.
Here is a chance for you to explore the endless possibilities of e-learning with us. HKU will be launching an open online course on the basics of e-learning for teachers of all sectors on Apr 14. This course will teach you how to create educational videos, flip your classroom and improve your teaching through analyzing students’ online behaviour. You will also gain exposure to the latest EdTech used in both on-campus teaching and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
You will have a chance to create your own videos with our e-learning technologists at HKU.
This course, entitled “Scale Out Teaching; Scale Up Learning”, includes both interactive online lectures and face-to-face video-making workshops. The course schedule is as follows:
Date
Session
Topics
14 Apr
Online Session 0
Online Session 1
E-learning Ecosystem: Setting the Scene
Interactive Online Learning: Getting Started
22 Apr
Face-to-Face Session A
Creating Your Online Video
28 Apr
Online Session 2
Blended Learning: Teaching On-Campus
5 May
Online Session 3
MOOC: Teaching The World
12 May
Online Session 4
Learning Analytics: Using Learner’s Data To Improve Teaching
20 May
Face-to-Face Session B
Show and Tell
The course is part of the Blended & Online Learning & Teaching (BOLT) Project, which aims at supporting professional development of teachers’ skills in online and blended teaching. The project is a collaborative effort of five institutions – PolyU, HKIEd, HKBU, HKU and HKUST. All teachers are welcome to join this vibrant learning community.
Embark your e-learning journey with us now!
Jointly Organised by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), E-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) and Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI)
Speaker : Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) Moderator : Dr. Tracy Zou, Assistant Professor, CETL Date : April 20 (Wednesday), 2016 Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm Venue : Room 321, 3/F, Run Run Shaw Building (Main Campus), HKU Hot lunch will be provided.
About the Joint Event
Like many other leading universities, HKU is seeking to enhance the internationalisation of its curricula and its teaching. But what can be done in a course or a programme to bring the international learning experiences to students without the need to travel? A recent policy paper (2015) by European Parliament advocates that digital and virtual learning offers a promising way to realise international collaborative experiences and achieve ‘internationalisation at home’.
During the first join-the-conversation in January, we identified digital and virtual learning as one of the eight learning challenges and opportunities associated with the internationalisation of teaching and learning in HKU. In this joint event, we will further look at the ways that recent advances in information and communication technologies open up new possibilities to enrich international experiences in courses and programmes. Participants will be able to review a range of approaches and techniques whereby digital learning may facilitate international learning experiences for students, evaluate the value and feasibility of these approaches in HKU’s context, and discuss the possible applications of some of the approaches in their courses or programmes.
