Now Notion provides free Personal Pro Plan to educators and students. Through this guide, you will learn about what Notion is and how this productivity application can support your personal life, work and study. 

What is Notion?

Notion is a productivity application where you can create notes, databases, wikis, calendars and reminders, etc. All these features can be used individually or in collaboration with others. It supports multiple platforms (Windows / MacOS, IOS / Android) and desktop applications. The databases in Notion will be automatically saved and synced among different platforms and devices. You can download a desktop application via https://www.notion.so/desktop.

Create an account

Before you start exploring Notion, you need to create a Notion account with several steps:

1. Click ‘Try Notion free’ on notion.so
2. Enter your HKU email address and click ‘Continue with email’ 
3. Receive a temporary Notion signup code via email
4. Enter your name and set a password
5. Select the plan for personal use 
6. Click the provided link or copy and paste the code to verify your login 
7. Click ‘Get free Personal Pro Plan’ on the bottom left corner

Then your Notion workspace is ready to use! Please click this link to watch a tutorial video if needed. You can set a permanent password in Settings & Members -> My account.

Upgrade to Personal Pro Plan

For first-time users

Different from the free Personal Plan designed for individual use, the Personal Pro Plan allows you to collaborate with more people. With the Personal Pro plan, you will have unlimited pages and blocks, guests and files uploaded. If you create the Notion account with your university email via HKU Portal, your account will be automatically upgraded to the Personal Pro Plan for free. To check if you are enjoying the Personal Pro Plan, go to the sidebar, then click on ‘Settings & Members’ and ‘Plans’. Besides, you can also manage your account information, notifications, connected apps, language & region, appearance, billing and integrations inside ‘Settings & Members’.

For those who already have a Notion account

If you already have a Notion account with your personal email, you can upgrade to the Personal Pro Plan for free by changing your login email account to the university email. To achieve this, please go to ‘Settings & Members’, ‘My account’, ‘Email’ then click on ‘Change email’.    Click this link to watch a tutorial video if needed.

Create Your First Page

After successfully logging in, you can create a new Page by clicking on the plus sign (‘+’) button on the sidebar. Click on this link to watch a tutorial video to learn some basic features, including how to add icon and cover to a Page, create Blocks, and adjust the layout.

Customise your Page with Blocks and Databases

If you already have an account and have started to use Notion, and would like to explore more on the design and customisation, feel free to check out the below content!   The Block and Database are characteristic features in Notion which allows you to create a multi-level hierarchy inside the Notion page for different purposes. You can design your page with Blocks and Databases like having LEGO bricks to build a LEGO castle. Please check out the following tutorials supported by Notion for more information: For blocks:

• Types of content blocks
• Transforming content blocks

For databases:

• Using database views
• Full page & inline databases
• Using database templates
• Using advanced database filters

Recommended In-app Templates

For first-time users, it is great to start your Notion journey with different templates provided by Notion. Notion provides more than 50 in-app templates that you can adjust and customise as your own. You can easily find the ‘Templates’ on the bottom of the sidebar, or click on this link for more information.

For Teachers

Notion is not just designed for individual use, it also shows the potential to enable team collaboration. There are some templates that can help with classroom management, or facilitate collaboration in your classroom:

• Classroom Management: Syllabus, Classroom Home, Lesson Plans, Course Schedule, Class Directory
• Facilitating Team collaboration: To-Do, Meeting Notes, Content Calendar, User research database

Click this link for more information.  

For teachers, if you are interested in using Notion in the classroom but still need some help, you are welcome to book a consultation with Technology-enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) for more ideas. Contact via email: enquiry@teli.hku.hk. 

For Students:

You can use Notion to manage your study, personal life or other fantastic uses. There is a list of templates for your reference:

• Study Management: Class Notes, Course Schedule, Thesis Planning, Cornell Notes System
• Personal use: Weekly Agenda, Travel Planner, Reading List, Habit Tracker
• Others: Meeting Notes, Team Tasks, Roadmap, Process Docs

Click this link for more information.  

For HKU students who are interested in using Notion and would like to explore more, you can book a consultation with Digital Literacy Lab (DLL) via https://www.diglit.hku.hk/book.

To check out this blog post in Notion page: Link

[This round of workshops is a re-run of the Camtasia Video Production Workshop organized in March and May 2020, with new features of Camtasia 2021 added. You can also subscribe TELI YouTube playlist for recordings of previous workshops: https://hku.to/UseCamtasia]

Educational videos have become an important part of higher education. Educators can integrate multimedia content such as instructional videos for delivering content in many online/hybrid classes. The challenge for educators is understanding and exploring how best we might produce teaching videos and use videos as an educational tool effectively.

Upon completion of the workshops, participants will be able to identify the opportunities, challenges, and tactics of producing high-quality instructional videos for teaching and learning.

