Guidelines for Using External Web 2.0 Services for University Purposes

Message from Information Technology Services

Dear colleagues,

There are many useful web services on the Internet, such as PBworks, Facebook, Second Life, Socrative and Basecamp, which are commonly referred to as Web 2.0 services. Some departments and staff members are using, or have expressed interest in adopting, these services for academic-related activities and/or engaging existing and prospective students.

While there may be perfect reasons for using external web services, it is important that, when making the decision to use such services, the individual and the department concerned also recognize the risks involved. The document “Guidelines for Using External Web 2.0 Services” provides guidance on the issues that need to be considered before adopting external web services for university purposes. Annexed to the document is a template for risk assessment.

The document can be found at http://intraweb.hku.hk/local/its/web2guidelines/ or by following the path: HKU ITS Homepage (www.its.hku.hk) > About Us > Policies and Guidelines.

The Guidelines document was put together jointly by the e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit of CETL and IT Services based on a similar document made available by the University of Edinburgh under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. The document has incorporated inputs from our University’s Data Protection Officer, and feedback received from academic and administrative staff at two separate workshops on 15 January 2014. Based on the feedback, two scenarios of using Web 2.0 services – one on Facebook and the other on Dropbox – have also been developed to illustrate the use of the risk assessment template. At its meeting on 27 May 2014, the IT Committee endorsed the Guidelines for release.

Any staff member who considers using an external Web 2.0 service should study the Guidelines document carefully and conduct a risk assessment using the template. In case there is any change to the usage Terms and Conditions of a Web 2.0 service in use, the staff concerned should reassess the risk involved. Each department should also maintain a Register of all external web services adopted.

If you have any query on the subject, please contact me (dwhtang@hku.hk) or Dr. MC Pong (mcpong@hku.hk).

Danny Tang
Director of IT Services

Moodle System Upgrade to 2.6.3

Message from Information Technology Services

Dear Colleagues and Students,

Please be informed that the central Moodle Learning Management System will undergo system upgrade from version 2.4.4 to 2.6.3. All Access to it will be suspended during the upgrade period of time:

Date: July 27, 2014, Sunday
Time: 6:00 am to 2:00 pm

After the successful upgrade, Moodle will resume service with the new version 2.6.3. Please access it after 2:00pm on that day. (In the unlikely event that the upgrade was unsuccessful, it will fall back to the current version 2.4.4.)

The new features and improvements are described in the release notes (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.6.3_release_notes)

For any enquiries, please send email to e-learningTeam@hku.hk.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your attention.

Best Regards,

Kenneth Siu
e-learning Team

HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine Frontiers Series – East-West Alliance Global Symposia

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Date/Time: 27-Oct-2014 – 28-Oct-2014
Location: William Mong Man Wai Block, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Sasson Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

MOOCs in Postmodern Asia (Oct 27, 2014)

Big Data and Precision Medicine (Oct 28, 2014)

Supported by Li Ka Shing Foundation; Organized by HKU on behalf of the East-West Alliance (EWA); Co-organized by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and China Medical Board (CMB).

The 2014 East-West Alliance Global Symposia to be held on October 27 and 28, 2014 will be hosted by HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine on behalf of the East-West Alliance (EWA) and co-organized by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and China Medical Board (CMB). For the programme and online registration, please visit . www.med.hku.hk/ewa2014.

Talking Heads and Beyond

A post from the e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU)

Sal Khan of Khan Academy fame may recommend recording natural speech rather than planning every word of his instructional videos, but a fully scripted video seems to be the preferred approach for many MOOC educators.

As part of the University of Hong Kong’s small team tasked with helping faculties prepare HKU’s first MOOCs, we recognize that learners have individual preferences about how best to gain subject-related knowledge. So far we have adopted three different approaches when recording professors’ MOOC input:

HKUx Recording in the open air.

‘Talking head’ videos: Many educators’ initial choice, a short, chunked ‘talking head’ video is a familiar option but still offers room for creativity and customization based on individual needs. Professor Gabriel Leung from the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and colleagues in their Epidemics MOOC have gone for the scripted approach, while Professor Hansen from the Philosophy Department in Humanity and Nature in Chinese Thought prefers to use key words as a cue. What both MOOCs have in common is recording the professors in front of a green screen so that still images and motion graphics can be added later on to enhance the learning process.

Panel Discussions: We are all familiar with groups of experts on TV sitting round a table discussing topical issues, but panel discussions also have a place in MOOCs. Professor David Lung from the Faculty of Architecture in The Search for Vernacular Architecture of Asia shares a table with colleagues to film the discussions that make up the bulk of the input on his course. In Epidemics, panel discussions form the final part of the course, with public health experts discussing the implications of what has previously been presented in the ‘talking head’ videos and Thomas Abraham, former editor of The South China Morning Post, chairing the discussions. Two different approaches to using panel discussions, but for the learner the same result of engaging input.

