Have you ever found yourself struggling to stay awake in a lecture despite having a full night’s rest? Or have you ever found yourself sitting in class spending more time looking at the clock counting down the minutes until the end of class than looking at the slides that are being taught? Before you feel ashamed, rest assured that we all have such dreadful experiences at some point in our lives, too. The inevitable reality is that even the highest performing students have experienced moments when learning becomes lifeless and draining. Sometimes, even the instructors need some inspiration to re-ignite their passion for teaching their classes!

Learning across different levels of education, especially in Hong Kong, has become suffocating to a certain degree. There is an observed lack of enthusiasm and energy on both sides of the equation—for both the teachers and the students. Public examinations, such as the DSE exams, are considered by many people as main stressors to our K12 pupils, allegedly leading to some traumatic outcomes. In Hong Kong, as early as primary schools, it is not uncommon to find students having an aversion to learning because it is mainly associated with homework and tests.

But learning doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it shouldn’t. Learning should be life-changing and life-giving. Imagine that instead of being overwhelmed with memorizing formulas, you are excited about learning new knowledge. Or, rather than being afraid to make mistakes in projects, you are free to fail in the trial and error process knowing that it is an adventurous journey that would lead to new innovations. Or, instead of having a fleeting moment of gratification seeing an A on your report card, perhaps you can find greater joy in adopting what you have learned in supporting your community and witnessing the social impact you have created.

At TELI, we believe that what we have described above is possible – that learning is a lifelong journey of passionate and exciting growth. In order to see this to become a reality, the TELI team tries to contribute a tiny bit by producing quality content (videos, visuals, games, applications) and working with teaching staff to design and implement innovative learning activities for different contexts of learning at HKU, such as our online courses, face-to-face sessions, and blended learning activities.

Our brand new course “Engineering Calculus and Differential Equations” aims to bring this revitalized spirit of learning to life by incorporating interactive tools, real-world examples, and dynamic content. Don’t miss out!

Multiple experts from across faculties at The University of Hong Kong and professionals engaged in gender-related developments in Asia will address the ways in which gender is understood, constructed and performed. Drawing from a variety of perspectives – cultural studies, economics, education, law, linguistics, psychology, public health, politics, social policy, and sociology – we begin by questioning meanings of gender in different cultural settings and historical moments. What do the representations of our currently used categories such as man, woman, transgender, queer, cisgender, bisexual, or intersex mean in different contexts? How are conversations about gender taking place in Asia and how do they converge or diverge from those happening elsewhere?

Taught by over 20 HKU and industry instructors.

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The course is a comparative, interdisciplinary and cross-sector conversation which encourages reflective thinking about practices of gender. It courts and questions the fixity of language, traditions, laws, and practices as well as the resilience of stereotypes, biases, and structures which perpetuate myths, hierarchies and discrimination.

Unravelling the interlinkages between these conversations and categories equips you with the skills needed to identify, recognize and reject outmoded or biased constructions of gender as well as the power hierarchies these embed within social relations. We will examine why gender equity is so important and yet hard to achieve. We scrutinize social and legal constructions of gender which continue to operate as though gender is binary and explore a more inclusive approach which reflects the gender continuum within the context of entrenched power structures. Through understanding gender and its relations with society, we look for solutions to eradicate gender discrimination and gender-based violence.

Additionally, as digital technology plays an ever-increasing role in contemporary construction of social realities of people, the course looks into how, if at all, these networked communities offer new expressions of gender as performativity and the ways in which these replicate, reproduce or refashion traditional gender categories and roles.

Then we turn to challenge our everyday practices of gender and how they colour our approaches, assumptions, and biases (conscious and unconscious) about the ‘other’? The course invites scrutiny of the practice and performance of gendering self and others. At the same time, it is a reminder that gender is not just about identity but also about power. The course examines manifestations and causes of gender inequality and its inextricable link to structural and institutional forces of discrimination. To better understand the interaction between identity and power, we look at gender-based violence. The #metoo movement has exposed not only the depth and scale of violence but also unmasked the asymmetries of power. Power and privilege are enjoyed by a select group while the voices of others remain invisible and ignored.

We conclude by looking at local, national and global efforts to address gender disparities in society in various domains. We invite you to reflect on the course materials and to connect them to your daily life. How can your new understandings about gender generate a ripple of change around you?

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What you’ll learn

• How to explain and apply key theories and concepts relating to historical and contemporary definitions of and perspectives on gender.
• How to examine the immediate and long-term implications of gender inequality in different sectors drawing on contemporary challenges around gender.
• How to take actions to enhance your literacy around gender issues.
• How to cultivate a broadened perspective on gender, identity, and power in the daily lives of all global citizens.

