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