The Search for Vernacular Architecture of Asia, Part 1

Location Filming: For such a visually rich and location-dependent field as Vernacular Architecture, including location footage seems an obvious choice. We filmed Professor Lung and his colleagues out on location, so that what was previously covered in the panel discussions and presented in still photography can really come alive. And for our team too, a trip to nearby Macau to film a Mandarin’s house was a welcome break – much nicer than when the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine wanted to send us to Yunnan province in southern China to film SARS-carrying bats!

Three different MOOCs, three different approaches to recording professors’ input. Let us know  your thoughts on Facebook orTwitter @HKUniversity with #BeyondTalkingHead.

Photo credit: Edwin Wu Ding Hang

This piece was originally written for the edX Blog

New Email-to-Class Function, Moodle & Panopto Training Courses for Teachers

Message from Information Technology Services

Dear Teachers,

We are pleased to let you know that a new function “Email-to-Class” in the My e-learning tab of HKU Portal will be launched on 23 June. If you are the teacher, TA or course administrator of Moodle courses, this feature enables you to conveniently send class email to any of your Moodle courses. More information can be found here.

Besides, the following hands-on training courses on Panopto and Moodle are now open for registration. You are welcome to attend. Please register the courses by clicking the “Register” hyperlinks below.

Moodle Hands-on Training Courses

Course Code Moodle Course Title Date Time Venue Registration
MOD-001 Setting up Moodle Course Website 26 Jun, 2014 (Thu) 10:00am – 11:00am KB-110 Register
MOD-005 Turnitin and GradeMark 26 Jun, 2014 (Thu) 11:30am – 12:30pm KB-110 Register

Panopto Training Courses

Course Code Panopto Course Title Date Time Venue Registration
PAN-001 Introduction of Panopto Lecture Video Capturing Solution 19 Jun, 2014 (Thu) 10:00am – 11:00am CPD-LG20 Register
PAN-002 Edit, Share and Output Panopto Video Recording 19 Jun, 2014 (Thu) 11:30am – 12:30pm CPD-LG20 Register

The number of seats is limited. After successful registration, if you cannot attend, please cancel the registration to release the reserved seat for other colleague.

The course details can be found at http://moodle-support.hku.hk/cms/?q=training/cc and http://moodle-support.hku.hk/cms/?q=training/panopto

Note:
(1) KB-110 = Room 110, Knowles Building
CPD-LG20 = Room CPD-LG20, Central Podium (CPD), Centennial Campus

(2) If you have taken a Moodle hands-on course offered by the ITS, we recommend you follow up with an e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) workshop and/or a Faculty of Education/ Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) seminar.

The EPSU of the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) offers pedagogically focused e-learning workshops, which leverage the central Moodle platform to enable good teaching practices. These workshops focus on teaching approaches and good teaching practices, complement the Moodle courses offered by the ITS and the Moodle seminars offered by the Faculty of Education/CITE, which tend to focus on innovative teaching practice using the new features available in Moodle.

e-learning workshops by EPSU/CETL
http://www.cetl.hku.hk/professional-learning/

e-learning seminars by the Faculty of Education/CITE
http://www.cite.hku.hk/news.php?category=upcoming

For more information and inquiry on Moodle and Panopto training and support, feel free to email: e-learningTeam@hku.hk

Best Regards,

Kenneth Siu
e-learning Team
Information Technology Services

Knowledge Management & E-Learning (KM&EL)

Message from Faculty of Education (Research Office)

Contents of KM&EL Journal (Indexed by SCOPUS)

Knowledge Management & E-Learning (KM&EL)
http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication

KM&EL Lab, HKU
http://kmel-lab.org/website

Issue Vol.6, No.2

Editorial: Digital systems supporting cognition and exploratory learning in 21st century

D. G. Sampson, D. Ifenthaler, P. Isaias, J. M. Spector

Longitudinal analysis of cognitive constructs fostered by STEM activities for middle school students
R. Christensen, G. Knezek, T. Tyler-Wood, D. Gibson

Implementation of a mobile peer assessment system with augmented reality in a fundamental design course
K.-H. Chao, C.-H. Lan, Dr. Kinshuk, K.-E. Chang, Y.-T. Sung

Math on a sphere: Making use of public displays in mathematics and programming education
M. Eisenberg, A. Basman, S. Hsi

A quantitative analysis of learning object repositories as knowledge management systems
P. Zervas, C. Alifragkis, D. G. Sampson

Regular Papers

Challenges of knowledge sharing in the petrochemical industry
C. W. Chong, J. Besharati

Awareness and use of Web 2.0 technologies in sharing of agricultural knowledge in Tanzania
W. P. Mtega, F. W. Dulle, A. W. Malekani, A. M. Chailla

******

CFP (Vol.6, No.4)

Special Issue on Smart Cities of the Future: Creating Tomorrow’s Education toward Effective Skills and Career Development Today

