Message from Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Massive Open Online Courses
We are very pleased to let colleagues know that the MOOC course pages for three of HKU’s MOOCs will soon be launched. The course pages give potential students information about the course content, pre-requisites, expected workload etc. If you’ve not yet had a look at a MOOC course page try visiting one of the most well-known MOOCs, “Justice” by Harvard’s Professor Sandel.
On another note, the EPSU is planning a lunchtime seminar to update colleagues on what is happening with HKU’s MOOCs. Colleagues will have the chance to find out about the course content, the development processes and the challenges and opportunities presented by MOOCs. Details of the seminar will be released shortly.
New EPSU Staff
The EPSU team will grow next when we are joined by a new instructional designer, Jingli Cheng. Jingli has come from Stanford University and has extensive instructional design experience. He will be working with us on the MOOCs whilst also integrating in to existing EPSU projects.
Moodle User Guides for Teachers
Four new Moodle user guides of the recently installed plugins (Scheduler, Attendance, OU wiki & OU blog) have been prepared by ITS for teachers to familiar with these new features. They are available at here.
Panopto and Moodle Hands-On Training Courses
The ITS Panopto and Moodle hands-on training courses in April are now open for registration. Details can be found here.
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL)
Seminar 1
Date: Wed, 23 April 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Topic: School-University Partnership (SUP) – nurturing professional competence of student teachers, enhancing professional development of mentor teachers
Speaker: Dr Tammy Y.L. Kwan, Faculty of Education
Student teachers enrolling in the initial teacher education programmes have to successfully complete the professional practicum before they become qualified teachers. However, not all schools are willing to offer practicum places. School University Partnerships work towards the creation of a win win environment to allow our STs getting quality mentoring support from mentor teachers, while at the same time, create avenue for MTs further strengthening their continuous professional development.
Topic: Engage Students in Authentic Task with Constructivist Approach
Speaker: Dr Shui Fong Lam, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
To engage students in learning, a teacher does not need to be a stand-up comedian who provides entertainment in a lecture hall. Students will be naturally engaged if the learning has real-life significance to them. Students are particularly engaged when they are involved in the process of finding answers to authentic problems.
Seminar 2
Date: Wed, 30 April 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Topic: Maximizing Online Resources
Speaker: Dr Cole Roskam, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture
Online resources present tremendous opportunities as well as significant challenges for enhancing student learning, both inside as well as outside the classroom. I will share my own struggles to incorporate online resources into my teaching methods in ways that appeal to students while satisfying my own pedagogical objectives.
Topic: Lessons from Our Own Bodies
Speaker: Dr Lap Ki Chan, Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education &
Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine
In traditional dissection, students learn anatomy by passively follows a set of specific instructions to reveal the structures in the human body. In this short talk, I will describe several structured activities that have been designed to help students actively learn anatomy and other important lessons in life.
Sandwiches will be served with coffee and tea.
Seminar 3
Date: Thu, 8 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Topic: Teaching Common Core Course on Politics and History
Speaker: Dr Xiaojun Yan Department of Politics and Public Administration Faculty of Social Sciences
Politics and History are considered to be the two notoriously “dry” subjects for colleges students of our time; yet, both are crucial elements in a liberal education curriculum. In this seminar, Dr. Yan Xiaojun will share his experiences in teaching political and historical subjects in a lively way in HKU’s common core curriculum.
Topic: Environmental Sustainability Education for Engineering and Non-Engineering Students
Speaker: Dr Kaimin Shih, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Environmental sustainability is a new element in both engineering and non-engineering curriculums. Today’s engineering teachers need to acquire new knowledge from cutting-edge research findings and bring them to their students. At the same time, it is also extremely crucial to work with students of non-engineering majors to facilitate the interdisciplinary innovations in this field. This presentation will demonstrate how we enjoy the communications with HKU students on this timely important environmental topic.
Sandwiches will be served with coffee and tea.
Seminar 4
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Topic: The Enabling Power of Assessment in Higher Education
Speaker: Prof. Rick Glofcheski, Department of Law
The role and power of assessment in higher education is such that it poses significant risks as much as it does opportunities for learning. Teachers in higher education must bear in mind that there are often unintended consequences of assessment – so much so that, if improperly designed, assessment can direct students away from meaningful learning. This presentation, drawing on research and collaborations conducted at two leading Australian teaching and learning centres, under the auspices of a University of Hong Kong Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme (TEFS) award, will identify some of the risks and opportunities that assessment poses, and some examples of how, if properly understood and utilized, assessment has the potential to ensure more meaningful and sustainable learning that can serve student purposes well beyond graduation. The presentation will have relevance across the disciplines.
