e-learning News – September 2012

From Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

For the full version of the September newsletter, go to:
http://www.cetl.hku.hk/elearning-pedagogical-support-unit/elearning-news/.

e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit Services
The e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit has allocated staff to each of the Faculties. Full details of the allocations can be found in the newsletter. Take a look to find out who to contact for your e-learning needs.

e-learning Officer Faculty Level Support
The majority of Faculties have appointed e-learning Officers to support e-learning initiatives at a local level. Support includes advice on making best use of Moodle to enhance teaching and learning along with wider advice on the use of technologies in teaching and learning. Read the newsletter to find out who your e-learning Officer is.

Enhancements to Moodle
Do you want Moodle to do something that it doesn’t do at the moment? Do you have an idea about how Moodle can be improved? You can make requests through the e-learning Enhancement Task Force. The newsletter will tell you how to get in touch with the Task Force.

Successful Completion of all WebCT courses to Moodle
ITS has successfully finished the year-long WebCT-to-Moodle course migration exercise. Three phases of course migrations had been completed as schedule and within timeline.

Moodle system has been upgraded from 2.2 to 2.3
Moodle version 2.3 was released on June 26, 2012.  There are some great improvements in version 2.3. Read about them here http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.3_release_notes.

Retirement of WebCT system
After a full-year parallel running of both WebCT system and Moodle, which enabled the successful and smooth transition of all WebCT courses to be migrated to Moodle, the WebCT system has retired on Aug. 16, 2012. Moodle is now the only centrally-supported LMS at the University.

Faculty of Education Moodle Users Group seminar
Every Thursday at lunchtime the Faculty of Education in conjunction with the CITE will host a Moodle Users Group workshop.  http://www.cite.hku.hk/news.php?theme=pd

Faculty of Education e-learning Moodle Seminar
Most Fridays at lunchtime the Faculty of Education in conjunction with the CITE will host an e-learning using Moodle seminar which focuses on the new tools and affordances that the Moodle LMS provides for the support of education.  http://www.cite.hku.hk/news.php?theme=itedu

17 Oct: Teaching Excellence Award Scheme Workshop

Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Facilitator: Dr. Gayle Morris, CETL, The University of Hong Kong
Date: 17 Oct, 2012 (Wed)
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 322, Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

This workshop is open to all teaching staff who are interested in finding out more about the Teaching Excellence Awards. Staff will be provided an overview of the award scheme, the key selection criteria and advice in preparing an evidence-based teaching portfolio. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.

For more details and information on registration, please visit this link.

7 Sep: Introduction to Teaching and Learning @ HKU

Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

This one-day programme is a foundation programme in teaching and learning at The University of Hong Kong and is designed for teaching staff, regardless of previous teaching experience, who are new to teaching at HKU. The overall aim is to provide new staff with a better understanding of specific issues relating to teaching and learning context in Hong Kong and at HKU. Staff will hear from leading Senior Academics in areas of strategic importance to the University.

“Introduction to Teaching and Learning @ HKU” is a required programme for all new academic and academic-related staff with full-time teaching responsibilities commencing on or after September 1, 2011, and should be taken within the first year of service and there are no exemptions.

For more details and information on registration, please visit this link.

29 Aug: Social Media and Discussion Forums to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Message from Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

Speakers:

Dr Samuel Kai Wah Chu, Associate Professor, Division of Information & Technology Studies, and the Deputy Director of Centre for Information Technology in Education,  Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Brant Knutzen, Learning Designer, Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong

Date    : August 29, 2012 (Wednesday)

Time    : 12:45 pm – 2pm

Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

Outline:

In this seminar, Dr Samuel Kai Wah Chu, Associate Professor (Division of Information & Technology Studies), will present on his use of social media tools such as wikis, blogs, Facebook, Google Doc and social bookmarking tools to enhance his undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Mr. Brant Knutzen, Learning Designer, Faculty of Education, will show how instructors can successfully design an online discussion learning activity to increase student engagement and achieve ‘transactive communication’: participants actively build upon each other’s contributions, yet the role of the teacher is still crucial in guiding and scaffolding student understanding.

