3C Newsletter

Welcome to the 3C Project eNewsletter

The 3C eNewsletter is back, with many interesting items of news in the area of blended learning at PolyU. It brings news of the winners of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Award, together with an overview and the highlights of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium which was held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 6-8 June 2010.

Other news in this issue include an overview of the eLearning Forum in the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Health and Social Services and an invitation to all PolyU staff to join a 'Communities of Practice' in the area of blended learning world-wide: the E-Learning and Knowledge Sharing Community.

Teaching and Learning Innovation Award 2010

At the Award Ceremony held on Monday June 7th, Professor Walter Yuen, Vice President (Academic Development) announced the winners of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Awards 2010. This year there were 3 prizes and one honourable mention presented. The winners were:

1st Prize Winner of the 2010 Teaching & Learning Innovation Award
Leveraging Web 2.0 tools & scenarios to establish a sustainable, high participation and personalised co-learning environment
Professor Eric Tsui

2nd Prize - CoreSL-HKPolyU in Second Life
Dr. D. Herold, Dr. V. Ng, Mr. P. Penfold, Mr. N. Lau, Ms. M. Lei, Mr. P. Duffy, Ms. G. Au Yeung, Mr. L.C. Yu

3rd Prize Winner - Personal Skills Development Shopping
Mall Mr. K. Wong, Dr. O. Runets

Honourable Mention - E-case studies for students studying in the health and rehabilitation field
Prof. C. Li, Dr. A. Siu, Dr. K. Liu, Dr. K. Fong, Ms R. Wong, Mr T.K. Chung

Recognizing the Contribution of the eLearning Advocates

During the Symposium Prof. Walter Yuen (VP(AD) ) presented a certificate of appreciation to the eLearning Advocates (eLA) representing all Faculties and Schools.

At the beginning of the 3C project Deans and Directors were asked to nominate staff to take on the role of eLearning Advocate. This community of practice has been meeting now for over a year and provide an inter-faculty / school forum to identify / discuss and collaborate on various eLearning matters here at PolyU. They have provided invaluable insight into the Teaching and Learning context here at PolyU. Meet your Faculty / School eLA - http://www.3c.edc.polyu.edu.hk/feature_Advocates.html

Project highlights

Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium 2010

With over 200 PolyU and external delegates from Australia, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom in attendance, the Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium was a busy and a successful one. The event provided all delegates with a mix of inspiring presentations, practical sessions and all important opportunities for networking.

Those new to the area of blended learning, and those who had already engaged in enhancing their own professional practice with technology, were able to benefit from the inspiring opening speech delivered by Professor Walter Yuen (VP, AD) and from the considerable knowledge and expertise of the two keynote speakers, Professor Gilly Salmon, an international eLearning expert from the University of Leicester in the UK and Mr Gilbert Ho, from Apple Asia Education.

Following both the morning and afternoon keynotes delegates enjoyed parallel presentation sessions, which included a number of showcases of good practice led by PolyU staff and delegates from various countries. Participants enjoyed their morning, afternoon tea or their lunch walking amongst the 30+ Poster Displays, where an inspiring Poster Exhibition was held.

Professor Walter Yuen, Vice-President Academic Development, delivered the opening speech of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium 2010. He spoke of the key challenges that PolyU staff face and will continue to face in their professional roles as part of the ongoing curriculum and education reform; but he left us with the wish that “these challenges will present us with a unique opportunity to transform teaching and learning and to consider the appropriate use of technology in enhancing the student learning experience at PolyU”.

In the morning keynote lecture, Professor Gilly Salmon introduced us to the idea of evolving our teaching to become fitter for the future of learning. She introduced us to a model of hindsight, insight and foresight to ensure we create and exploit fabulous new learning opportunities. She offered us the example case study of the mixed-mode used at the University of Leicester, UK and the journey of 5 years of strategic and practical learning innovation and its impact.

The afternoon keynote lecture was delivered by Mr Gilber Ho, from Apple Asia. Gilbert’s message to all of us was that for an engaging learning ethos to be stainable, technology must provide an end-to-end, scalable solution including intuitive creation tools, automated workflows, consolidated storage, subscription model for easy access, and most importantly, getting the right people on board!

