Applications for Teaching Development Grants (TDG) 2014

Message from Academic Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry

feature-tdgapplyWith reference to the invitation circular dated March 3, 2014, this is to remind colleagues that the next round of TDG applications will close on October 10, 2014, and the cut-off date for the third round of applications is December 29, 2014. For details, please refer to the URL below:

URL: http://intranet.hku.hk:8030/web/reg/adqa/rslleung/TDG-circular-2014.pdf

Applications should be submitted to Ms. Synthia Chau, Secretary, Teaching and Learning Quality Committee, c/o Academic Development and Quality Assurance Section, Registry. Enquiries may be directed to Ms. Chau (schau@hku.hk) or Ms. Julie Lau (julielau@hku.hk).

New e-learning Tab of HKU Portal and Revamped e-learning Support Website

Message from Information Technology Services

Dear Colleagues,

As part of our continuous effort to improve user experience of using e-learning at HKU, the e-learning Support Team of ITS is pleased to bring you an enhanced e-learning tab of HKU Portal in the new academic year. As you may have already noticed, released on 27 Aug, the new interface features three zones of information – Your e-Learning courses, Course specific information and e-learning resources. The Moodle course zone provides you easier access to the current and past Moodle courses. It is now more easy to recover and access to course outline, reading list, Gradebook and past exam papers in the Libraries (if any) of a certain current year Moodle course in the Course specific information area. We have consolidated the accesses to the mostly used e-learning resources including news updates, PC availability status, Lecture Capture Services (LCS), and seeking help and support information to the e-learning resources area.

Screenshot of the new layout:

Screenshot of the new layout

Besides, the existing Moodle Support Website (http://moodle-support.hku.hk) has been the center for getting support resources and training information of the centralized e-learning services for our users. A completely revamped e-learning support website will be released on 29 August 2014. The new website sports enhanced features over web accessibility for the disabled, with better navigation, and richer contents for users.

Screenshot of the new website:

Screenshot of the new website

We hope that you will be happy with all these new updates. If you would like to have more information and have any inquiry, feel free to email us: e-learningTeam@hku.hk

Best Regards,

Kenneth Siu
e-learning Team
Information Technology Services

ITS Orientations for New Staff

Message from Information Technology Services

8619731692_2382cf2b21_cDear colleagues,

To provide new University staff and students with useful information about the wide range of services offered by Information Technology Services (ITS), we will have a series of orientation activities running between late August and mid-September. All new University members are welcome to join.

1. Use of AV/IT Equipment in Central Classrooms

To familiarize themselves with the classroom facility, teachers and class instructors are recommended to join one of the training sessions on use of AV/IT Equipment in Central Classrooms. Through this session, they will be able to learn how to use the control panel, visualizer and other AV/IT equipment in the centrally timetabled classrooms.

For the class schedule and registration, please visit http://www.its.hku.hk/documentation/handbook/its-guide/2014-2015/orientation-seminars#classrooms.

2. Orientation Seminars

The seminar on “Introduction to Information Technology Services (ITS)” gives an introduction on the comprehensive range of central IT and network services offered by ITS. The seminar will be repeated four times.

In addition to the introductory session, different orientation sessions about teaching and learning will be arranged. Staff and students are welcome to attend seminars on “Introduction of Moodle Learning Management System and Panopto Lecture Capture System” and “About the University’s Research Support Computing Environment and the HPC/HTC Facilities” that follow the introduction session. You can also join the “Chi Wah Learning Commons Guided tour” to learn more about our learning spaces.

For the schedule of the orientation seminars, please refer to http://www.its.hku.hk/documentation/handbook/its-guide/2014-2015/orientation-seminars#seminars.

3. Exhibition

An Exhibition will be held at Chi Wah Learning Commons G/F in the first two weeks (Sep 1 – Sep 10) of the first semester with display boards showing the core IT Services, in particular the support for teaching and learning and research with University. Staff will be there from 1-2 pm on Monday to Friday (except September 9, 2014) to introduce ITS facilities and answer questions.

For details, please refer to http://www.its.hku.hk/documentation/handbook/its-guide/2014-2015/orientation-seminars#exhibition.