Seminar 5
Date: Wed, 21 May 2014
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Topic: Teaching Excellence Award Scheme Workshop
Speakers: Dr Cecilia Chan and Dr Susan Bridges, Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
This workshop is open to all teaching staff who are interested in finding out more about the Teaching Excellence Awards. Staff will be provided an overview of the award scheme, the key selection criteria and advice in preparing an evidence-based teaching portfolio. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.
For information on registration, please contact:
Ms Ivy Lai , CETL
Phone: 3917 8996; Email: laichun2@hku.hk.
Facilitator: Dr Wilton Fok, Assistant Dean (External Relations and Knowledge Exchange), Faculty of Engineering, HKU
Organizer: Dr Cecilia Chan, Associate Professor, CETL, HKU
Date : 27th March, 2014 (Thursday)
Time : 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue : Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
About the workshop
iClass is an interactive mobile learning platform developed at HKU with the support of Teaching Development Grant. Some colleagues from the faculties of dentistry, engineering, science, social sciences and medicine are using iClass in their lectures to conduct interactive discussions and assessments. In this workshop, you will learn:
1. How to log on and create courses in iClass?
2. How to set up interactive activities with keywords and drawing?
3. How to use Latex in iClass for maths and science equation display?
4. How to draw graphical feedback on students’ assessment?
Some examples of how iClass was used in HKU will be shared. Please bring your own devices for more hands-on experience.
The EPSU ran a seminar on the 19th February on “Mobiles for Polling, Generating Resources and Reflecting”. The seminar was attended by 38 colleagues from different Faculties across the University. If you have an idea for a seminar or would like to see EPSU deliver a seminar on a specific topic please get in touch with Dr. Iain Doherty.
Massive Open Online Courses
As we move into March it is just six months until HKU launches four MOOCs on the edX platform (https://www.edx.org/). EPSU is working with Professors in Architecture, Medicine and Philosophy. At the same time the fourth MOOC will be delivered by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre and EPSU liaises with the centre on the MOOC development.
New Moodle Plugins Installed
The following new Moodle plugins have been installed on the central Moodle platform on February 5, 2014.
Attendance block – A plugin that allows an attendance log to be kept.
Scheduler – An appointment scheduler for planning face-to-face meetings between teachers and students. Teachers can set up time slots, and students can choose one of these on Moodle.
OU wiki – An alternative wiki. Simple wiki designed for teaching and learning.
OU blog – An alternative blog. The blog can be used as a course activity.
Teaching and Learning Showcase
To provide staff members and students with a better understanding of how teaching and learning can be supported by the use of technologies, the e-learning Pedagogical Support Unit (EPSU) and Information Technology Services (ITS) jointly organized a two-day Teaching and Learning Showcase on February 11 and 12, 2014. More than 150 colleagues and students visited the booths in both Centennial Campus and Main Campus. Click here for more details.
Steve Roberts joined the EPSU team as an instructional designer in January 2014. Steve has an extensive background in teaching along with an excellent working of knowledge of how to make purposeful use of technologies in teaching. The EPSU now has three instructional designers and a multimedia designer along with the Director. We’re here to help so please get in touch if you would like support with using technologies in your teaching.
Teaching and Learning Days
The EPSU, Information Technology Services and Learning Environment Services will be running teaching and learning days on the 11th and 12th of February 2014. There will be display stands at the Chi Wah Learning Commons and the Run Run Shaw Building manned by members of the three teams. Staff and students will have the opportunity to experience technologies first hand and to talk with members of the EPSU, ITS and Learning Environment Services about technologies and teaching. Watch the bulk email for more details.
Mobile Learning Seminar
The EPSU will be running a seminar on the 19th February from 12.45-2.00 in Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building. The topic is “Mobiles for Polling, Generating Resources and Reflecting”. This will be a hands on session with participants having the opportunity to try out different applications and services on their own devices. For more details and registration go to http://epsu.cetl.hku.hk/19feb2014/.
Guidelines for Use of External Services
ITS and the EPSU have been collaborating on a set of guidelines for use of external services such as Google Docs. ITS and EPSU ran consultation seminars with staff in January and the guidelines have been revised based on input from staff. The guidelines will be released in the first quarter of this year. In the meantime if you have questions about use of external services you can contact Dr. Iain Doherty.