The course is OPEN and FREE for everyone, and will commence on July 9th 2019.

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FinTech Ethics and Risks is the second course in the HKU FinTech Professional Certificate Program. Upon its initial launch on May 15th, 2019, over 5,000 learners from 154 countries and regions have joint and actively engaged in the discussions around the ethical impact of FinTech.

Learner distribution of FinTech Ethics and Risks.

FinTech has started a global revolution and will keep accelerating the transformation in the financial services industry in the coming years. There are many ways in which FinTech can improve the lives of people around the world; however, those same technologies can also be used to enslave, coerce, track, and control people. Accordingly, it is necessary to consider the implications of the introduction of these technologies so that they are utilized properly, regulated sufficiently, and their adoption does not come at the expense of societal growth.

Trailer and course introduction

Click here if you cannot access YouTube.

Click here if you cannot access YouTube.

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This 6-week online course covers 6 modules, representing the full spectrum of finance, technology, and the introduction of FinTech solutions globally. We will discuss questions that are not often asked or addressed when new technologies are adopted, for examples:

• Why should we adopt FinTech solutions, and what are the best ways to introduce disruptive technologies?
• How does blockchain technology change the way we provide financial services, and how should blockchain technology be governed?
• Is FinTech creating risks in cybersecurity and how can technology help us prevent financial crimes?
• As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developed and widely adopted, will human biases and prejudices be built into such mechanisms?
• And at a larger scope, should FinTech lead to a decentralized, democratized system of finance, or will existing institutions adopt FinTech strategies to cement their existing hold on the financial markets?

The course instructors, Mr David Bishop and Mr David Lee, are award-winning teachers from the Faculty of Business and Economics of The University of Hong Kong. Incorporating their expertise in the subject and their enthusiasm for teaching, the course is highly informative, interactive and engaging. Using animated case studies and conversational videos followed by carefully designed prompt questions, learners are immersed in an intellectual journey of exploring the transformational impact of FinTech. They are exposed to different opinions, inspired by the sharings from learners, and encouraged and challenged by the teachers’ comments and feedback. At the end of each module, the instructors would summarize the discussions and provide further resources, insights, and considerations on the weekly topic.

Roundup video

The course is progressing weekly with an increasing number of learners joining this global discussion. No matter if you are a FinTech enthusiast, a finance or technology professional, or just a consumer of financial product and service, you are all welcome to join this course and your input will help grow this learning community.

The course is free and open to everyone, and you can upgrade to a verified certificate for your career advancement or professional development. From May 30th to June 5th, 2019 (11:59 pm EST), you can use code “SUMMER20” to save 20% on the verified certificate, both for the course FinTech Ethics and Risks and the HKU FinTech Professional Certificate Program.

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This is an event organized by Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI).

Details of the event:

Registration

Abstract
To teachers who are used to the setting and dynamics of a classroom, getting started in online education might seem daunting. After all, creating online courses involves adapting and rewriting course content, reenacting lessons on camera, and reorganizing class structures to enable student interactions in a completely different context—or, in other words, nothing short of overhauling traditional modes of teaching in large part. All this effort, however, is not only manageable with the right support, but also immensely rewarding for any teacher—practically, pedagogically, and intellectually.

In this seminar, Charlotte Chang, TELI’s e-Teacher-in-Residence, will use her own journey into online education as a starting point to reflect on the obvious and not-so-obvious (often even counter-intuitive) opportunities that await teachers who undertake a similar endeavor.

In the first part of the talk, “Taking the Leap”, Charlotte will reflect on the intellectual impulses and practical considerations that led her to create an online course. What ultimately convinced her that this daunting task would be worthwhile?

In the second part, “Reflecting in the Process”, Charlotte will share insights on the many opportunities for professional and intellectual growth that she found, often unexpectedly, throughout the course creation process. In optimizing and refining content and pedagogy for the course, she was motivated to strive for nothing less than the “best of her teaching”. An online course, ultimately, should not just be a repackaging of existing courses in a virtual format; rather, it is an opportunity for the educator to enhance and enrich existing curricula, teaching materials, pedagogical approaches, and student engagement.

In the final part of the talk, “Reaping the Rewards”, Charlotte will elaborate on the benefits of online education that classroom teaching cannot offer. Apart from practical rewards like eliminating the time spent on repeating core content, online education offers many less obvious, perhaps even counter-intuitive benefits to teaching and learning, such as deepening interactions with students with a wide range of learning styles and abilities.

Charlotte’s reflections on her journey as an online teacher should resonate with fellow educators from diverse academic fields who wish to embark on their own explorations of online education and the immense opportunities that it promises.