Guest Editors

Dr. Fanny Klett (IEEE Fellow)
German Workforce ADL Partnership Laboratory, Germany

Dr. Maggie M. Wang
KM&EL Lab, HKU

SoL-SRT & CITE Joint Seminar: A computer science perspective on collaborative learning and knowledge building

Message from Sciences of Learning Strategic Research Theme

Seminar: A computer science perspective on collaborative learning and knowledge building

Speaker: Professor H. Ulrich Hoppe, the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Date: June 20, 2013
Time: 12:45-14:00
Venue: Runme Shaw 101, HKU

Abstract
The Collide research group (”Collaborative Learning in Intelligent Distributed Environments”, link: http://www.collide.info) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) forms part of the Department of Computer Science and Applied Cognitive Science within the Faculty of Engineering. First, the talk will briefly address the interdisciplinary composition of the department and its impact on teaching and advanced student projects. Then it will focus on two example project areas.

(A) Technical support for collaborative inquiry learning:The EU project COLDEX (“Collaborative Learning and Distributed Experimentation”, 2002-05), led by the Collide group, developed and tested collaborative modelling tools for various areas of science learning together with a globally accessible repository of learner-created models. Learning by sharing such “emerging learning objects” was a main theme of COLDEX. This idea has been taken up in a later EU project (SCY – “Science Created by You”, 2008-12), coordinated by the Univ. of Twente (NL), by facilitating learner experience through larger “missions” in the SCY-Lab environment. The on-going EU project Go-Lab (2012-16) focuses on providing uniform access to a variety of remote laboratories, both virtual and physical. It particularly features customisable web-based learning environments and learning analytics components.

(B) Applying network analysis techniques to learning and knowledge building communities:In the context of the European “Science in Society” project SISOB (2011-13), Collide has developed a flexible workbench for network analysis of knowledge building communities. Whereas SISOB studied the social impact of science and research in general, these tools have also been applied in a “Learning Analytics” context, e.g. to analyse the evolution of ideas in the Wikiversity community. A recent application addresses patterns of resource usage in a blended learning course.

About the speaker

H. Ulrich Hoppe holds a full professorship for “Cooperative and Learning Support Systems” in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Cognitive Science (Engineering Faculty) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. With an original background in mathematics and physics, followed by a PhD in educational technology (Tuebingen University, 1984), Ulrich Hoppe has been working for more than ten years in the area of Intelligent User Interfaces and Cognitive User Models (1984-95), before he re-focused his research on Technology-Enhanced Learning and Knowledge Management. He joined the University of Duisburg as a professor in 1995 and founded the research group COLLIDE on Collaborative Learning in Intelligent Distributed Environments (COLLIDE) in the same year. With the COLLIDE group, Ulrich Hoppe has been engaged in more than 10 European projects in the area of advanced computational technologies for learning and and knowledge management. Ulrich Hoppe has been programme co-chair of CSCL 2003 in Bergen (Norway), AIED 2003 in Sydney (Australia), ICCE 2007 in Hiroshima (Japan), and CRIWG 2012 in Raesfeld (Germany).

His current research interests are:

  • Interactive and collaborative media for learning and knowledge construction
  • Analysis, modelling, and intelligent support of interactive and collaborative learning processes
  • Social network analysis and community support

For registration, go to http://www.cite.hku.hk/news.php?id=520&category=seminar

CETL EPSU Seminar – Meaningful Gamification in Educational Settings

game

Speakers
Dr Jingli Cheng (Instructional Designer, CETL, HKU)
Dr Timothy Hew (Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, HKU)
Date: 26 June, 2014 (Thursday)
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm[Sandwiches will be served with coffee and tea.] Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building

Abstract
Meaningful gamification (Nicholson, 2012) aims to use game elements to provide external rewards but also help users find deeper connection to an underlying topic or issue in a non-game context. This seminar will explore implications of meaningful gamification for educational settings by discussing the theoretical background and examining a few practical examples. The goal is to introduce the notion of meaningful gamification to HKU educators so as to help broaden the range of tools they can employ to further enhance their teaching practice.

About the Speakers
Dr Jingli Cheng has extensive experience applying instructional design theories and best practices in various organizational settings to help learners improve their knowledge and skills. Before joining the HKU’s e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit, he worked as Instructional Designer at Stanford University, the Hewlett Packard company and several other organizations in the United States. His research interests include motivation for knowledge sharing in online communities and informal learning in organizational settings.

Dr Timothy Hew is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Education at HKU. He earned his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and his PhD from Indiana University, Bloomington in the USA. His research interests include e-learning and blended learning strategies, and computer-supported interactions. Dr Hew has more than 10 years teaching experience involving e-learning environments in Singapore and the USA.

For further details and to download the presentation file, please visit: http://www.cetl.hku.hk/seminar140626/

EPSU Website: http://epsu.cetl.hku.hk/26jun2014/

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