On May 12-13, 2016, representatives from nine institutions gathered at the second Asian e-Table to explore collaboration opportunities and challenges in developing online learning in Asia.

Participants included:

• Dr. Huang Hoon CHNG, Associate Provost (Undergraduate Education), National University of Singapore
• Professor Toru IIYOSHI, Deputy Vice President for Education, Kyoto University
• Professor Joon HEO, Director of Open & Smart Education Center, Yonsei University
• Ms. Helie KIM, Yonsei University
• Professor Xiaoming LI, Assistant President, Peking University
• Professor Benson Yeh Ping-Cheng, Director of MOOC Program at National Taiwan University
• Professor Chetwyn CHAN, Associate Vice-President (Learning and Teaching), PolyU
• Professor Roger CHENG, Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning, HKUST
• Professor Nick Noakes, Director of Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching, HKUST
• Professor T.C. PONG, Senior Advisor to Executive Vice-President and Provost, HKUST
• Professor Isabella POON, Pro-Vice-Chancellor / Vice-President, CUHK
• Professor Ian Holliday, Vice-President & Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning)

At the event, we also skyped in Anant Agarwal, the CEO of edX, during our roundtable discussions.

This year we welcomed a new member from Yonsei University, Professor Joon HEO, Director of Open & Smart Education Center.

Together, participants discussed the possibilities and issues in:

1. developing an Asian consortium with gatherings of colleagues at different working levels;
2. developing a central repository for content sharing, including full courses, micro-modules, and pedagogical showcases;
3. enhancing professional development and teacher training;
4. launching a regional (E-)Teaching Excellence Award so as to encourage teaching staff to invest more efforts in e-learning and establish a common standard of teaching;
5. co-creating MOOCs (possible topics include computational thinking and MOOC production);

and

6. creating better E-portfolios.

The HKU team also had the pleasure to share our recent experience in developing an online course from a grassroot level in the BOLT project.

Looking forward
Asian e-Table is an annual conference on e-learning initiated by HKU in 2015. We endeavour to gather experts in the region “to build a platform, a foundation, to something that can be sustainable and vibrant in the years ahead,” as pointed out by Professor Ian Holliday. The ultimate goal is to facilitate knowledge exchange and build a community of practice. Click here for a more detailed report on the event.

Technology has no borders, so is education. Contact us if you are interested in developing online education in Asia with us.

More photos of the event can be found on our Facebook, twitter and instagram.

Peer learning plays a great role in sharpening our professionalism. On May 19, 2016, colleagues from the Knowledge & Education Exchange Platform (KEEP), the Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research (CLEAR) and the Centre for eLearning Innovation and Technology (ELITE) based at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) visited us and shared how e-learning is done in our sister institution.

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/‬

Flipping the classroom – a success story

Lectures are typically sit-and-listen sessions. But in Professor Rick Glofcheski’s tort law classes, students do all the talking.

Learn more

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.

Learn more about IPTBL here.

About Dr. Lap Ki Chan:

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.

Registration

For enquiries, please contact Miss Cherry Lai by email cherry.lai@hku.hk.

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.

Registration

For enquiries, please contact Miss Cherry Lai by email cherry.lai@hku.hk.