The Teaching and Learning Innovation Symposium (LINK to the Specific website established for the symposium with access to all resources) was held at PolyU on the 7th June, 2010. Almost three hundred registrations were received – 120 from PolyU, 17 from international delegates and the remaining 162 registrations were from universities or other organizations in Hong Kong. The program for the symposium included the presentation of the 2010 Teaching and Learning Innovation Award and two keynote addresses – one by Professor Gilly Salmon and the other by Mr Gilbert Ho, Head of Market Development Apple Asia Education. There were also 8 parallel sessions consisting of 24 paper presentations – seven of which were by international presenters, of which one was a virtual presentation via Adobe Connect. Half of the 24 presentations were delivered by PolyU staff and the remaining 12 by delegates from organizations around Hong Kong and overseas.

Workshops on the following day were also conducted. Of these six workshops, three were by PolyU staff on a range of topics including Second Life, Scenario-based learning, and the effective use of PowerPoint. The three other workshops were facilitated by the two keynotes from the Symposium. Gilbert Ho’s workshop was on content creation and distribution for the 21st century learner, while Gilly Salmon conducted workshops on podcasting and frameworks for learner management. There were 121 participants across the six workshops.

Poster presentations were on display throughout Symposium. There were 31 posters, involving over 42 staff from PolyU, as well as departments from within the University such as EDC and ITS. Evaluations received from 38 delegates for the Symposium were very positive. The international and local university presentations were cited as the best thing about the symposium by several delegates on their evaluation forms. Delegates also appreciated the opportunity to share insights from subject experts and to be able to meet and discuss with active eLearning Advocates. However, some delegates would have liked the papers in the parallel sessions to be longer to allow for the opportunity for discussion. The keynotes were also rated highly by delegates. Overall, respondents tended to agree that the keynotes and plenary met their expectations and that overall the Symposium met their expectations, agreeing that it was useful and enjoyable.