Date:

6 March 2009 (Friday)

Time:

9:15 - 12:45

Venue:

Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong

Presentation Format:

Symposia

Medium of Instruction:

English

Design of learning environments to support learning and knowledge building using Web 2.0 technology

Dr. Daniel CHURCHILL
Assistant Professor of Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract

Web 2.0 introduces a spectrum of tools that challenge traditional uses of Internet and create opportunities for new possibilities for working with information and social engagement. Applications such as blogs, wikis, social networking, video sharing and podcasting gained huge popularity with ordinary Internet users who are now blending personal. social and professional uses of these technologies.

In education, Web 2.0 introduces tools that can advance pedagogy and make teaching and learning highly relevant to students. In light of these emerging possibilities, the traditional learning management systems (LMS) are likely to vanish or undergo relevant transformation into a Web 2 empowered platform. In this symposia, a team of professional teachers and researchers will present a number of Web 2 educational applications and provide recommendations for innovative pedagogies and transformations of traditional LMS systems.

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Presentation 1
A learning-centred model for in-class, blended or distance learning that allows for teacher directed integration of ‘learning objects’ to support a task-based approach to learning

Dr Diane SALTER

Associate Professor, Center for Advancement of University Teaching (CAUT), The University of Hong Kong

New technologies are affording increasing opportunities for teachers to introduce students to resources that can help learning. However, the pressure to incorporate technology resources also creates new challenges for educators. How can educators ensure that students are not overloaded with ‘content’ resources? How can we create tasks to help students engage with the online learning objects? How can web 2 technologies allow this do be done in a time efficient manner (for the teacher and the student)? This session will:

• Describe how online and blended course design is evolving internationally
• Provide an overview of the T5 model (Salter, Richards, Carey 2004) and how the model encourages the thoughtful integration of learning objects from shareable learning object repositories (such as RISAL)
• Provide time for discussion of the educational implications of this model for rethinking the use of classroom time from lecture (delivering content) to coaching and discussion (ongoing conversations that are embedded within larger traditions of discourse: science, the arts, history, literature, mathematics etc.)

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Presentation 2
Portfolios in Teaching and Learning

Benny TAI

Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

This presentation will examine the various types of portfolios that are related with teaching and learning. They include: students’ portfolio, teachers’ portfolio and course portfolio. The presenter will illustrate how the digital environment can enhance the pedagogical uses of portfolios. In addition, the presenter will emphasize importance of extending the LMS systems to include support for digital portfolios.

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Presentation 3
A Study of Multimedia Annotation of Web-Based Materials and its Applications

Dr Wu-Yuin HWANG

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, Taiwan

Web-based learning has become an important way to enhance learning and teaching, offering many learning opportunities. A limitation of current Web-based learning is the restricted ability of students to personalize and annotate the learning materials. Providing personalized tools and analyzing some types of learning behavior, such as students’ annotation, has attracted attention as a means to enhance Web-based learning. We describe a Web-based tool for creating and sharing annotations and investigate the effect on learning of its use with college students. First, an annotation tool was designed and implemented for the research. Second, learning support mechanisms, including full and group annotation sharing, were developed to promote students’ motivation for annotation. Lastly, experiments with individual and shared annotation were conducted and the results show that the influence of annotation on learning performance becomes stronger with the use of sharing mechanisms. We conclude that there is value in further study of collaborative learning through shared annotation.

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Presentation 4
Using Social Networking to Support University Teaching and Learning

Ms LU Jie

PhD Research Student, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Professor Nancy LAW

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Daniel CHURCHILL

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

A social networking environment integrates a range of Internet-based tools that facilitate an individual’s access to information, file sharing, content creation and management, and file sharing. It also provides mechanisms for on-line communication and collaboration. Social networking environments often include a combination of tools such as blog, Wiki, social tagging, social bookmarking and really simple syndication (RSS) feeds. Such environments have gained increasing popularity over the past few years as they emerge to offer innovative possibilities for creation and consumption of information as well as social networking over the Internet (e.g., MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and Friendster). The presenter will describe ongoing uses of social networking at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. The presenter will suggest that social networking systems might serve as potentially more effective and relevant platform for teaching and learning that traditional LMS systems.

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Presentation 5
RISAL@HKU - Bookmarking, Repository, Networking and Portfolio for Learning in the Age of the Web 2.0

Professor Nancy LAW

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Daniel CHURCHILL

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Jan VAN AALST

Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Wing WONG

Research Assistant, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Social bookmarking, repositories, networking and other Web 2.0 technologies demonstrated increasing popularity and ability to engage enormous numbers of ordinary people in networking, sharing, work with digital media, creative expression, and productive activities. At the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, we have been pioneering educational application of Web 2.0. RISAL – Repository of interactive social assets for learning – is a social bookmarking system being developed in the Division of Information and Technology Studies. The system incorporates a repository of digital assets to support teaching and learning. The system is designed with a view to facilitate and encourage informal sharing and collaboration of students with similar interests or learning foci across levels and programs. This form of learning support builds on and encourages the Web 2.0 culture of social networking and contribution of the individual to the community. In addition, the system is designed to incorporate compliance with Hong Kong’s Copyright Ordinance (Creative Commons). The system is built using open source tools and enhancements are being made on the integration of more social networking features. In this presentation we will present the RISAL – Repository of interactive social assets for learning, describe its features and discuss a spectrum of benefits that this system can offer to teaching and learning.

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Presentation 6
Go Mobile in Learning Chinese Characters

Dr Sue MENG

School of Chinese, Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Daniel CHURCHILL

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Wing WONG

Research Assistant, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Mobile phones have become powerful Internet–enables computers. In Hong Kong mobile phone penetration is well over 100%. Globally there are more than one billion mobile Internet subscribers. In Japan, 69 million individuals access Internet via mobile phone while in China mobile user base passed 600 million. Many of Web 2.0 tools and services are becoming available via mobile phones. Most of our students and many of the teachers are likely to posses an Internet-enabled mobile phone. In our project we developed a learning object for application via mobile phones for learning of fundamental Chinese characters. The presenter will showcase this learning object and discuss how it contributes to teaching and learning. This discussion will be supported with evidences from implementation. In addition, the presenter will argue that current LMS systems should be expanded to support integration with mobile technology.

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Presentation 7
Learning 2.0: an Online learning and assessment Platform (ILAP) and a Teacher Support Network for the Liberal Studies in the NSS Curriculum

Ms Y. LEE

Assistant Director, Centre for Information Technology in Education, Faculty of Education,The University of Hong Kong

Liberal Studies as a mandatory subject in the New Secondary School curriculum will be implemented starting from September 2009. This subject adopts an inquiry-based approach and the content is structured around a range of important contemporary issues. Teachers face new challenges in teaching and assessing this subject: how to guide students to find useful information from the internet, formulate inquiry questions and to undertake evidence-based inquiry; how to support student collaboration and at the same time be able to assess the efforts and achievements of individual students; and how to provide adequate feedback to students at various stages of inquiry such that assessment can be both formative and summative. This paper introduces the Learning 2.0 project which comprises two components: (1) the development of an open-source online learning and assessment platform using Web 2.0 technology to provide support and scaffolding for inquiry teaching and collaborative inquiry as well as for various forms of formative and summative assessment, including peer- and self- assessment using different kinds of rubrics; and (2) the establishment of a team of seconded teachers to contribute to the design of the online platform and to pilot its use for the implementation of good practices in the facilitation and assessment of learning through the online platform.

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Discussion

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Last modified by design 25 Feb 2009 - 4:21pm