For full details of this seminar visit http://www.cetl.hku.hk/seminar120829/

For enquiries, please contact Ms Ivy Lai by email laichun2@hku.hk

e-learning News – August 2012

From: Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

We are pleased to provide you with an e-learning update at HKU. Please visit http://www.cetl.hku.hk/elearning-news/ to read the full newsletter.

1. e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit Staffing
The e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit has a new staff member who will be providing dedicated support to the Faculties.

2. e-learning Officers in Faculties
The e-learning Certificate Course to prepare e-learning Officers to support their Faculties is almost at an end.

3. e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit Program of Work
The e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit has defined a comprehensive program of work to support Faculties with their e-learning needs in the coming 12 months.

4. WebCT System to Retire After August 15th
WebCT is to be retired and Moodle will be the only centrally supported Learning Management System.

5. Moodle Course Templates Will Be Created for All Official Courses Registered in SIS
Moodle course templates will automatically be created in the Moodle System for all official courses of year 2012-2013 registered in SIS.

6. New Departmental Course Administrator Role for Moodle Courses
A new departmental course administrator role has been created on our centralized Moodle system to give Faculties more flexibility with Moodle support.

7. Moodle Hands On Training Courses For Staff
A range of Moodle hands-on training courses will be offered by the  Computer Centre in August 2012.

e-learning News – July 2012

Prepared by e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit, CETL

1. e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) Summer Activities

The e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) will continue to deliver seminars during the summer break. Details of these seminars will be provided as soon as they are available. A new series of e-learning workshops is being planned and these will be delivered prior to the start of the new semester. The workshops will focus on quick tips for making pedagogically sound use of Moodle for teaching and learning.

2. Completion of WebCT-to-Moodle Migration

The final round of migration exercise has been started at the beginning of June by the Computer Centre and is expected to last for one month. About 600 remaining WebCT courses will be converted to Moodle and made available for teachers and staff to access by the end of June 2012.

3. Moodle Video Tutorials for Teachers

In order to provide better support to our teachers and staff, the Computer Centre has started producing HKU’s collection of Moodle short video tutorials. They will be put on the Moodle support website as part of the overall support resources. Task-based videos each with duration of two to three minutes will be developed. They will form a large series of online video tutorials ranging from introduction to Moodle to more advanced topics and new features. To watch the videos, please visit:

[button link=”http://www.its.hku.hk/lms/moodle/v2/support_teacher.php” color=”orange” shape=”rounded” size=”small” ]http://www.its.hku.hk/lms/moodle/v2/support_teacher.php[/button]

4. Moodle Enhancements

Based on the enhancement recommendation report submitted by the EETF to the Computer Centre, the new features and enhancements of Moodle that will be ready in July 2012 include the followings:

  • A new Moodle user role: “Departmental course administrator”, will be introduced for the support of departmental e-learning officers and staff to provide basic Moodle assistance to the teachers in their Departments.
  • New course categories in the hierarchy of: Faculty -> Department -> Year be created for better course classification and administration
  • Customizable Faculty level theme support
  • Auto pre-enrollment of students and teachers for all new Moodle courses
  • Setting up a dedicated Moodle course reporting and statistics server
  • Enabling new repositories: GoogleDocs, Dropbox, Youtube, Picassa
  • Enabling new features (plugins): Drag and Drop File Upload and Group Choice
  • Enabling filters for Moodle courses
5. Moodle Hands-on Training Courses for Staff

The following Moodle hands-on training courses will be arranged in July 2012:

[button link=”http://www.itservices.hku.hk/lms/moodle/v2/moodle_training201207.php” color=”orange” shape=”rounded” size=”small” ]http://www.itservices.hku.hk/lms/moodle/v2/moodle_training201207.php[/button]

ePortfolios as a Tool to Promote Integrative Learning

Organized by
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Speaker: Dr Candyce Reynolds, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA
Date: 20 Jun, 2012 (Wed)
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

Abstract

The use of ePortfolios in American universities has proliferated over the last ten years as administrators and educators have discovered the rich opportunities they provide for both promoting and assessing student learning. Through ePortfolios, students have the opportunity to make connections and more intentionally develop integrative learning. This session will share how ePortfolios are used in a first year common core curriculum program to facilitate student learning and assessment. Staff members who are interested in ways in which students’ learning experience could be documented and tracked will also find this seminar useful.