Veronica Yick
User Services
Information Technology Services

IT Services News issue no. 170 now online & Training News

Message from Information Technology Services

General News

Teaching and Learning News

E-learning News

System News

Training News

We also organize training courses to assist colleagues and students in using our facilities. The following training courses are organized in the coming months and details can be found in the Training News (http://www.its.hku.hk/news/news170/training):

on using the Moodle Learning Management System and Panopto Lecture Capture Software (for staff only)

  • Please click here to check out the course schedule on Scientific Computation & Visualization
  • Parallel Programming with Workshop on Unix System and Applications
  • Introduction to MATLAB and on Software Asset Management training

You are welcome to attend the training courses.

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

Greetings from the Common Core Director

P1080188

Message from Common Core Curriculum Office

Dear Campus Community,

I want to let you know how very pleased I am to be joining all of you in shaping the shared enterprise of the Common Core as a means of educating our students for a very complex 21st century world. Although I have been here just a few weeks, I can readily see the vitality, imagination, and thoughtfulness that all of you have brought to the task of creating active, reflective, and transformative learning experiences for our students.

In addition to the usual logistical and administrative tasks, I also want to engage with you on longer term planning for the opportunities for intellectual partnerships, cross-sectoral projects, and the inter- and trans-disciplinary possibilities that the Common Core offers us. One of the major themes for the year will be making connections across and within courses, questions, methodologies, and geographies, so please start thinking about what the most exciting opportunities might be for connecting with your own work and for helping students connect the dots of their curriculum.

I will be in touch with the campus on a regular basis as we develop new course offerings and modalities of active teaching; find ways to link CC teaching to scholarly activity; begin to make use of the new CC Lounge in the Main Building for exhibits, lectures, and events; create CC Student Ambassadors and a CC Community and Business Advisory Board; and concoct other initiatives that connect both the staff and the students to the campus, the city, the region, and the world.

In the meantime, I invite you to give me a call, send an email, or drop by so that I can begin to learn how we might best build the most intellectually intriguing, enticing, and valuable pathways for, and with, our students. You can reach me at gklindgren@hku.hk, 2219 4956, or in Room 140 of the Main Building.

Once again I am looking forward, in this period of the reinvention of higher education, to developing the Common Core’s next phase with you.

All best,
Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, PhD
Professor and Director
The Common Core

Teaching Excellence Award Scheme 2014

teas2014Message from Academic Development and Quality Assurance Section of the Registry

Nominations are now invited for the University Distinguished Teaching Award (UDTA) and the Outstanding Teaching Awards (OTAs) under the Teaching Excellence Award Scheme (TEAS) in 2014.

TEAS aims to recognise, reward and promote excellence in teaching at the University.  All Faculties are encouraged to nominate colleagues who have made an outstanding contribution to the leadership and scholarship of Teaching and Learning at both Faculty and University levels for the University Distinguished Teaching Award, and colleagues who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and curriculum development for the Outstanding Teaching Awards.  The Outstanding Teaching Award comprises individual and team awards, the latter is to recognise and promote collaborative effort and achievement in enhancing Teaching and Learning.

For further details, please refer to the circular from the Acting Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning).

Nominees are encouraged to contact the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) for advice on the preparation of teaching portfolios.   Seminars/workshops will be organised by CETL in September and November 2014 to support interested staff members to prepare for their submissions.

All nominations and the supporting documents should reach Ms. Synthia Chau, Academic Development and Quality Assurance Section, by December 12, 2014.  Enquiries may be directed to Ms. Chau at 2859 2440 or email to schau@hku.hk.

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

Director of Common Core Curriculum

Message from Professor Roland T. Chin, Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)

Dear Colleagues, Students and Alumni,

I am pleased to announce that upon an international recruitment search, Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren has been appointed Director of Common Core Curriculum. He will officially take up the appointment on June 5, 2014.

Professor Kochhar-Lindgren has significant years of experience in both interdisciplinary studies and academic administration. He was Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Learning and the inaugural Director of the First Year and Pre-Major Program at the University of Washington Bothell. Professor Kochhar-Lindgren is familiar with Hong Kong and this University. He spent a year (2009-10) as a Fulbright Scholar in General Education, based at HKU, and assisted in the development of the HKU Common Core Curriculum.

I hope you would give your full support to Professor Kochhar-Lindgren in further enhancing the Common Core Curriculum and making a difference to undergraduate education at this University. Please join me in welcoming Professor Kochhar-Lindgren to the University family.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Professor Gina Marchetti, Professor of Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts and Convenor for Global Issues Area of Inquiry, for serving as Acting Director since December 2013 and enabling a smooth transition in the change of Directorship.

Professor Roland T. Chin
Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)