Moodle GradeMark Video Tutorials
We have produced a new series of short video tutorials for teachers to learn how GradeMark can be conveniently used to give feedback, leave comments and grade the assignments of students online in the Moodle learning management system.
My e-learning tab of HKU Portal Enhanced
We have enhanced the staff’s “My e-learning” tab of HKU Portal with a new look and feel. Now teachers can locate the information of their courses and manage them more easily. The online application form for teacher-requested Moodle course is also reviewed, enhanced and simplified. It now has better integration with SIS Class Staff Information System for creating Moodle courses and with a better support for early creation of SIS courses based on teacher’s request.
Panopto and Moodle Hands-on Training Courses
The ITS Panopto and Moodle hands-on training courses in February are now open for registration. Details can be found here.
Facilitator: Mr Steve Roberts, Instructional Designer, CETL
Date: 19th February, 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
The fact that mobile technologies are rapidly expanding is established. However, the rate of this expansion is at times challenging to fathom: radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users worldwide, whilst the ‘Draw Something’ mobile app took only 50 days to reach the same number of users. Hong Kong alone has 17 million public mobile subscribers in a population of approximately 7 million. This ubiquity of mobile technologies raises questions of ways in which these devices can be integrated into teaching and learning environments in a pedagogically sound manner.
This predominantly learner-centred session aims to address this issue through the use of mobile polling (using Moodle’s ‘Feedback’ activity), resource generation (using a smartphone’s video recorder), and collaborative reflection on action (using a mobile-friendly online platform embedded within Moodle). Participants will have the opportunity to experience these technologies from the perspectives of both a learner and a teacher, providing a platform to reflect on how these tools could best enhance specific teaching and learning contexts.
Please could you bring your smartphone or tablet and, if possible, a laptop to the session. All are welcome even if you are not able to bring any technology.
Dr Susan Bridges, Associate Professor, CETL/ Faculty of Education, HKU
Dr Michael Botelho, Associate Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, HKU
Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith, Executive Dean, Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University (virtually via skype)
Date: 14th February (Friday)
Time: 12:45pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Abstract
Assessment of performance-based tasks such as live presentations or clinical skills-based activities require sophisticated assessment practices. Skills-based activities require assessment and feedback processes for summative progress determination and/or formative advice for ongoing student learning. While these have traditionally been impression based or utilizing a rubrics approach to assessment/feedback, these may have been based on unclear, implicit or ill-defined characteristics that make understanding and implementation of the process incomplete and possibly lacking rigor. A key factor in determining student achievement in such tasks is examiner judgment.
In this seminar, we elaborate the process undertaken to induct performance-based examiners into standards-based assessment practices through a process of eliciting latent expertise and task performance criteria and their justifications. The overarching goal is to make these judgment practices explicit to students and peer evaluators for rigorous and transparent processes and feedback. Funding support from the HKU Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme for this work is acknowledged.
About the Speakers
Michael Botelho is the Faculty of Dentistry 5th year Course Director, a member of the Curriculum Development Committee and has coordinated the design and implementation of the competency based, Key Skills exercises.
Susan Bridges is with the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and the Faculty of Education. She works on innovation in learning and teaching. Her work with the Faculty of Dentistry supported implementation of OBASL focusing on curriculum alignment with standards-based assessment.
Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith is Dean (Academic) for Arts, Education and Law at Griffith University. She has worked on a number of projects, primarily in literacy and assessment, with particular focus on teacher judgment, evaluative frameworks and the literacy-curriculum-assessment interface.
Applications are invited for the Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme, which was introduced by the Teaching and Learning Quality Committee in 2010-11.
Objectives
The Scheme aims to enhance the scholarship of teaching at the University through enabling academic staff members to share experience and to collaborate on teaching and curriculum development initiatives at reputable universities where excellent pedagogical practices or curriculum innovation are being implemented, and to facilitate reciprocal visits to the University by academic staff of these institutions. The Scheme is a measure also to ensure that our curriculum and pedagogy are benchmarked against international best practice.
Eligibility
All full-time teaching staff with a minimum of two years of service at the University are eligible to apply.
Deadline for Application
Interested colleagues are encouraged to attend the CETL Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme Seminar at January 22, 2014, which will provide an overview of the Scheme and advice on the preparation of the application. All applications and supporting documents should reach Ms. Synthia Chau, Secretary of the Teaching and Learning Quality Committee (c/o Academic Development and Quality Assurance Section of Registry) on or before March 14, 2014. Enquires may be directed to Ms. Synthia Chau at 2859 2440 or via email to schau@hku.hk.
Applicants will be notified of the results in April/May 2013.
Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme Seminar
Organized by Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Facilitator: Dr Suki Ekaratne, CETL, The University of Hong Kong
Date: 22 Jan, 2014 (Wed)
Time: 12.30pm – 1.30pm
Venue: Room 321, Run Run Shaw Building
Abstract
This seminar provides an overview of “Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme.” This seminar is open to all teaching staff interested in finding out more about the Teaching Exchange Fellowship Scheme. Staff will be provided an overview of the scheme, the key objectives, eligibility and advice in preparing an application. Staff who are thinking about applying in the next round (having a 14th March closing date) are strongly encouraged to attend. Staff who are not sure, or would simply like to know more about the scheme, are most welcome.
The UGC has made available additional funding to support teaching and learning related initiatives in the 2012-15 triennium. The funding has been provided to support pedagogical change across Hong Kong. The EPSU has been working on collaborative proposals with Universities across Hong Kong. The EPSU has also taken the lead in a HKU led proposal to develop Small Private Online Courses (SPOCS). You can read more about SPOCS here. Proposals are due to be submitted to the UGC by the end of the year with results being known in the first quarter of 2014.
GradeMark Trial
The EPSU continues to trial GradeMark with teachers at HKU. GradeMark is an electronic marking system that is designed to reduce the amount of time that teachers have to spend marking. Initial feedback from teachers is positive and a formal evaluation will be carried out with both teachers and students. If you would like to know more about GradeMark, visit the EPSU YouTube Channel where you will find tutorials on using GradeMark. You can also get in touch with Iain Doherty – idoherty@hku.hk – for assistance.
Frontiers Conference
The Frontiers in Medical and Health Sciences Education Conference is an annual event of the Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine (IMHSE). This year’s Frontiers Conference is scheduled for December 6-7, 2013 (Friday and Saturday) at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. The conference title is “From Classroom to Clinic: Opportunities and Challenges in e-Learning”. Dr Iain Doherty will present at the conference on “The Gold Standard in e-learning Research”. The presentation will address the question of what e-learning Researchers should be aiming for with their research.
Panopto and Moodle Hands-on Training Courses
The ITS Panopto and Moodle hands-on training courses in December are now open for registration. Details can be found here.
This one-day ‘Introduction to Teaching and Learning @ HKU’ programme is a foundation programme in teaching and learning at the University of Hong Kong and is designed for teaching staff, regardless of previous teaching experience, who are new to teaching at HKU. The overall aim is to provide new staff with a better understanding of specific issues relating to teaching and learning context in Hong Kong and at HKU. Staff will hear from leading Senior Academics in areas of strategic importance to the University.
During this programme, participants will engage in discussion and hands on activities relating to issues relevant to teaching and learning at HKU. These will include the overview of the 4-year undergraduate curriculum reform delivered by Professor Amy B.M. Tsui, the PVC of HKU, the demography and culture of HKU students, English as a medium of instruction, the common core curriculum and e-learning at HKU. Participants will also learn about the many forms of and uses for the evaluation of teaching and learning at HKU and about the opportunities for teaching development grants and teaching awards at HKU.
Date: 16 January 2014 (Thu)
Time: 9:30am – 3:30pm
Venue: Multi-purpose Zone, 3/F, HKU Main Library
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the programme, participants will be expected to have:
Discussed the implications for teaching and learning in relation to current changes in the HK education system and at HKU
Engaged in active discussions on demographic, cultural and language issues relevant to teaching and learning from the perspectives of the students and the teachers
Participated in activities demonstrating the use of student evaluation of teaching and learning at HKU
Identified different teaching-related opportunities and activities to motivate and enhance student learning available at HKU
Identified opportunities to pursue the scholarship of teaching and learning
The ‘Introduction to Teaching and Learning @ HKU’ is a required programme for all new academic and academic-related staff with full-time teaching responsibilities commencing on or after September 1, 2011, and should be taken within the first year of service and there are no exemptions. If you are unclear as to whether this applies to you, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Gayle Morris, the Director of Academic Programmes.
Early registration is encouraged as enrollment is limited.
In the event of full registration, priority will be given to new academic and academic-related staff with full-time teaching responsibilities commencing on or after September 1, 2011.
We are very pleased to let colleagues know that the MOOC course pages for three of HKU’s MOOCs will soon be launched. The course pages give potential students information about the course content, pre-requisites, expected workload etc. If you’ve not yet had a look at a MOOC course page try visiting one of the most well-known MOOCs, “Justice” by Harvard’s Professor Sandel.