In the basic workshop, we will introduce:

• download and installation of Camtasia with HKU Campus License
• interface of Camtasia 2021
• basic features of Camtasia
• recording, editing and sharing your first screencast
• video editing basics
• audio editing basics
• adjusting clip speed
• using the PowerPoint add-in
• exporting and sharing your first video

In the advanced workshop, we will introduce:

• selecting area that you want to record
• resizing your window using Sizer
• adding annotations and transitions
• creating advanced animations
• making it snap with magnetic tracks
• adding sound effects
• leveling volume
• including music
• sharing projects with others
• removing noise

Registration

Copyright is meant to encourage creativity by conferring exclusive rights on authors and enabling copyright owners to make profits by distributing or licensing copyright works. Nevertheless, in reality, the copyright regime is too complex and technical for a layman to comprehend. In virtual learning, teachers are creators as well as users of copyright materials.
There are burning questions regarding copyright issues in teaching and learning. For example, would it be copyright infringement when teachers and students include copyright works like images or music into their presentations, teaching/learning materials or social media? Who owns the copyright for contents created during learning activities? How can we creatively and ethically use copyright works?
We would like to discuss the potential and affordances of Creative Commons (CC), Open Educational Resources (OER) and CC/OER-enabled pedagogies with some examples in training.

• Copyright, OER and CC in teaching and learning
• OER/CC adoption (e.g. how to search and adopt CC-licensed works)
• OER/CC creation (e.g. deciding which CC licenses should be adopted)
• OER/CC in general education, introductory courses and other courses

Through the training, participants can reflect on better practices and design considerations in CC/OER-enabled pedagogies. Upon completion, the participants will be able to:

• Identify copyright owners and avoid infringement;
• Identify the opportunities and challenges of adopting CC and OER in the curriculum; and
• Use CC and OER to facilitate classroom learning and assessment.

Speaker

Ms Alice Suet Ching LEE is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, SFHEA (Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE), and convenor of the T&L Interest Group at the Faculty of Law. Associate Dean (Academic Affairs) from 2011 to 2020, she has received the University Distinguished Teaching Award and two Outstanding Teaching Awards from HKU, and a student-led Teaching Feedback Award. She chaired the HKU Teaching Exchange Fellowship Sub-group from 2017 to 2021, and led or joined a number of TDG projects including “Promoting Creative and Ethical Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovations through Copyright Education” (PI) and “Knowledge and Experience Generalisation through Daily Sharing by Legal Professionals to Break the ICE: Internationalisation, Common sense and Ethics education” (PI).

Dr Leon Lei is currently an e-learning technologist in the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from HKU. He has been working on remote/blended/MOOC learning initiatives in higher education and K12 education. His research interests include learning analytics, open licensing and education, and chatbot tutors. He was awarded with the Best/Outstanding Paper Award in IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) 2013, 2017 and 2020. He is an IEEE Senior Member and an Advance HE Senior Fellow.

Acknowledgement

This webinar is supported by:
– UGC Special Grant for Strategic Development of Virtual Teaching and Learning – Inter-institutional Collaborative Activities Projects
– IEEE Region 10 Education Activities Committee (2021 Region-10 Call for Capacity Building Workshop under Educational Activity; IEEE R-10 EAC’s Call for Proposal for “Reaching Local Initiatives”)
– IEEE Hong Kong Section and IEEE Hong Kong Section Education Chapter.

Hello all,

We are very happy to announce that the HKU / edX “Introduction to FinTech” course has reached a major milestone: we have officially reached 100,000 enrolled learners!

The course continues to be the most popular FinTech course on edX reaching learners in 209 countries / territories across the world – almost every country in the world. Now if we can only get the course to North Korea … The top regions where learners have joined the course are the US, Hong Kong / China and India.

We heartily extend our appreciation to all the course’s contributors and guest speakers who together have made this such an amazing course with incredible impact and reach.

Going forward, we will continue to enhance the content of the course as well as the HKU-edX Professional Certificate in FinTech with a diverse set of new speakers and contributors to push forward our commitment in keeping our learners updated on all relevant academic and industry insights.

To expand on our global engagement, we will be launching new Russian and Arabic subtitles in the coming months to “Introduction to FinTech” in addition to the existing English and Chinese subtitles.

Thank you all again and very best wishes from all of the course team!

Click to watch this “thank you” video from the HKUx Team

Douglas Arner
Kerry Holdings Professor in Law
University of Hong Kong

Enrol now

Why are we creating an online course about gender? More specifically, why does gender matter?
As you will be aware of from recent media coverage, gender is everywhere in society. Our daily lives are embedded in gender. From our social roles, to our attitudes and behaviours, to our interactions with others, and in our work, gender is ever present. Now with the call for gender equality gaining public prominence, we hope to give you the tools and lens for understanding what exactly is gender – moreover, to be aware of certain gender stereotypes and unconscious biases that are ever present.

Taught by over 20 HKU and industry instructors.

Let’s take this 6-week journey to unveil myths, taboos, and knowledge about gender together, navigating cross-culturally, historically, philosophically and sociologically. Some of the questions we’ll explore include: How do we define gender? What assumptions and biases emerge in our relationships within the family, work and politics? How does the media construct gender? How should we interpret the recent #metoo campaign? Sexual harassment, discrimination, sexual violence are gender relevant social issues that we will take you through.

What to expect after taking this course?
After six weeks, we guarantee that you will become an expert on gender issues, and be able to have your own critical perspectives about them to evaluate current events. Even more, to start having these conversations with your friends and family and make an impact!

A bit more about us…
‘Doing Gender and Why it Matters?’ is MOOC course offered by the University of Hong Kong. Led by Prof. Karen Joe Laidler from Department of Sociology, in collaboration with the Women Study’s Research Centre (WSRC), this course is a joint effort of scholars from different discipline such as law, history, culture, sexuality, who feel strongly about gender issues in Hong Kong, and wider globe.

Enrol now