About the speaker

Candyce Reynolds is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. She teaches primarily in the Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Education Program working with students interested in education in all its forms. She has an A.B. in Psychology and Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley, USA and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, USA in Counseling Psychology.

Dr. Reynolds has had a wide variety of experiences in higher education and beyond, working in student affairs, departments of psychology, business and management consultation, general education, a peer mentoring program and in faculty development. Her scholarship has primarily focused on student success in higher education. She is a leader in the area of student centered pedagogy, authentic student learning assessment and the role of reflective practice in facilitating student learning. In recent years, her work has focused on the use of the ePortfolio to promote student learning and program assessment. She has published broadly in higher education books and journals and has made presentations at a variety of venues throughout the USA and internationally.

For details and online registration, please go to:
http://www.cetl.hku.hk/seminar120620/

For enquiries, please contact Ms Ivy Lai by email laichun2@hku.hk.

University Studies: Lessons Learned from an Award-Winning Common Core Curriculum at Portland State University

Jointly Organized by:
Common Core Curriculum Committee &
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

Date: June 22, 2012 (Friday)
Time: 12:45pm – 2pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

Speaker: Dr Candyce Reynolds, Graduate School of Education,
Portland State University

Abstract

Portland State University initiated a new integrated four level common core curriculum in 1994. This session will describe the structure and development of the program and its curricular goals. The session will conclude with a discussion of lesson learned in the process. Similarities and differences between this program and the HKU Common Core Curriculum will be explored and discussed.

About the Speaker

Candyce Reynolds is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy. She teaches primarily in the Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Education Program working with students interested in education in all its forms. She has an A.B. in Psychology and Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley, USA and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, USA in Counseling Psychology.

Dr Reynolds is a leader in the area of student centered pedagogy, authentic student learning assessment and the role of reflective practice in facilitating student learning. In recent years, her work has focused on the use of the ePortfolio to promote student learning and program assessment. She has published broadly in higher education books and journals and has made presentations at a variety of venues throughout the USA and internationally.

Light refreshments will be served.

All are welcome. For registration, please visit:
http://www.cetl.hku.hk/seminar120622/

For enquiries, please contact:
Ms Emily Chan by email chiting@hku.hk

Assessing experiential learning workshop

Jointly organized by
the Experiential Learning Assessment Task Force and CETL

Speakers: Dr. Mike Bothelho, Dr. Esther Cheung, Mr. Gwyn Edwards, Prof. David Kember and Dr. Gayle Morris
Date: 30 May, 2012 (Wed)
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Rm 321 Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

The benefits of experiential learning are widely recognized. Many, though, find it difficult to adequately assess the many diverse outcomes which result from experiential learning.

This workshop presents an adaptable toolkit to guide the selection of assessment components for common forms of outcomes from experiential learning. Participants will be invited to discuss which forms of assessment would suit experiential learning in their discipline. Grade descriptors for forms of assessment suitable for experiential learning will be presented.

Learn more

Teaching Excellence Award Scheme Workshop

Organized by
Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)

CETL Facilitator: Dr.Gayle Morris
Date: 19 Jun, 2012 (Tue)
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 322, Run Run Shaw Building, HKU

This workshop is open to all teaching staff who are interested in finding out more about the Teaching Excellence Awards. Staff will be provided an overview of the award scheme, the key selection criteria and advice in preparing an evidence-based teaching portfolio. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.

Learn more