About the Speaker
Charlotte Chang, TELI’s “e-Teacher-in-Residence” in 2018-19, founded the online English education platform Ms. Charlotte Academy in 2017. After a year of writing a curriculum, developing materials, and filming and editing lessons, Charlotte launched her online course “Core Concepts of English” in late 2018. In the course, which currently enrolls over 200 students, Charlotte uses an analytical framework based in linguistics concepts to teach Hong Kong adults the unchanging rules of English syntax, introducing students to a systematic, structure-based approach to understanding how English works and how it differs from Cantonese/Chinese.

Charlotte’s core belief as a language teacher is that every student with basic analytical skills can gain a “big picture” perspective of how any language works, even if it is as different to their native language as English is to Chinese. Online education, which enables students to absorb and internalize new knowledge at their own pace, is a fitting format that facilitates this type of analytical teaching and learning.

Prior to her career in online education, Charlotte graduated from Harvard University in 2012 and worked as a secondary school teacher from 2012 to 2014. From 2014 to 2017, she experimented with and refined her linguistics-based approach to teaching English before finally writing her own curriculum. Her transformation from “traditional” to “online” teacher gave her much insight into the many benefits that technology can offer education, both in facilitating teaching and enhancing learning.

Registration

Enquiries should be directed to enquiry@teli.hku.hk.

Be flexible, be innovative, and you will discover numerous ways to engage students with technology. HKU TELI and the Knowledge & Education Exchange Platform (KEEP) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) jointly organized a seminar to share examples of effective teaching strategies, namely flipped classroom, mobile apps, visualization tools and gamification.

KEEP: Flexibility and Visualization

Mr. Eddy Yet, Project Coordinator of KEEP, presents on CUHK’s innovative practices in online teaching.

Mr. Eddy Yet, KEEP’s Project Coordinator, advises teachers to be flexible in teaching and visualizing students’ responses for effective knowledge exchange:

1. Flexibility: To maximize the potential of flipped classroom, course teachers can adopt various e-learning tools to cater to students of different levels. For example, the instructor of a General Education Course, In Dialogue with Nature, presented the course content in the form of (i) Core Videos (which all students need to watch) and (ii) optional Online Supplementary Materials (for high achievers and those who are interested in further exploring the topic). This method of differentiated instruction allows flexibility in learning. The course team also developed a “Reading Companion” mobile app, which helps students evaluate their own learning from time to time with knowledge checks and a mini-dictionary.

“Reading Companion” mobile app of a CUHK General Education course (In Dialogue with Nature). [Image credit to KEEP]

2. Visualization: Often, a popular discussion thread in an online course contains over a thousand elaborated written responses. These responses are not effective if students do not read all of them. One solution is to introduce visualization tools, such as Sharing Board, where students illustrate their ideas with mind maps instead of words, or present data in word clouds. The KEEP team has witnessed successful examples of visualizing the course content and believes that this is an effective way to “summarize the learning content, and make good use of students’ input”.

TELI: Gamifying In-class Activities

Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) of HKU, introduces the course design of his Common Core course (Everyday Computing and the Internet).

Professor Ricky Kwok, Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) of HKU, strives to spend quality time with students during class. Hence, he worked with TELI and designed a board game as an in-class activity of his Common Core course, Everyday Computing and the Internet.

Professor Ricky Kwok (Middle) guides students to play the board game in his class.

The board game’s design is similar to that of poker, but is integrated with the course’s core concepts. To win the game, students need to first develop a good understanding of the course content by watching online explainer videos produced by the course team. The wish to win motivates students to actively participate in the board game, and therefore take greater ownership of their learning.

Having moved the lectures online, Professor Kwok can give more quality time to each student in class to support his/her learning. He jokes that when students are competing in the board game, he becomes a “server”, walking around the classroom and answering students’ questions about the game as well as the course content by asking them, “How can I help you, Sir?” Professor Kwok found that students, in such a way, are more vocal in asking questions, increasing his interaction with students.

At the end of the seminar, Professor Kwok summarizes three success criteria for gamification in education:

1. Is the game interesting and goal-orientated?
2. Does the game have a good pace? Do players have to spend much time to make one move?
3. Is the game connected to the course content?

It is always possible for educators, not just from HKU, but also from the other institutions, to digitalize, visualize, or even gamify their course content. Interested in bringing these ideas into your classroom? Don’t hesitate to contact us!

Watch the full recording of 2019 TELI X KEEP Seminar:

Further Reading

1. Learning through gamification
2. Not just for fun: Gamify your class
3. KEEPing up with learning through gamification