Developing E-learning Resources for Speech & Hearing Sciences

Abstract

This project will develop e-learning resources to underpin learning and teaching in the revised BSc Speech & Hearing Sciences (SHS) curriculum to be implemented in two phases starting in 2016-2017. Speech language therapists aim to improve the quality of life of individuals with a communication and/or swallowing impairment (CSI), which means that students in our BSc program need to develop the knowledge and skills to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services in diverse settings. At present most resources that underpin the SHS curriculum were developed elsewhere for English-speaking cultures. The use of these existing resources in our curriculum limits students’ ability to develop culturally appropriate professional skills, resulting in a gap between theory and practice. This project will provide e-learning resources that are appropriate for multi-cultural Hong Kong.

We will focus on facilitating students’ ability to translate theory to clinical practice in their learning about the therapeutic process and the nature and characteristics of CSIs. The project will deliver six e-modules with several subcomponents focusing on specific CSIs. For each e-module, we will make videos of individuals with a specific CSI engaging in conversation and in scripted or structured speech and language tasks in real clinical sessions. These individuals will come from different age groups, illustrating the different manifestations and impacts of the CSI across the life span. Various multimedia-centric and rubric-guided assessments will be included to develop students’ self-evaluation skills to facilitate life-long learning. The success of the project will be measured qualitatively and quantitatively in the form of discursive feedback from stakeholders (the HK community of speech language therapists, SHS faculty and students), consumption patterns of E-learning resources, and statistical comparison of learning outcome achievement as a function of the resource consumption patterns.

Deliverables