We would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge and express our thanks to our sponsors and supporters:

The Office of the Vice President Academic Development
The eLearning Advocates representing all Faculties and Schools at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Apple Asia Education
Art Group Limited
McGraw-Hill education
Adobe

The event was over in a flash but the months of planning resulted in a very rewarding event Here are just some of the feedback comments received by the delegates:

“A good opportunity for people to learn and share”
“A lovely collection of papers and presentation”
“I haven’t heard about this until this morning! Glad I’ve been Lot of food for thought”

Copies of the keynote presentations, the various papers, posters and workshop materials are available on the Symposium website at: http://www.3c.edc.polyu.edu.hk/symposium

eLearning Forum

Recently an eLearning Forum was organized for the staff from the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Health and Social Services with the focus on "The Road to 334 – and How Blended Learning can HELP?"
The aim of these forums is;

To situate the impetus for eLearning within broader and PolyU specific contexts
To provide a Forum for colleagues to exchange their experiences in e-learning
To identify appropriate strategies to develop a more effective eLearning environment in respective Faculties and Schools for students (and teachers). A focus on Practical and Time Efficient
To provide a forum for discussion on how blended learning approaches can assist in the move to 334

Each forum included opening remarks by the Dean or FLTC chair, a brief overview of eLearning and Blended Learning at PolyU, presentations from different departments and centers by faculty colleagues as well as some open discussion. Feedback to date on these forums has been very positive from staff attending and our goal is to offer one of these forums to all Faculties and Schools at PolyU.

You are invited...

Join a Community of Practice
Recently Prof. Gilly Salmon visited PolyU in order to provide a keynote at the Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium as well as various consultancy services. During her consultancy she expressed the desire to invite interested staff at Polyu to join various communities of interest relating to the Beyond Distance Research Alliance and media Zoo. In particular PolyU staff are invited to join the "ELKS (E-Learning and Knowledge Sharing) Community" which is available at http://elkscommunity.wetpaint.com/. The purpose of the ELKS Community is to share knowledge and experience on innovative educational practice and technologies through seminar and other events. ELKS is affiliated with the United Nations' Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID). Joining the ELKS Community is free.

Your Views on an eLearning Strategy at PolyU
Your are invited to send your views on whether or not PolyU needs an "eLearning Strategy"? to Peter Duffy - etpeterd@inet.polyu.edu.hk)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University educational community is faced with a number of key challenges over the next few years, including the introduction of the 3+3+4 education model, a top level University Grants Committee mandate to implement outcomes-based education within all universities in Hong Kong, the introduction of Freshmen seminars to all first year students and the implementation of Capstone projects as an approach within all departments and schools. Suggested is that technology and the incorporation of new pedagogical approaches that incorporate blended learning can enhance the teaching and learning experience both in and outside of class. BUT what "Practically doe sthis mean for staff? ... and how to get there?

At present PolyU and Hong Kong have a number of Policy imperatives that identify a vision for eLearning / Blended Learning.

For example;
In the document "Empowering Learning and Teaching with Information Technology" the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) announced their next strategies for eLearning in the coming few years.

PolyU position paper on eLearning - http://eldss.edc.polyu.edu.hk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=67

PolyU Position Paper on Teaching and Learning (https://www2.polyu.edu.hk/cr/files/Philosophy_of_Teaching.pdf) which identifies; Technology as a tool for the enhancement of learning and teaching.
The University believes that learning and teaching should be effectively enhanced by technologies that are up-to-date and likely to be the most effective in promoting valued learning outcomes. This includes professional specific technology as necessary and the appropriate use of IT in enhancing students’ independent learning skills. (p.2)

PolyU’s Strategic Plan 2008/09-2011/12 captures a broad global intent to incorporate Blended Learning. In particular section 1.2 (c) states; “To promote the wider use of blended learning (i.e. a combination of e-learning and face-to-face teaching/learning) to enhance quality”. (p.9).

And so, we already have significant policies in place that identify a vision for where we are heading, and what is suggested here as essential is a 'strategy' document that clearly outlines for staff how to get reach this goal. Ideally this document would focus on practical, contextually relevant strategies for incorporating blended learning across the corpus of PolyU's programmes and support services.. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Upcoming 3C Project Activities

After the excitement of the Symposium , over the next few months the 3C Project team is looking forward to:

working on the completion and showcase of the Elearning Mapping Tool
finalize the development of the Blended Learning Templates
continuing to promote eLearning and Blended learning at PolyU in support of teaching excellence.

If you would like to find out more about 3C Project in general, just visit our website at www.3c.edc.polyu.edu.hk contact Peter or Panos.

Each eNewsletter we bring you some simple tips and tricks for using eLearning in your teaching for a blended learning approach. Here are some more - click on the link to find out more:

If you need assistance with using eLearning in your teaching or would like to find out more please visit the eLDSS website or contact the 3C Project Team directly.